useful, pretty, inspiring

I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to sell all of my possessions.

Wait, wait.

I'm getting ahead of myself.

Since becoming a stay-at-home mom, I... well, I stay at home a lot more. Imagine. Which leads me to stare at our home furnishings a lot more.

This brings trouble for the hubs, as he gets really tired of hearing me say, "You know what we need? New curtains!"

I have been blessed in my life to have received a TON of free furniture and home decor. Every time my parents move, they let me load up with pretty much whatever I want, which has been great. I literally have never bought a couch, table, bed, mattress, or dresser. Ever. 

But, I will be 26 years in old in a few short weeks, and I've decided that my home should be a reflection of me (well, us, I guess), and what I've got going on right now just ain't cuttin' it. I need to grow up and get a cohesive thing going on in the home department. I mean, that is where we all spend like, 99% of our off time, right? Why shouldn't you put the most work and effort into the place you spend most of your life? 

(I should note: Hubby disagrees completely. He would live totally Spartan-like, with just a mattress, for the rest of his life. He wants to spend money on traveling and experiences, which I agree with, to an extent. But I also feel like we should be building a home for our family!)

Which brings me to my sudden, and entirely terrifying, decision. We are going to sell every piece of furniture, home decor item, lamp, dresser, everything in this house that can't be refinished or doesn't work with the look I'm going for, and start over. 

Yikes.

That is a terrifying prospect. But also kind of exciting. Don't you sometimes wish you could just send your whole house up in flames and start over? Well, that's exactly what I'm doing. Minus the flames.

So, my plan is to go through each room of the house with the following three questions on my mind:

Is it USEFUL?

If the item in question has not been touched in 6 months, or is a duplicate, or just unnecessary, it goes.

The mini cupcake maker I've used one time in 2 years? Gone.

The ridiculously large, ugly and energy inefficient microwave? Buh-bye.

The lamp I got for $5 at Walmart that is sort of broken and skewed to one side? See ya!!!!

Is it PRETTY?

Sometimes, you just need to be surrounded by beautiful things. A flower arrangement isn't necessary, per say, but it brightens up your home and brings in some happy, so it can stay. If it's functional but ugly, I'll consider if I can DIY it into something pretty. If not, see ya!!

Is it INSPIRING?

I tend to be pretty un-sentimental when it comes to things. I can throw out things from my childhood like nobody's business. But I do believe that some sentimental things have a place in the home. I read some good advice once; that you should decorate your home with your memories. A picture on the wall, or a shelf filled with items that invokes a happy memory is much more necessary in the home than that blah picture of nothing from Kirkland's. So, if it doesn't make me happy, or hold a memory, or inspire me to have a better day, it goes.

I have a feeling that this is going to be so liberating. 

And I am SO excited to start collecting pieces in the style that I love, rather than the style I've just collected over the years. 

I should mention that my husband is still asleep, as this idea came to be at about 4 am, and has not heard about it yet, so hopefully he's on board :)

Another plus to this fabulous idea is that it's insta-spring cleaning. Going through every room, cabinet, and drawer and getting rid of anything that doesn't fit the above criteria will make for a more organized and neater home, which will make this mommy very happy.

So, this is the vision I've got going on. You don't notice a pattern at all, do you?

All image sources can be found via my Pinterest board here.

Am I crazy for wanting an all white bedroom? Possibly. But that's where I sleep, and it should be about ME, dang-it, not the dog or the kids! Things are washable. That's what I'll keep telling myself.

A coastal themed home just fits with our style. We live by the coast (duh), but more than that, it represents a lifestyle that we want to adopt, of a calmer, more peaceful way of life.

Doesn't it all just look so calm and relaxing? And shouldn't that be what our home is all about??

What do you guys think? Am I crazy? 

Is this something you would do?