“Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” ― Thoreau
So why not just laugh now? – G
“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?” — Unknown
Recently I posted a picture of myself in my kitchen, and I immediately started receiving generous messages from people wanting to help me “update” it. Along with their messages came pictures of how my kitchen could look, if I’d just put some effort and money into it.
I’ve always loved my kitchen, but after seeing those pictures I found myself looking at it through new, critical eyes. Maybe it was all wrong. Maybe the 80’s counters, laminate cabinets, mismatched appliances and clutter really were mistakes I should try to fix. I stood and stared and suddenly my kitchen looked shabby and lazy to me. I wondered if that meant I was shabby and lazy, too. Because our kitchens are nothing if not reflections of us, right? I decided I’d talk to Craig and make some calls about updates.
But as I lay down to sleep, I remembered this passage from Thoreau’s Walden: “I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes and not a new wearer of the clothes.” Walden reminds me that when I feel lacking- I don’t need new things, I need new eyes with which to see the things I already have. So when I woke up this morning, I walked into my kitchen wearing fresh perspectacles. Here’s what I saw.
You guys. I have a REFRIGERATOR.
This thing MAGICALLY MAKES FOOD COLD. I’m pretty sure in the olden days, frontierswomen had to drink warm Diet Coke. Sweet Jesus. Thank you, precious kitchen.
Inside my refrigerator is FOOD. Healthy food that so many parents would give anything to be able to feed their children. Not me. When this food runs out, I’ll just jump in my car to get more. It’s ludicrous, really. It’s like my family hits the lottery every freaking morning.
THIS CRAZY THING IS A WATER FAUCET. I pull this lever and CLEAN WATER POURS OUT EVERY TIME, DAY OR NIGHT. Mamas everywhere spend their entire day walking miles to and from wells just for a single bucket of this- and I have it right here at my fingertips. I’m almost embarrassed to say that we also have one of these in each of our two bathrooms, and one in the front yard with which to WASH OUR FEET. We use clean drinking water to WASH OUR FEET. Holy bounty.
This is the magical box in which I put uncooked stuff, push some buttons, and then a minute later- pull out cooked stuff. It is like the JETSONS up in here.
This is my medicine cabinet. Since my Lyme is in remission and each of my babies is healthy- there is nothing in here but vitamins and supplements and tea. Thank you, God. This medicine cabinet is a miracle to me. Every time I open it I feel like I should kneel down and kiss the ground. I have an inbox full of letters from mothers whose medicine cabinets look very different.
Speaking of ground- this is our kitchen floor. It’s not fancy, but it’s perfect for our most important kitchen activity: DANCING. When Chase was three a librarian asked a roomful of kids, “what do we do in the kitchen?” Everyone else called out “cook” or “eat!” But Chase yelled “DANCE!”
I can’t even talk about this thing. Actually, let’s take a moment of reverent silence because this machine is the reason all my people are still alive. IT TURNS MAGICAL BEANS INTO A LIFE-SAVING NECTAR OF GODS. EVERY MORNING. ON A TIMER.
And look you guys: LOOK. This is the kitchen corner where I keep all my kids’ school stuff. My kids go to a FREE school with brilliant teachers and a loving administration and they’re SAFE there. The school sends flyers home about PROGRAMS and CLASSES and CLUBS to make my kids’ hearts bigger and softer and their brains sharper and their bodies healthier. This corner reminds me everyday that my kids have at their fingertips what so many around the world are giving their lives for: quality education. When I wear my perspectacles I can’t look at this corner without a heart explosion.
My perspectacled kitchen tour taught me two things this morning: I’m insanely lucky and I’m finally FREE.
In terms of parenting, marriage, home, clothes – I will not be a slave to the Tyranny of Trend any longer. I am almost 40 years old and no catalog is the Boss of Me anymore. I am free. I am not bound to spend my precious days on Earth trying to keep up with the Joneses- because the Joneses are really just a bunch of folks in conference rooms changing “trends” rapidly to create fake monthly emergencies for us. OH NO! NOW IT’S A SUBWAY TILE BACKSPLASH WE NEED! No, thank you. Life offers plenty of REAL emergencies to handle, thank you very much.
