Patience While Decorating

If you’re anything like me, you want immediate results when you move into a new place. You scoured the deep dark depths of Pinterest for weeks and now you know how you want each room to look. It is so hard not to decorate the second you move into a new house or rental. You want the space to feel like yours, rather than like the person who lived there before you or like a big empty box. As someone with a LOT of experience moving, I can attest to the importance of having patience while decorating a new space.

I certainly haven’t waited to decorate every time I moved. Each of those times, I regretted spending money on something I didn’t love or my tastes changed and I wasn’t happy with the room. On the flip side, the few times that I did exhibit patience while decorating, the results were fantastic. The best example I have is the dining area of my Chicago apartment. When I moved in, the room looked like this:

Dull baby blue paint. Old scratched vinyl floors. Yellowed trim. It needed help! My parents gave me their old kitchen table when I moved and that helped to inspire the vibe I wanted for the room. It is a rattan/bamboo glass top set that needed fresh upholstery. My mom had covered the chairs in buffalo check fabric back in the late 90’s when everyone was doing country kitchens. She was apparently way ahead of the farmhouse decor craze. Cute fabric, but it didn’t work with the beachy boho furniture.

The funky red fabric was a much better fit for the table set. My landlord also let me paint, but only pastel and neutral colors. I chose Maggie’s Magic mint green for this room and repainted all the trim. The combination really brightened up the room. I tried covering up the floor with a huge grass rug from IKEA. It helped and I lived with this for about 5 months, but it wasn’t quite enough for me. I don’t recommend doing this next step without approval from your landlord. Or without proper tools. Or without gloves. All of which I did not do. BUT THERE WAS WOOD FLOOR UNDER THE VINYL.

Isn’t that every homeowners (or renters) dream?! How could I not rip it up? This step happened very suddenly. I was bored on a winter weekend and decided to pull up a teeny piece of vinyl. The second I saw wood, I started ripping. I’m pretty sure I blacked out during it because there were no second thoughts or considerations. Just ripping. My landlord ended up being very happy because look how great it turned out:

Notice that there is rattan bar shelf in the corner. That was a Craigslist find that really finished off the room. Additionally, the striped rug had previously been in my bedroom, but it worked better in this dining area after the the vinyl was pulled out. The whole room had taken on a beachy bungalow look. I knew I wanted the room to have that vibe, but it took a full 7 months to come together. I’m so glad I had patience while decorating and didn’t impulsively buy fake pineapples or pictures of beach scenes to achieve the look. Using textiles and plants is a much better way to get a boho dining room. Now if only I had figured out a way to hang the light without a pencil 😉