I like to buy furniture that is already distressed. That way my son's array of tools don't add any discernable damage. Almost every piece of upolstered furniture I own is slipcovered...good for Charlie the Dog's lovely "moments" and the pen my husband bought that looks like an airplane and is therefore irresistable to my son.
When we moved into our dream home, I actually hired someone to make my kitchen walls look old. It's the vintage look I adore. I love to be surrounded by the comfortable...the mushy gushy couch covered in yummy fancy fabric that invites snuggling and the red wood stove that I love to gather around and get toasty.
But it's more than the vintage, comfortable "look" that I can't live without...it's a throw-back, true-to-basics, deeply comforting way of life that I can't live without. You see, if my shabby chic farmhouse burned down, I would still have my shabby life.
My shabby life has gathered some nicks and scars along the journey...but it has been those marks that I've allowed to make me richer. A life where I've learned to anticipate and accept the bumps and bruises that will be coming my way in life and plan for them so I don't let them break my spirit. Instead of expecting life to be perfect (which a lot of mis-led folks mistake for "organized"), I am learning it to live in the present and consider it a gift.
More thoughts on my shabby life in my next blog...stay tuned!
~Vicki Norris