When I was describing myself on the title of my
blog, I had to add that everything I do is "all very imperfectly"
because in all honesty, that's how I operate. I’m very much a big picture
person. I love focusing on the vision and when it comes to details I’m
often a hack. I love some details like decorating the small finishing
touches on a cake or making my bed so perfectly that it looks like a staged
page from Elle Décor. On the
flip side, my bed may look beautiful, but if you lift one of my homemade
pillows you might find some imperfection residing.
I’m the kind of person who makes curtains
and ends up creating a border on them because of mistaken calculations.
Whether it’s building an IKEA bookshelf, creating the boards for my
booth, recycling an old door or simply remembering a conversation, I always get
the details mixed up. Oftentimes my mistakes work out to be a happy accident and other times I just
have to suck it up and live with the imperfections. Guaranteed that if you
peek underneath any paintings or pictures on our walls, you'll find at least
one, if not four or five little holes where I've guessed the center point to
hang it. (What can I say; it’s just how I roll).
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| Jules bedroom curtains with my Spider fabric from Henry Glass. The border was not planned, thank goodness I had two colorways |
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| This is our wall of school photos outside the playroom of our boys from Pre-K until now, you can guess how many holes in total are under these photos.....? |
One of my living nightmares is reading
instruction manuals, I’d rather endure root canal surgery than having to
sit and read an instruction manual. Thank God for Elliott, who happens to
be the opposite because we’re a family of game players with a lot of new games and he is
the designated manual reader.
Sometimes I'd desperately like to be the kind of
person who can accurately process instructions or measure the exact
quantities of ingredients when cooking, but whether it's a lack of focus or
patience, I'm just a toss it in there
kind of gal. I’m in awe of all these incredible quilters who have the
patience to cut out hundreds of little shapes and then meticulously sew them
together with such accuracy. But alas, that’s not me.
Fortunately I do have a knack for
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| When we bought our house, there wasn't a lot of original detail left, but I tried to recycle as much of it as possible, and donated what we couldn't use to "Build It Green" in Queens. This old door in our bedroom had a lot of broken stain glass panels and the wood was in terrible condition, so I stripped it, replaced the broken glass with wood panels, painted it fire truck red and attached it to a barn door fixture. |
There are times when I have to push myself to be
more disciplined with details and then there are other times when it’s just
beyond my nature. So I need to give myself permission to do things
imperfectly; otherwise I just wouldn’t do anything.
When I first started gardening and growing vegetables, I was
gifted a whole library of gardening books. Did I ever read one cover to
cover? Absolutely not, I went straight to the index, asked my gardener
friends or relied on my new BFF Google and at this moment I’m thoroughly
enjoying the “fruits” of my labor.
(Please Scottish friends don’t judge me too
harshly that after 22 years of living here, I've finally
surrendered to spelling “labour” the American way.)
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| Having fresh flowers from my garden is one of my favorite things |
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| Not to mention eating freshly picked Harlem grown vegetables |
So I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to get
out there and follow your heart’s desire and not to worry if you make a mess or
fall flat on your face. Whether you’re a manual type or intuitive type,
just go for it. And if ever you
visit our home, I give you full permission to check out the linings of my
curtains and look behind my pictures. Hopefully with just a slightly pinkish
face, I’ll be able to laugh off the imperfections and just be proud of what I was able to accomplish.
Much love,
Debbie
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