Hello! Here is part two of the Restorative Decorating Tips! These questions aren’t all about decorating, but I wanted to make sure I answered all that I received. Thank you for your patience in getting these posted as well as your interest in my passions! I hope you have a lovely Christmas, girlies!!
How do you define eclectic? Well, eclectic means selecting or choosing from various sources. To me, eclectic decorating means using things you love despite the year/time period, design esthetic, and style genre they are from.
How do you know what makes sense when decorating eclectic? I personally feel there really isn’t a “wrong” look when you are decorating with things you love. Decorate with things that make you smile, warm your heart, or that you just find stinking cool. I think modern can be melded with rustic or retro with Victorian, etc. The main factor needs to be that you love the things you are decorating with. Filling a home with things you don’t really like but which look good in a magazine isn’t life giving. However, filling a home with things that you are drawn to, that have personal stories, or things you have made brings life and warmth to any space and makes one enjoy their home even more.
Where is the oddest place you have gone dumpster diving (or sent your husband dumpster diving)? I love this! Haha..we do love to see what trash we can turn into treasure. Our most memorable night was one in the cities after the spring BTG Conference of this year. My family had helped me set up for the conference so we were all together AND had a large covered trailer. Perfect scenario! What could be more perfect (or in our minds a “God gift”) than for neighborhood curb services to fall on that night? Yep, that night we drove down streets filling our trailer with all sorts of furniture people had thrown out. We had a blast and a very full trailer by the time we got home. Several pieces were restored and shared with women later that spring! A great memory!
How does God specifically inspire you to do projects? I have to say that God absolutely inspires my creativity. I don’t believe I would be very creative at all without his divine inspiration! Much of the larger scale decorating I have done, as well as some of the smaller goodies, has been placed in my mind during my falling asleep and waking up moments. Those seem to be key moments where his whispers are easily heard and the ideas more vivid. I cherish those moments. That is part of the reason I do believe that everyone has creativity inside him or her, even if they haven’t fully unearthed or discovered it. He is the creative one; he just shares beautifully with me. When do you hear clearest from him?
How long have you been making your own things? And when did you start getting into making your things? I have always been creative but I didn’t start really making things until I met my man 21 years ago. He is a carpenter so with him came tools and techniques that I hadn’t before had access to. My creative voice has taken years to mature and figure out what it wanted to say. There were many years where it was on “pause” due to five very young children but slowly as they have grown, so has the time I can take to explore and create. It has been only a few years that I have been able to take more time to expand my creative voice.
How do you deal with clutter? Oh goodness, if I had clutter mastered…sigh…but I so don’t. However, sometimes you have to just deal with it until you are done with the creative process. I read an article about how mess actually helps the creative brain and that made me feel a great relief! Right now I have a large chalkboard, paper mache’ ornaments, and paints covering the dining room table. When those projects are complete (mine and my children’s) we will take back the table but for now, we eat around the coffee table in the living room. We have all learned to roll with it. My dream home would have a heated shop for us to all create away and not consume the house, but that is not yet to be. So honestly, I deal with clutter by ignoring it. Haha…is that honest enough? Seven creative people in one home does equal some chaos, but I have learned to embrace that. However, I do love to organize and I basically collect Costco boxes (which can look great covered with fabric!) for organizing shelves and holding a multitude of things. That makes me happy just like creating. And when the house needs to be cleaned…we all clean!
Are your kids as creative as you? If so, how do you encourage them to be creative? My kids are creative in unique ways. Duct tape turns into shoes, backpacks, and all sorts of odds and ends. Cardboard and boxes make great board games, rocket ships, and huge unicorns. Modeling clay and bendy pipes turn into action figures. Foam, wood, glue, paper…the list goes on! My advice on encouraging kids to be creative is to first of all, and probably most importantly, let them make a mess. I know this is tough for most moms and I understand, but it truly releases something in them when they are allowed to explore creative concepts floating around in their heads. (Again with that mess = creativity article!) For years I have let them take over the kitchen table for a day or two. I cover it with cheap plastic tablecloths or a tarp, taping it down around the edges of the table. Then I release the glue, beans, feathers, stickers, glitter pens, Popsicle sticks…you get the drift. I keep a tote of miscellaneous things that could be used to glue and stick to things. I also include craft paint but when they were younger I oversaw that more intentionally. We would basically pour all of it into the middle of the table and they would (and some still do) spend hours drawing, gluing, taping, and creating. I let the table stay that way all day or for a couple of days so they can get that messy, chaotic creativity out of them. Then we put aside their masterpieces, collect anything not used up or glued down, roll up the plastic, and toss it in the garbage. They love it! They have also always had access to colored pencils, crayons, books, sketchpads, and like I said, cardboard boxes and duct tape. Having creative tools accessible daily encourages creativity for sure. I love what they come up with and seeing how their minds work to bring to life what they are thinking inside!
Any advice for gals that want to have big homeschool families? Oh girl! Let me think on this and give it its own article ok? There just isn’t enough room to share here and I would love to encourage you in your desire!
Do you have a website with this stuff on it? Do you create to sell?! I have actually been trying to make something happen in this area of a website. Many have asked and I do love to share. I have created a Facebook page; look for Restored Facets. I also have a blog, which I hope to add ideas and photos to; that is at Facets: Restored Beauty. I can’t promise regular postings but I can promise I will be sharing things there when I can! As for selling items, this is something I have thought of and I am trying to find a way to get my toes wet. I don’t know why it is intimidating (ok, lets be honest, before intimidating it was just downright surprising people would want my junk!) but to me, it is. At the moment, I have a few things being sold at The Bridge Shop. It is a lovely boutique run by Bridging the Gap with proceeds going to missions. Love that!
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