putting a room together: day 3 {be a gatherer}

Soooo, some may call this hoarding, but I prefer the term gathering.

Anyone with money to burn can walk into a showroom and say, “I want this entire room. Have it delivered at 9 a.m. on Thursday. And send in the painters and interior designers as well. I’ll be at the dog spa with Fifi if you need me…”

The rest of us have to be a little more creative and patient as we

gather.

the Gleaners by Millet

If you give yourself one weekend to finish a space and haven’t done any planning, you’re going to have to go out and pay full price or hope that you hit some great thrift stores.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never walked into a thrift store or a yard sale and had everything I’ve needed for a room in that one spot. If you’re on a tight budget, it takes weeks and months of collecting treasures that will eventually make up your space.

You’ve got an inspiration picture(s) in mind, whether it’s from your own head or shamelessly copied from others, so now you can keep your eye out for things that might work in that space. You’ll look at Craigslist and thrift stores differently. The Target clearance endcaps will suddenly have new meaning. The oops paint at H. Depot and Lowes will have a heavenly aura over it.

You may tweak your original plan when you see something and begin to think, “hey, I could use this for…., or I could totally paint this and it could be used in Logan’s room, or these lamps would look sooo good with some spray paint and new shades. And there are 2 of them!!”

And, you don’t have to be thinking of one space at a time, unless that’s how you operate best. Right now, I have half a dozen spaces that I think through when I come to something I love and am not really sure how I would use it. Chances are, if I am really drawn to it and it “speaks” to me, I can use it somewhere in my home and I buy it if it fits in the budget. (or, I think of the absolute cheapest meals we can eat for the next week so I can MAKE it fit into the budget…)

That’s nice and all, Melissa, so what do you do with it until you find the time to actually tackle the space??

I ~~hoard~~ store it.

I try to put it in the space that I’m envisioning it will go in, because that’s supposed to give me motivation to get it done! Anyone who has stayed with us this past year knows Lauren’s room had a big old stash in the corner of a chandelier, fabric, frames, ugly chairs, etc. etc. and I threw a sheet over it when company came because I hadn’t gotten to it yet. It felt so good to clear out that corner and give most of it a purpose. (We’ll talk about things that didn’t have a purpose later)

Here are some of the things I’ve gathered and stuffed in the closets of the spaces I plan on tackling. It’s not pretty now and it takes a little faith that it can all come together eventually.

frames under the dresser in the entryway waiting to be painted and arranged…