Why Decorating IS Important
My parents have lived in the same home since before I was born. It is a nice sized, four bedroom, two bathroom house with a pool. However, it’s so much more than that. Underneath the flooring are tens of drawings in permanent marker from where my parents let my brothers, our friends and me draw on the concrete before they put down new laminate when I was in 7th grade. The closet door in my mom’s office has our height markings. The concrete in the side yard has my hand and foot imprints from when I was a baby. (My mom says the concrete was so cold that I screamed when they pressed my little hand and foot into it). The hallway to the bedrooms has one wall with a patch, the side effect of my dad and brothers rough housing. The backyard has a stepping stone that serves as a memorial to my childhood dog, Spike. These are just some of the things that make my parents’ house a home.
When you walk into my parents’ house you immediately see a clock stating, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” An instant declaration of my family’s faith. There are pictures everywhere of generations of Whites (my maiden name) and Bufords (my mother’s maiden name); family is a priority. Often, in the kitchen you will find a child-sized dining table…. Grady and his cousins are always welcome.
When I went away to college I always looked forward to coming home. As soon as I walked in the door a sense of peace washed over me; I was home.
In my new house, the home I share with my husband and son (oh, and our dog, Atticus, can’t forget him), I feel home when I walk in the front door. I immediately see our family Bible on the front entry table, a gift from Jacob’s parents. To the left I see a shiplap wall that Jacob, our family friend, Jeff, and his son worked on one morning when I was HUGE and pregnant. When I walk into our main living space I see all the décor Jacob and I carefully selected while we anxiously waited for our house to be built. When I enter my home, I feel that same peace wash over me that I felt coming home from college.
Décor doesn’t have to be mercury candle holders, perfectly upholstered arm chairs, or shiplap (GASP!), décor is little reminders that your house is your home, your safe place, the place where you can find your family. As I look around my home, filled with beautiful things, I remember the day Jacob and I picked up our dining chairs…it had been a particularly rough day and he let me go a little wilder than normal picking stuff out for the house… I see our wedding pictures and am instantly taken back to that day, I see the items handed down to us from our loving family members, I see the brick my husband is laying in the backyard to turn a patch of dirt into a beautiful spot for our family to spend time together. Décor isn’t just something you pick up at a store, décor can be memories. Décor and who you share it with, that’s what turns a house into a home.
