Why You Need to Shop in Your Own Home
Whenever I want to “refresh a room”, I don’t head out and go shopping. Instead, I always shop my home first. Today I am sharing why you need to shop your own home for decor!
I just finished restyling our living room for winter. I added ice-blue highlights in the room and you won’t believe where I found most of the items.
I found them in our home. Had you asked me if I owned any ice blue items I would have said: “absolutely not”! But I was so wrong.
I knew ice blue would look great in our living room because it already was in our painting and rug. So the first thing I did was scour our home. I opened every cupboard, every drawer, and every closet. I went up to our third floor and opened a few plastic bins looking for more things. So what did I find?
The first treasure that I found was the blue chippy wooden holder. This was outside in our outdoor kitchen. I had used it to hold seasonings for our bbq. I honestly had barely noticed it was blue.
Then I found the blue vintage medicine bottles which were in a box in my art studio. (Don’t ask what they were doing in there.) I found the pillow with the nest of blue eggs in the closet where I keep my extra pillow covers. Then I found a few blue books scattered on various shelves in our living and family rooms.
I found the off white and light blue throw in our linen closet. I honestly had forgotten that I bought it a few years earlier.
I also found quite a few galvanized pieces. I added these to the room because they work so well with the light iced blue.
The new simplicity and comfort of this room just makes me smile. The seating is comfortable and it’s a great room for sitting by the fire and reading or just having a conversation. For practical reasons, I moved the lamps closer to the couch to help with reading.
I promise to share more parts of this room on my next blog post. I just might even confess that I purchased a few vintage items and flea market finds that really put the finishing touches on this room.
So what do you think? Isn’t it fun to shop in your own home? It certainly is a lot less expensive.
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I did something similar last week. My house has become very neutral, a little too neutral, so I switched out some neutral pictures for a few more colorful pictures from another room and some plates I had in a buffet and happied up this house until spring! This always makes me feel like I have a new house and I didn’t have to spend a dime…. although, admittedly, I spent money a long time ago for those things I wasn’t using. It’s funny how we trick ourselves, isn’t it?
I have storage upstairs where I hide things…in plain sight. And when I get the itch for a refresh I hunt there, and I wander from room to room doing exactly as you did. I look high and low for things that I think will fit what I am trying to do. It’s fun to run into an old friend you forgot you had.
I am always wishing that someone would come to my home and rearrange all
the ‘stuff’ for me! I get so used to things being in “their particular spot” that I overlook
a better location. Help??!! How can I do this better??
YES! I Love to use and reuse items in different rooms.
It makes me feel like I just bought something new and
didn’t spend a dime. And it looks totally different in your
new space. Love yours Leslie.
I have given talks at my garden club about “shopping the house” when decorating. It’s so much fun and so “eye opening”.
That is so great, Eileen. Glad we have a similar eye!
Yes! Use what you have! I too often forget all the stuff I have. Sometimes it’s time to pass it in and sometimes it just needs to come out! I do change my mantle for the seasons but we can do other corners of the house as well.
That is so great, Jill. It is just fun to switch things up and feel repurpose things already in our homes!
Leslie, this doesn’t have to do with “shopping your own home” but may I ask where you got your couch covers? I just can’t find any I like.
Thank you
Debi
Hi Debi! They are linked under the shop my home tab!
That’s so fun to do! I love finding pretty things I’d forgotten about (or lost!) 😉 Thanks for the reminder!
Of course! It really is the best 🙂
Who is the artist of piece over fireplace?