Living in a Shoe box

You know the Nursery Ryhme....

                     There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
                    She had so many children, she didn't know what to do;
                    She gave them some broth without any bread;
                    Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.

    Well I am hardly "Old" and don't have multiple children that I "Whip" .....but I "DO" feel like my home is probably the shoebox to her old shoe!
    We live in an apartment. While it is much bigger than some.........I still don't like how you can turn once and be standing in 3 rooms at the same time. Its a dining-live-kitchen room!
   A year ago we were hit by the downturn of the economy. I am a stay at home mom, so these walls are what I pretty much stare at every day.  I would want to redecorate because of all the tempting magazines or home make overs I'd see. But with out the dough....you just can't make bread! (like my little joke? Hey the old woman didn't have bread either!) I began to move things around. Clean out cupboards. Just simply get rid of things I was hanging on to for just the right moment to use. Seriously....when do those right moments really come? I really changed my outlook from what I wanted.... to what I just needed..

One of the "places" I started to redo was my fireplace. Our apartments don't encourage you to paint walls. Plus I am never sure when it is time to renew our lease, if we will be staying. (3yrs and still counting LOL) So I haven't braved the painting part yet. But.....I wanted to add color to my fire place and symmetry. So I began to look at what I had to use and re-purpose. Then I began to hunt for a mirror. I looked every were but everything I wanted was over $50!! (remember not much dough here) One Sunday afternoon, we decided to eat at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant. Its next to a Good Will. (Yay!) God Bless my hubby because he allowed me to drag him in after. There tucked in a corner was a beautiful, Old, Heavy, mirror!!!! Its was $14!! Exactly what I had been searching for. It had been waiting for me very patiently.  When we got home it went up right away. 

   So right now my proud point is my fireplace. I love how it turned out. I love how I used things that have meaning. Things that are antique-ish yet classy. I look at it and see..."Yay I did it! I do have some creativity!"
I look at it and see a lesson learned.

There is still things for me to "Change"..........but I love my little Shoebox/Home.