Welcome, Get Comfy and Stay Awhile

I've been kind of lazy this summer with properly photographing things (blog related and just in general), but I am finally equipped with a fancy apple mobile device that allows me to hop on the Instagram band wagon. For those of you unfamiliar with Instagram, it's basically just an app that takes a photo from your phone (or in my case ipad) and puts some cool "retro" effects on them. Then you can share your photos via facebook, twitter, or directly with anyone who happens to "friend" or "follow" you on the Instagram site itself.

I can't help but find irony in the fact that with a nice digital camera we can take pictures as crystal clear and vibrant as life itself...and now the "cool" thing to do is to make your photos look like they were taken with a Polaroid camera circa 1970. But, I have to admit, I do kind of like the various Instagram looks, and I'm kind of addicted. Plus, it's instant gratification as far as photo editing and sharing goes, so that part is fun. So the photos in this post are courtesy of my latest addiction, which is explanation enough for their hazy or oddly colored appearances.  

Anyway, after I posted about how I wanted to mentally move back into my home and learn to love it regardless of how long or short our stay will be here, I did some deep cleaning and decided it was time for a project.

I allowed myself to dream a bit in the paint chip aisle of home depot...

And although I still haven't completely ruled out the idea of painting some hallways yellow, or an accent wall black, I decided that a safer fix for the time being was to deal with this problem area.

Welcome to my front hallway, first impression of my home. Hi there ill fitting, lonely, wrinkled, dirty little 10 year old "runner" that has somehow found a home as my foyer rug. I have been putting off buying a proper rug because I wasn't sure how long we'd be here and didn't want to buy a rug tailored to this space that might not work in a new home, and blah blah blah...and then I realized that if I have thought that THIS was "working" for the last 3 years, I can surely find a place for whatever rug I buy in whatever home we'll someday end up in.

A week or so later, and my first impulse buy on overstock.com....this arrived on my doorstep.

Unrolled in all of it's glory...Ta-Dah!

I love it. I love the way it looks, the way it feels, the way it makes ME feel. It says "Welcome to my fabulous home, get comfy and stay awhile," instead of, "Hey, come on in, don't mind this mess."

But guess what, it really doesn't even "work" in this space (the one that I specifically bought it for!)

It butts up against the door to our hallway bathroom, and makes it a bit difficult to open, and it doesn't totally fill the available space like it maybe should...but it works. And I like it. It just goes to show that it doesn't have to be perfect to be something that can make a big difference.

Everyone is just going to have to live with the fact that you can only open the bathroom door about 2 feet instead of all of the way. I hated when people left it hanging wide open into the hallway anyway.