Happy Thoughts, part 1

Soule Mama recently posted 10 of her happy thoughts that help to drive the February funk away. I thought I'd play along.

Happy thought number 1 - Matchy-matchyness.

I love it when things match. I have to refrain from making myself too matchy-matchy, which is easy when you get crafting. Look! Some leftover fabric... now I can make a matching headband for my dress (okay, I got past that sometime in high school, but the temptation lingers). Critics of matchy-matchyness must confess that I am much less extreme than this. However, we were able to get some matchy harmony going on when we moved into the our new place and I found it very satisfying. First the guest room...

left of guest bed

right of guest bed

I love that this room is a little cool and therefore very calm. I love the play between the amber finished furniture, the tan comforter and the sepia/engraved/hand tinted prints from Mr. M's grandmother. Don't you love how photography lets you edit a room? Let's just pretend that this room isn't normally besieged with laundry and half finished craft projects. I'm afraid that the overall elegance of the place is going to take even more of a hit when my new exercise bike arrives, but there is nowhere else for it to go. Sigh.

Next on the matchy-matchy front, the bedroom. Here we managed to gather together most of our darkest furniture (our furniture being an eclectic assortment of gifts, heirlooms, hand-me-downs and thrift shop finds). I have a little mahogany bookshelf at my bedside, and above it hangs a mobile that reminds me of the love story in Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed...

In that novel she uses a circle motif in such a beautiful, and maybe even profound way.

my dresser top

Looking at these pictures, it's interesting to see how much has changed, even since I took these, but that is as is should be. The space we live in can say so much about us, and they should grow with us. I even find myself a bit hesitant to say too much about the things I see in these pictures. Seeing these everyday things as pictures seems unexpectedly intimate.

My next big challenge here will be to get some decor going in the living room/office/studio/dining room/kitchen area. It is so nice and open (here is what it looked like when we moved in), but matchy-matchyness is clearly not an option and I need to find a way to harmonize all the different things going on in the space.

Can't wait for that sunshine to return.