I'm leaving you behind!

Yes.  There.  I've said it!

I'm sorry...but you are just not working for me!

I lied to you.

I've tried to change you, so we could make this work. 

But it just isn't going to happen after all.

The truth is.....no matter what I do....I always come back to THE COTTAGE!! 

So, I'm done trying to make you work in my life!!!

I need that warm embrace of time worn love.  And as you are, you just cannot be that for me.

So, my dear, dear, dear living room...I'm leaving your current look behind!!

This look, while the yellow walls were always TOOOOO yellow and were going to need to be changed, was more, shall we say...ME.



Because, let's face it.....

My whole life I've dreamed of living in a cottage!! :)

******************

So, here's the story.

This look...

....was using what I had when I bought and moved into my first home!  Well, first home I owned.  

Most of that stuff I had for years.

Within a month of buying my house, I had repainted every surface of the house, and had most stuff unpacked and the house decorated.  I mean, I owned everything I needed already and had already decorated it in my head before I even bought the house! :)

Two weeks after we moved in...I met a man!

Actually, it was more like a boy...but technically considering he's my age (36) we'll call him a man.

Things moved REALLY fast.  Way too fast!  And I swear within a couple months he was staying at my house most of the time.

He owned his own home as well...about an hour and half north of Indy.  But right about the time we met he had gotten a new job in Indy.  So, it was kind of a convenience thing. 

He'd stay with me during the week and then I'd go up there on the weekends to his house.  (Doodle was at Grammy's for the beginning of this...although she had met him a couple times before she left.)

He knew he was going to need to sell his house and move to Indy, so slowly his 'things' started moving into my house....in Indy.

Have I mentioned my house it 950 square feet?!?!?  And he was close to being a hoarder!!!!!!!!

But because I lurved him (bluk), I wanted to make him feel welcome.

He liked a more modern look...so compromise ensued. :\

That's how we got to this look....

Can you feel the choke of sterile grabbing hold?? 

He didn't like throw pillows!  Who doesn't like throw pillows?!?!?  I should have known there! LOL

I had artwork he had purchased in New York framed...and I hung them in MY living room to make HIM feel more comfortable. 

Then he started moving MORE stuff in!  And eventually my house felt like this!

Source

And so I started selling some of MY stuff....like that darling rattan coffee table!  (Yes, as a matter of fact, I am bitter!) ;)

After just over a year, I lost it and threw him to the curb.  But the process has left my house in shambles!!  It's still not recovered from his time there!

What was once an organized, darling, little house...has been in limbo ever since!!

Since I had sold stuff, and purchased new stuff, like orange curtains and pillows to try to add warmth to his cold and impersonal decor, I felt like I needed to use them.

That's how, even though he was gone, we ended up here....

and here....

and yes, eventually here....

And while I don't hate this look.  It has a very nice, warm, uncluttered, more updated appeal...it isn't the cottage I dream of!!

It doesn't have that time worn appeal that I love!! 

It doesn't have RED or GREEN!!  And guess what....I love red AND green!!

It doesn't feel like you just stepped in from the beautiful garden and can just wrap up with in the warmth that only a cottage can make you feel!!!

So, I'm leaving this look behind! 

I don't care how much those curtains cost me...they are already gone!  ($60 at Target by the way...that's how much they cost...$30 a panel...just in case you were wondering.) ;)

And while some of my old pieces are gone....some are not!  And they will be making there way out of boxes in the garage and back into the house.

And I found the most beautiful inspiration piece last weekend at Homegoods!!!

I was able to purchase this with a $50 gift card I still had left from Christmas...which makes it even better. :)

So, now you know how I've gone through so many looks in such a short period of time.  I actually don't change looks that often, but I think because I got away from what I love, I was never going to get it right again until I went back.

Do you ever do that?  Try a new look only to find yourself back at your old stand-by's?