Several years ago I asked a woman I knew from work to join me to a tea party held in a local restaurant. She was delighted that I would ask her since we didn't know each other well. She lived some distance away so I insisted she spend the night with me rather than stay in a motel. After a quick tour of my home she said "I didn't know you were eccentric." I didn't know if this was a compliment or not until the next morning when she announced she loved my little cottage and thanked me for allowing her to sleep in "The Hat Room".
You see, I am a want-to-be artist. I confess, I have very little talent but I enjoy the creative process so much, I don't care if it is good or not. "The Hat Room" is the small bedroom (both bedrooms are small, it is simply the smallest). On the door of this room I have painted a lady dressed in a green dress and hat with a peacock feather and with vintage gloves holds a sign stating "This Girl's Gotta Hattitude". The wall directly across from the entrance has a lattice trellis covered with roses and wisteria painted on it and hanging on the trellis is a collection of vintage hats. More vintage hats adorn the wall around the dresser mirror and scattered around the room in strategic spots.
I call my home my "Little Magic Cottage" because that is where I make my creative magic. I got the idea from reading about SARK's "Magic Cottage". SARK's home used to be a tool shed 180 square feet in size. My home isn't big but it is enormous compared to hers. The rooms in my house are my canvas to paint on.
The lavender bedroom is pretty but not very artistic. I love the room because Les told me it would be ugly. He visited me when I was putting on the first coat of lavender paint. When he came back, the room was finished. I had sponge painted the room with two shades of lavender and white. He actually touched the walls because he thought I had covered it with wallpaper. It did my little heart good when he told me he was wrong. This room has a quaint Victorian look about it. Very romantic and very me.
I've painted a mural on the walls in my dinky little bathroom. The walls are covered with whimsical water creatures for the grandchildren's delight. There is a happy yellow duck watching a hungry frog jump for a unsuspecting dragonfly. Across the room on another wall a curious turtle watches another dragonfly flit by while a mother bird feeds her three hungry babies, and a big fish flops out of the water to get a closer look at a rabbit sitting on the bank of the pond. When I was five years old we lived on a farm in Franklin, Illinois. Our bedroom had cute curtains with children and animals on it. I don't remember much about those curtains any longer but I do know I loved them. They were my inspiration for the bathroom. I wanted to paint something the grandchildren would remember about Grandma's house.
The kitchen is also very small with very little space to decorate. I covered the dark dreary cabinet doors with some bright white paint and then painted grape vine wreaths decorated with pink roses and lavender wisteria on them. On the wall over the entrance to the dining room I painted "Life holds special magic for those who dare to dream".
My art studio is in the basement. The basement floor has a happy sun painted on it. The rays of the sun are painted with bright designs and inspirational quotes. The walls are painted orange with "Creativity is not about perfection. It's about being wild, silly and down right outrageous" painted on them. I read that motto on a piece of art work by Kelly Roberts and loved it. Perhaps I will make that my motto to live a happy life. The desk and work space is bright yellow, red, blue, green and purple. My art studio is bold and fun. As you may have guessed, the grandchildren have taken over my art studio. They think it is fun too and since they have much more creative talent than I do, it is only right that they should take it over.
I believe your home should reflect who you are. It should be a welcome retreat from the harsh world outside. My home does just that. Disorganized? Yes. A slob? Yes. But the important factor is that I am content in knowing who I am and what I love. I love my family and friends and my creative life. There was a time in my life when I felt I had to portray a certain type of woman. The good little housewife. I am no longer afraid to be me, a wild, wacky, wonderful woman. Oh, did I forget to mention? Eccentric?
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