Life on the Move ... Making our House a Home

Ah, life in the military ... what a wonderous adventure. There are so many wonderful things about this life, but some that are harder as well. One thing that I knew from the start was that as a family ... George, Sgt. Major (pup) and myself for now, but children in the future ... we would need a place where we could always return to and know that we are "home." A place that no matter what turmoil lay outside of our front door, would be a safe haven, a place of solitude when needed and one of complete abandonment without risk of judgement. By surrounding my family with things that bring them peace and joy while envoking wonderful memories was my goal and I think I am getting close to that.

When George and I first consolidated dual lives into one, I knew there would be some compromises. I had dreamed a a richly-colored fabrics, dark wood and elegant furniture, original artwork, and LOTS of orginazation. George liked a more comfy, well-worn furniture, southwestern style feel of things with a "let it rest where it falls" way of organizing ... hmm ... how do you combine those two ways of life.

Well after nearly three years of dating, four years of marraige, two deployments and a few moves, I think I've finally got some grasp on it all. First, even though I spend more than twice as much time at our home than he does, I wanted to make sure that things that were important to George were in the house, not just all lumped in one room. A cottage theme seemed to be a happy medium of my love of color and his love of comfort. I was able to make some rooms more elegant with accessories and fabrics without him feeling like he couldn't "live" in the room. There is definately a "her room" (kitchen) and "his room" (workout room).

Instead of one major shopping spree where I got everything I needed to "create" the home, I made a list of what I'd like to do in each room and found ways to do them myself, such as buying fabric and making the pillows or painting "found" chairs to create a unique look. I've got a list of stitching projects that I am looking forward to working on as this deployment concludes as well as for upcoming seperations. It's exciting to be able to "create" our home rather than buying everything and "poof" it appears.

I think George gets tired of having to wathc home decorating shows, but I've found my magazines such as Romantic Country, Southern Lady and Tea Time (yeah, tea!) are accepted because it means I sit in the livingroom with him while he "games." Silly boys!

Well, I'm off to finish a table topper, but here is a picture of the completed matching breadcloth. One of the few lists that brings joys as it grows!



Until our next cup of tea ...