I’m a grown up now. I know what looks good on me, and that doesn’t change every three months. I know how I like my house. I like it cute and cozy and a little funky and I like it to feel lived in and worn and I like the things inside of it to work. That’s all. And for me – it’s fine that my house’s interior suggests that I might not spend every waking moment thinking about how it looks.
Sometimes it seems that our entire economy is based on distracting women from their blessings. Producers of STUFF NEED to find 10,000 ways to make women feel less than about our clothes, kitchens, selves so that we will keep buying more. So maybe freeing ourselves just a little from the Tyranny of Trend is a women’s issue – because we certainly aren’t going to get much world changing done if we spend all of our time and money on wardrobe and kitchen changing.
BUT. Listen. I’m nothing if not a tangled, colorful ball of contradictions. I like a good make-over as much as anybody else. So . . . HERE WE HAVE IT. HERE IS THE MELTON KITCHEN MAKEOVER FOR YA! READY FOR THE BIG REVEAL?
Before:
After:
Ba- BAM! Extreme home makeover! My kitchen IS beautiful because it is full of beauty. SO IS YOURS.
Today I shall keep my perspectacles super-glued to my face and feel insanely GRATEFUL instead of LACKING and I will look at my home and my people and my body and say: THANK YOU. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. THIS IS ALL MORE THAN GOOD ENOUGH, ALL OF IT. Now. Let us turn our focus onward and outward. There is WORK TO BE DONE and JOY TO BE HAD.
Love,
G
Author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller LOVE WARRIOR — ORDER HERE
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2,233 Comments
Awesome! You are so right and I must remember this every time I think something looks outdated or isn’t sparkling clean ALL the time. I must say that I wish I knew the name of the person who invented the washing machine and the dryer because I would thank them personally everyday if I did. I do thank them, I just say “Thank you, whoever you are who invented this greatest of all inventions!” And the whole clean water flowing into our homes whenever we want it?! You are right, it is amazing isn’t it? Thanks for the reminder!
Right on! Love this!
Thankyou. My heavily pregnant daughter emailed me the link to your blogg….she values your values and so I know I have taught her well. Thankyou, I hope your daughters can reward and reflect you the same way……love is the way.
You are speaking my language! As a perspective home buyer myself, people have been rather surprised my “must-haves” list is so short. Stated simply, I want a functioning kitchen. One where the appliances work, the water runs (and drains) and there is enough room for a table. All the rest is just window dressing. Bathroom? Yes please. Only caveat, it needs a tub, not just a shower stall, as I have a kidlet. Well, ok I have one picky thing about bathrooms, but its just a layout thing and has nothing to do with age of fixtures, I hate when they cram the toilet right up next to the bathtub cause it makes cleaning both harder and getting in the tub more awkward. Bedrooms? need 2 or three big enough for beds and dressers. A place to park my car that’s not on the street and a place where I can put in a veggie garden and my must have list is done. What I DO want is a place that feels comfortable and where I can concentrate on what is really important…raising a smart, funny, energetic child! Thank you for showing me I am not alone in this debate!
Love the kitchen makeover!!!! I love my kitchen too just the way it is!!
Great piece. Sometimes I watch those HGTV shows with my mom, and people will come into a perfectly gorgeous house and comment “the kitchen is SO 90’s,” or “I couldn’t possibly cook in this kitchen,” and then we get to watch as they rip out perfectly good cabinets with sledgehammers and install some kind of trendy countertop that will out of fashion in 5 years and will “need” to be updated again.
Just a few weeks ago I was dismaying about my 1950’s kitchen with the original countertops and old timey linoleum floor, hating the fact that my washer and dryer are in the kitchen and not in a separate laundry room. But then I went in there and cooked a great dinner for friends, and did laundry and was happy I didn’t have to schlep everything to the laundrymat.
