Why You Should Live Like You're Already Living In Your Dream Home

I remember the first time I walked into this apartment. 

I had to wait until everything was cleaned and painted before I could go in. So I kind of moved in sight unseen.

Except of course, as an apartment, it was generic and cookie-cutter and like the front office. So it's not like I was in the dark about what was inside. 

There were endless white walls. Except someone got a wild hair and painted the lower part of the dining space a chocolate brown. I still don't like it, but haven't gotten around to changing it. 

In two years I've redone the kitchen three times. Now of course this doesn't mean I went out and bought all new appliances or had new counter tops put in or new floors or anything. Just cheaper cosmetic changes. 

Because this is an apartment. And unless you're uber rich, you just don't do that. 

I went through a bohemian face after year 1. I painted things purple and orange and went a little wild. (Not pink; I'm not a fan of pink.)

And then I looked around one day and decided it just wasn't me (I'm a country girl, not a hippie), and started changing things back to country/cottage farmhouse style. In other words, chipped and cheap and cherished. (See if you can repeat that sentence fast...)

However, I kept the purple and orange painted furniture as a token to my heroic "I take chances" phase.

I've had a gallery wall across from my couch twice now. 

I've gone over two years without a kitchen stove (I know many of you were aghast. But frankly, I'm happy with the set-up I have and I've never missed it)

I've filled the patio with every type of garden I love (fairy garden, combination herb and flower container gardens, and this year I added water gardens and a raised garden to the mix. 

I've moved nearly everything in this place around multiple times, and there's not a lot of leeway in 725 square feet. 

But you just can't change a lifetime serial furniture rearranger any more than a dog can change its spots.

I try my best to encourage you to make your current home a home that you truly love. And not look into a possible future in a possible perfect home. Life's too short for that. 

And you can't predict what's in your future.

(That house with the white picket fence...)

You may or may not ever move into that dream home you have stuck in your head. You know, the one with the cute little white picket fence and front porch with rockers and frilly curtains in the windows. 

So live your life now as though the home you currently live in is the last home you're ever going to have. 

That way you won't keep making excuses for why you don't redo the master bedroom. Or break down and get a new shower curtain or do something about those horrid blinds. 

You'll want to make your house (or apartment or mobile home or whatever) a home. Which is what it should be. 

And you'll be happier, I promise, for having done so.