This Friday finds me thoughtful and inspired.  Earlier this week, I read Erin's articulate piece on minimalism.  It got me thinking about my own life and how over the years I have gradually become more and more of the "less is more" mindset.  In truth, I have the Army to thank for a lot of that (and those seven out of state moves in eight years)…..there's something about packing and unpacking repeatedly that makes you want to carry less around.  I also think a lot of it has to do with how I'm made- bottom line: clutter stresses me out.  I've always found that simple spaces make me feel peaceful and relaxed.  In reality, there's still progress to be made….areas in need of growth.  In a consumerist culture (and the blogosphere often isn't any help)  it's difficult to navigate between "need" and "want".  

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I'm not sure if I have talked about it much here, but when we bought our house our realtor mentioned that in our neighborhood, any remodeling we put into the house (such as floors/kitchen/bathroom) we would probably not make up in profit.  While I always imagined us buying our first house and completely making it our own by remodeling, the reality has been that since we don't plan on being in this house for more than a few years (and it's not our dream house), it really doesn't make sense to make expensive changes if there's no end profit.  My attitude (though it needed help at first) this whole time has been to make the best with what we have without any real structural changes.  It's been a challenge to make our newer home unique without remodeling, but it in a really good way.  I've found myself challenged creatively more than I ever have….which brings me to my next point- the nursery.

(When our kitchen nook was picked as one of the finalists in the Considered Design Awards, I laughed to myself when the judge mentioned the floor adding to the space.  Little did he know it has been a point of contention for me, being linoleum rather than real tile.  

Being pregnant with our second means we have all the necessities, what a blessing! However, as a second born myself, I knew right away that I still wanted to make a special place for this next girl. I've heard all the jokes about taking less pictures of your pregnancy the second time around and less pictures of the baby, and I felt determined to make as much a big deal of this little girl as I made of Reese. After all, most of her clothes and toys will have been her older sister's, so a special room prepared for her seems like a nice way to welcome her into the world without being excessive.  I started right away with a mood board, and the more I looked at it the more I realized how expensive it was becoming.  Not only that, but I was realizing that things we already owned I was going to need to replace just to work in that room….and then of course she and Reese would probably be sharing a room in a couple years, so all of those things would possibly be of no use in a while.  The more I thought of it, the more it didn't resonate with me. So the nursery is my next challenge to myself- to make it special and unique using mostly things from other parts of our house (with a couple extra smaller items).

Here is the start- I pulled the rug from the office and the Fiddle Leaf just wants to be in this room (it was on the verge of death in our living room).