A few weeks back I opened an online Etsy shop to sell some of my scrapbooking creations. Please check it out, let me know what you think and if you buy something kisses to you!

Being a military spouse, I have changed residences eight times in six years. Every space we have lived in has had great things and not so great things to enjoy. Some places we had two bathrooms, some places we had one; other places had a pathetic closet of a kitchen hidden out of sight and others have had kitchens that were in the main room of the house, but without adequate storage. You just never know quite what you’re going to get, and so we slowly collect good pieces of furniture and do a lot of supplementing with very inexpensive pieces from Target and Ikea. I am perpetually de-junking, de-cluttering, and weeding out things that we no longer serve a purpose for us. Occasionally I am weeding out items that do still serve a purpose, but simply won’t fit in my house. That gets hard. I know when we move from this house into a different one, it is very likely that I’m going to lose kitchen storage, and it just might kill me to have to part with or store my amazing but excessive cooking gadgetry.

I just finished a decorating how to book called Downsizing Your Home With Style by Laurie Ward. As you can imagine, I completely identified with this book (well, the downsizing part, the style, I’m not so sure). While the book was geared more toward empty nesters, anyone who changes residences can benefit. There was great advice about choosing furniture that really served your needs, and using the furniture that you already had to its best advantage. The best part of the book were the pictures. Now, I love to leaf through decorating magazines and books. I love the artistry that people can create in a living space, however, I’m raising a family and am very quick to acknowledge just how fast that decorative whatzit will be broken and even quicker to add up the prices of all of the Pottery Barn furniture in the picturesque scene and realize that in order for me to achieve that look I’d have to spend ten grand on every room in my house. Not so with this magazine. While the photos were of well arranged furniture and sturdy, worthwhile pieces, they were realistic. It felt like the author was saying, “Ok, you can take Aunt Mable’s old bed and pair it with these simple end tables from your grown children’s bedroom, add some new drapes and you’re good to go.” Stylish, smart, functional and within reach.

Aside from the practical nature of the book, it was loaded with point blank advice on how to best set up a house for functional, comfortable living. It was simple enough for anyone to follow, offered great suggestions for clutter, and left the reader feeling like downsizing was something she could do on her on her own. Great book.