Superficial Struggle of the Week

This is a confession post. Recently I've enjoyed being in friends' houses that are just really cool. Great paint colors, kitchens re-done with care & taste, modern furniture, accents, and artwork, etc. I just LOVE walking around these houses oohing and ahhing and admiring. It's great fun and gives me honest-to-goodness pleasure.

But instead of being satisfied with the joy I get seeing other people's well-appointed homes, I've found myself, for the first time, looking around our own house and finding it lacking. I've always loved that we get so much use out of things, many of which have been generously handed down to us. (The pink chair I'm sitting in originally graced my bedroom when I last lived with my parents in 1990.) It has always given me particular pleasure to "make do" and create an attractive room out of what we've already got.

Don't get me wrong. We've spent money on furniture. We love our living room couch. It is very comfortable and it is brown. We liked brown when we bought it. We REALLY like brown now that it's been host to coffee spills and magic markers. We love the Target ottomans that hold all our well-used (non-matching) assortment of blankets that keep us warm on the brown couch on wintry evenings. I've also spent more than I care to admit on IKEA curtains, curtain rods, and shades. But they seem a little out-of-date.

We bought our TV armoir as newlyweds, before we even had a TV, and it's always felt like this wonderful, giant, room-anchoring piece. But I'm suddenly aware that it is not an "in" color. (Besides, TVs don't even go in armoirs anymore. They hang on walls.) Our dining room furniture is pale, too, although every single piece represents the kindness of different members of our families, and I love that. And it's all perfectly functional, which is one of my favorite adjectives. (It's great for describing dinners that aren't going over well. "This food might not taste great, but it is FUNCTIONAL. It will keep you from going hungry and it will nourish your body.")

I confess, things are jumping out at me and actually GETTING at me. The wallpaper borders still up in our kitchen and bathroom. The circa 1980's colors on the living room and hall stairway walls. The wall collages I cherish for each item's meaning and history, which now just look messy compared with the single, wall-encompassing works of beautiful art I imagine would look so much better.

The girls' room...how I DREAM about doing that over. (The $1 Martha Stewart "oops" paint from K-Mart seemed like such a great idea at the time.) And our own bedroom still shows off the former owner's stenciling prowess.

So I go up to the library and read. The library, my favorite room, with its cool, curvy furniture (thanks to Aunt Barbara and Uncle Diego, who practically gave it to us), shelves of books, and world map that takes up one whole wall. And when I go there, I need to read a few verses that remind me to be thankful and content. I will continue to admire friends' great tastes in interior design, and I will continue to gravitate to HG-TV when go places that have cable. (Alan recently found that you can watch episodes of some HG-TV shows on their website. I'm sure this has not helped my current dissatisfaction.) But to bring me back around to being that person I liked being before I felt these feelings, I need to remember:

"If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content." (I Tim.6:8) "...be content with what you have..." (Hebr.13:5)