We know how hard it can be to wait, especially when you are so close to beginning a project.Perhaps you are waiting to save x amount of dollars to build the kitchen of your dreams, or perhaps you simply have to wait until your contractor’s ( hopefully it’s us :) anticipated start date. Either, way, the waiting can be tough. You are itching to move on from the old and into the new, and this transitional phase can be the hardest.
Let me give you a little backstory. When Adam and I bought our house that sat atop a beautiful Shrewsbury mountain, we knew that a lot of work was ahead of us. The wood paneling and wagon wheel windows made our eyes burn, and the styrofoam beams that hung vertically along the ceiling were far from beautiful. Everything, every fixture, every wall, every piece of beat up flooring was a design disaster, and we could not wait to rip into the walls and make a dead space come to life again. But we had to wait. We had to wait to save. We had to wait to plan, and when the money and plans came together we continued to wait.
Adam and I are a firm believer in growing tall regardless of where we’ve been planted. That means, we try to do everything in our power to make the most out of life, even if the life we are experiencing wasn’t the version we had planned. We wanted our home complete, but we knew that time was in our way. Because we had to wait, we did everything in our power to make our home as homely as possible while we crept up to the start-date. How did we do just that?
We painted. We took the time to paint walls even if those walls would be torn down. Sure those walls would not exist in our future home, but why not enjoy them now while we are waiting for our dream home? A little paint brightened our gloomy space, and made us hopeful for our future home.
Not only did we paint, Adam would usually come home with a fresh bouquet of flowers to place in the center of our dining room table. Although our kitchen was absolutely heinous with dark colored old wooden cabinets, and leather like countertops, the beauty of the flowers distracted us from the ugly. If you’re waiting to renovate a space, set a bouquet of fresh flowers in the room, this is an inexpensive beautiful diversion that will make the waiting just a little easier.
This next tip is one of my favorites: buy something beautiful that you plan to use in your future space. This literally could mean anything from art, to furniture, to even a little knack knack. But above all things, you must love it! Renovating our kitchen was one of the last steps in our interior renovation, which meant, we had to wait a few years until we could finally congregate around the kitchen island of my dreams. We couldn’t wait, but for me to appreciate the space I was in, I needed a memento of hope. So where did I turn? Anthropologie, of course (please tell me you’ve experienced this store). I bought the most beautiful sugar and cream set with flecks of gold, purple and pink adorning the china white background. This winsome delicate set was planned for my future kitchen, but seeing it set on my revolting countertop, gave me hope that we would soon be cooking in our kitchen. If you can, buy yourself something that you plan to use in your future space that you can use now. This will allow you to feel like you are making progress, but also maintain hope in this season of waiting.
I sincerely hope that these little tips and tricks will help you as you wait for your project to begin. I know they have helped us endure the wait until the start date. So stay, patient friends. Buy your flowers, paint a wall, and maintain your dreams. You’ll get there!
Cheers,
Lauren Severy