Because of the layout, it took Tia a few attempts of adjusting before she figured out her main room - on a tight budget. And two years later when I visited again, it looked quiet different.
She found one sofa on craigslist, and though it's a little shabby, there is no scolding her cat, dog, or four children when they utilize it. The other sofa was $30 at a garage sale. And her rug was a craigslist $40 find. The coffee table was built from a curb reject bottom with aunties old deck boards as an industrial top.
She split the awkward room into two sections and simplified the crowded kitchen by moving the dining table out here.
The table legs (I need a picture Tia) were from a $20 table. The top was discarded and $30 worth of lumber on top created a farmhouse table that was bleached with liming wax. The legs and top surprisingly blended together nicely with their coat of liming wax.
The chandelier was another thrift store find - spray painted white to update it. And these retro-modern chairs were blue, but painted white. The two end chairs were wicker from Tia's mom that she incorporated with new cushion covers to go from 90s red to subtle.
Her gallery is a blend of photography, art, and meaningful concepts - all in a coordinating color scheme and neutral layering.
Each piece in this livingroom was a make-do or slow find, or usually both.
Tia has always impressed me with her eye for simplifying and arranging what is already available. She has a gift for seeing magic amid the functional. Here are some of her secrets:
1. Its okay to not have everything at once. Small steps over time are a healthy balance for the many balls we all juggle.
2. Get up early. Early enough to soak in steady silent minutes. With coffee, your Bible, your husband, or just in stillness. But ample time to adjust from sleep to wake. Then the day can be productive and creative.
3. Make intentional effort. Even when it doesn't seem to be returned.
4. Figure out what works and what makes you happy and have a reason and a purpose for everything in the home. If it doesn't have a major (usually double) purpose, it doesn't deserve to fill up your life. We can't do the important things if we're busy managing stuff. Get rid of it by the trash bag full.
5. Savor old memories and old friends and invest in the future - but enjoy and appreciate and live fully present, today. That sounds too cliché. So practically it looks like this for their family; ditch the phone when you're with someone else. No one can leave the house before they hug mama goodbye. Sunday nights have a tradition of popcorn, apples, and cheese for dinner. Simple, filling, and time to connect. And girl weekends, dinner parties, and good food are a part of regular life for catching up and cherishing wholesome relationships.
So how does she do it? How does she fit in work and 4 kids and hubby and pets and church and exercise and writing a novel!
This is what I love about her livingroom. And her perspective.
She finds a way to make it work by getting creative with what can be done.
When I arrived she had no time to cook. So together we gathered and she poured wine and chopped a few veggies and took things out of the fridge. She laid out whole wheat pitas and a pile of different pizza options - pears, onions, fresh tomato and precooked bacon, blue and goat cheese and cheddar and so on.
The pita tasted like a delicious thin crust, we all shared each others creations, and clean up was a part of the fellowship. It was amazing to eat and no pre-prep and enjoyable to just share the kitchen - yet a very grown up and gourmet experience.
Hers: cranberry pear blue cheese and spinach
Mine: pineapple feta spinach orange pepper bacon and balsamic drizzle
(Salad was made by Heather but that amazingness is a recipe and a topic for another post)
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