Beach Glass

I must be losing quite a bit of weight this week. I'm in the midst of a creative decorating burst of energy that serves weight loss in two significant ways: 1)I get so engaged in the process of creating beautiful space that I forget to eat, and 2)I have so much adrenaline and joy that I imagine my body's furnace is at peak efficiencyNote: This is more a decorating blog than about fitness, but, for me creating is a huge indicator of overall wellness. I've added an addendum at the end about how this pertains to disability for those who are interested..



On Monday, I looked at my bedroom and groaned. Full of boxes of Christmas decorations, with no room to even move, an unmade bed and a color scheme (periwinkle and apple green) that never made my heart sing the way I envisioned it would, I set out on an Internet journey to gain inspiration.

I am crazy about cottage/beach/coastal decor. I love the simplicity, the use of thrifted, vintage and natural finds, the fresh color palettes, and I could go on all day. I decided to turn my bedroom into a white-on-white neutral haven, and I knew I would have to do it on a bare bones budget. My bedroom had other ideas for a color scheme, as it would turn out.



Intending from the beginning to paint the walls a calm sand or pale blue, I began looking through the house for accessories that might fit the scheme. With my ivory iron bed and linen white painted furniture, the bones of the dreamy cloud-like space I envisioned were in place.

I found a striped shirt with the perfect shades of oatmeal, sea grass green, and sky blue that was in the Goodwill box of clothes that no longer fit. I found an oatmeal colored cable knit sweater that cried to be made into a large, comfy bed pillow. I found my book of botanicals (a great used book sale find that has served my decorating inspiration for years)and exchanged the periwinkle colored flowers above my bed, for white wildflowers...so serene and lovely in the white frames.
A trip to Goodwill yielded a linen skirt the perfect shade of heavenly blue that I'm turning into more bed pillows. I also found two lovely pencil sketches of sea scenes that fit perfectly in my frames made of old tin ceiling tiles. Oh, and the find of the day: four small purses, a buck each, made of neutral materials like burlap, wicker, macrame. (I hung them over my dressing area to hold makeup and other beauty products... love this.)







So, I've been a madwoman this week... bleaching white my periwinkle quilt, making pillows, painting a bookshelf, making a burlap bed skirt, sewing bunting (using that discarded shirt!), painting odds and ends a lovely Benjamin Moore shade called Palladian Blue. I found an old encyclopedia with a lovely map of the Caribbean that I framed.

Interestingly, as the project progressed, I realized that I love the zing of the apple green walls against the serene blue, white, and beige. It reminds me of beach glass, and my heart soars when I enter the space. Best of all, it's only cost about $20!

I know I am most well when my creative juices are flowing like they have been this week. I've been so happy and serene. It brings me great joy to take a hodge podge of inexpensive and unlikely items and find new and beautiful uses for them and to create a simple yet beautiful home. (Oh yikes, the rest of the house is upside down from the project... NOT simple or beautiful right now! Guess I'll just go in my bedroom and shut the door.)

Addendum: As I was sewing, after writing this post, I flashed to the memory of a middle-aged woman in a wheelchair from my adolescent years whom my father assisted with rides to church. At the time, I was only recently diagnosed with CMT and told I would be in a wheelchair by age 18. I remembered the feeling of deep, deep sadness when we picked Mildred up from her dingy, dirty apartment. The only furniture I recall was a battered metal tv tray. The overall feeling of the apartment was one of desolation and hopelessness. Is it any wonder that I feared becoming disabled so desperately since my few encouters with people with disabilities revealed such emptiness of beauty. I think that weekly trip to church was one of Mildred's few outings and connection with other people.

So, today, I said a prayer of gratitude for the richness of my life in a wheelchair. I thanked God for the ability to drive,for modest financial means, for having a sweet, little home, and for the opportunity to maybe show others that disability doesn't have to mean despair. That one can lead a full, rich life without legs that function well. And one can live that life in an environment that is beautiful.