Remember when you were little and everyone used to always
ask you what you wanted to be when you grew up?
Like me, your career of choice probably changed many times as you were
figuring out your interests, hobbies, and skills. When I was in sixth grade, it seemed everyone
wanted to be a veterinarian, a marine biologist, or an interior decorator. At one time or another, each of these seemed
to be my destiny, too. Why, I’ll never
know. I don’t like animals enough to
plan on ever want a pet, I rarely go swimming because I hate having wet hair
and dried out skin, and I suffer from SEVERE decorating paralysis (it’s totally
a thing; Google it). Thank goodness we
don’t have to pick our future when we’re 11.
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| Marine biology does look pretty glorious. |
I think I finally crossed “interior decorator” off my list the
summer after The Sims came out in 2000. I spent far too many of my lazy summer days
playing this extremely addicting game in which you create a family of Sims by
choosing what they look like, what they wear, and their personalities. You then use money that they earn at their
jobs to build and decorate a house for them from scratch. I found the decorating fun, entertaining, and
actually pretty overwhelming. I mean, do
I start with the cool black and white tile?
Or find something that matches the fun, bright red wallpaper? Or maybe I should decorate around the sleek
and modern lime green sofa. There were
just so many options!! And the
paralysis tells me that once I pick something, I can’t change it. The direction is decided and the only place
to go is forward. So DON’T SCREW IT UP!
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| See the black and white tile? I told you it was cool. |
This is the same pressure I feel when I try to look at shower
curtains, rugs, and bookshelves. The
paralysis means I have a very hard time knowing how to start decorating my
home. I contemplate various colors,
themes, and styles and then worry that once I start, I will hate it and be
stuck with it. So, I generally put off
making a real decision for as long as I can.
And then I usually end up sticking to neutrals. You can’t go too wrong with neutrals, right?
When I found out we were having a little boy, I was so
excited to turn our spare bedroom into his nursery… until I remembered that I
am awful at decorating. The Pinterest
boards were crushing me with their millions of cute options. However, I now live to tell the tale of how I
overcame those overwhelming feelings and prevailed over my paralysis to create
a room that I am quite proud of, thank you very much. In honor of moving in one week, I want to share
this beauty that I finally finished just before Memorial Day (I know, he was
born before Christmas!).
It took me several months to finally settle on a theme. I knew I wanted something more gender neutral
that didn’t scream “BABY!” and came across one theme that never seemed to leave
the back of my mind. I think I fell in
love with it because it always reminds me of my own childhood and my
mother. She often sang songs to me when
she tucked me in for bed and throughout the day. She loved to sing “You Are My Sunshine” and
started leaving the last word of each line for us to sing. She would sing, “You are my ___” and we were
supposed to fill in the blank by singing, “sunshine.” It was a fun game that always made us
smile. Sometimes, when my younger
brothers were in a cantankerous mood, they would fill in all the blanks by
shouting, “nothing” instead. It usually
made us giggle until no one was grouchy anymore.
I have always planned on sharing that song (and tradition)
with my own kids, so I loved the idea of doing his room full of yellows and
sunshine. Deciding on the theme really
got the ball rolling and gave me lots of ideas for the projects I wanted to
complete for his room. I was so excited
to have him here. He certainly was the
bright spot of my year and continues to make me smile every day, when skies are
gray, blue, and everything in between.
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| Some inspiration |
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| Love this print |
