Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm.
~~Anonymous
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Easing Visual Burdens & Clutter Caused by a Creative Life
Hello again my sweet friends. I have missed you all and hope you will forgive my recent quietness. I must confide to you that it became vital to my peace~of~mind that I cast out the chaos that has crept into our home over the past several months! (The "before" images at the bottom of this post will bear this out.)
We live in a small house with lots of things. Because we conduct a multitude of activities in these beloved little spaces the congestion has been known to build! Thus...the clutter caused by living a creative life has resulted in nothing less than a visual burden!
My immediate reaction was to get rid of everything!!! However, thanks in part to my frugal nature and because I work from home (it’s necessary for me to keep more than I would have liked) I found another solution. Install a more uniform neutral palette that would create a soothing, serene backdrop to our busy family’s many creative activities!!!
Stair rails after a multitude of hours and paint coats!
How to begin? I de~cluttered as much as possible then painted the stair rails. Truth be told, I began this project last summer and needed to apply that one last coat of paint...so...I did! In my defense, have you ever painted stair rails? Speaking from recent experience...it takes a very, very, very loooooong time...and as I'm a one woman show it took that much longer! Next, I turned my paint brush to the battered old armoire we found at an estate sale ages ago (for a song) along with an interesting old bench inherited from Mike's mom (first photo). Relatively speaking, these were almost a pleasure to paint after the chair rails!
There's more to show you...and more work in progress! However, like most homes, ours is a living, evolving entity and my current vision of serenity decorating is not yet manifested in full. Even still, I did want to give you all a peek at what's been keeping me so busy! Okay, so, I'm off now to begin work on my "sparest of spare rooms" also known as the "Junk Room"! Is it just me, or have you caught the serenity/de~clutter fever too?
Sending love and good thoughts to all, as always.
Warmly,
Tracey and Family x0x?
P.S. Below are a few rummaged~up "before" shots of the chair rails, armoire and clutter...and,oh...did I mention that there is also a cantilevered balcony upstairs...with even more stair rails/banisters that I painted at the same time(s)!
Kitties and the stair rails before I painted them (the rails, not the kitties)!
All images by me...Tracey McBride...I finally got my camera working properly!
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