We’d all be a lot happier, I think, if we turned off the TV and tuned out the expectations of others, and just lived and enjoyed our lives.
oh, that people were telling you to update YOUR kitchen! would that those folks had seen MY kitchen!!!
Love your perspectical analysis of your kitchen!!! great fun article to read, so full of, magic! 😀
If only others learned to be content with what they have!
Love it! Gorgeous family!
When we found our house, we loved every bit of it, except the kitchen… nice enough, but not a ‘cook’s kitchen’. In 2012, we were able to do a bit of remodel, adding lots of counter space for working and a wonderful, 6 burner stove with a griddle and a steam oven!! I can cook just like Julia Child. We chose simple, shaker style cabinetry and a solid surface counter top. Kitchen and dining area are unified by the wall of cabinetry. Very pleased with our do-over, I was showing pictures to several people. Several asked me: “Are you going to decorate?”… I didn’t know how to answer!! The simple, cherry wood cabinetry and the lovely granite surfaces….. decorate?? what?? and make it look cheap and cluttered?? No thank you. If a kitchen ‘works’, that is awesome. If it doesn’t ‘work’, then a fix up to make it work is well worth it. Love your kitchen and the elements that make it beautiful!!
Do you have taps that produce clean water? Or do you have to walk miles to access it then carry it back in an urn on your head to bring to your children? I was thinking that maybe your ‘unified wall of cabinetry’ might have gotten in the way and there was no room to put the faucets that provide your spoiled behind with CLEAN DRINKING WATER.
I love this post! We have so much for which to be grateful. Thank you for your thoughtful introspection! And yes, kitchens are made for dancing 🙂
This is fantastic. Go you! So easy to let other’s voices start clouding your brain, but your inspiring attitude of being grateful for all the things that your home is versus stuck on what it might seem like it’s “missing” to the outside world is one to be echoed for sure. Loved this post!
This is an Amazing post!! I wish more people would stop and enjoy what they have, not what they don’t have. Thank you for opening some eyes with your wonderful view!
Yeah!! I love this. I am so tired of the constant need to get more to fill us up. It doesn’t work and distracts us from what is important. The constant search for more is unhealthy and breeds unhappiness.
Oh. I really love this. Just the things that matter. Just the things that matter. Yes.
I love what you see, I’m ready to see the world the same way
Carpe kairos. Love it.
Bravo….”The Tyranny of Trend”…love it. We live in a throw away society…where things get tossed, and new purchased like a change in the weather. There is always a new model of phone, electronics, styles…on and on and on! It is too often easy come…easy go, and it is staggering to consider how many in the world have nothing….nothing. We need to open our hearts to what really matters, be content with what we have, generous with others who are in need rather than always thinking we need MORE. Your message was perfect…I love the perspectacles…brilliant! I will remember that lovely word. Thanks so much for opening eyes with your wit and wisdom!
This is my favorite thing I have ever read on facebook. Thank you so much for renewing my perspectacles. I am especially happy that I read this on my adult daughters wall with her must read header attached…made me proud. So much love for this article I have decided to re-post it everyday for a week so as many of my friends and family will see it through the bombardment of other posts.
once again thanks.
I love you. Thank you. (also, I have that Kindness Matters magnet on my car) <3
if your kitchen needs updating mine is practically antique. hey maybe if i wait a few years it will be back in “style.” not that i care as it too has all the working parts.
Bless you waking up the rest of us and in a humorous way. Too often we get caught up disliking what we should be so happy to have. Thank you. Your family is lucky to have you.
WOW, what an awesome post! I am in a newer house and after years of renting am procrastinating on decorating in case it doesn’t look like those beautiful magazine house, but thanks to my new perspecticles I can see that I am lucky to have my home and whatever I choose to put in it will be perfect for me.
Fantastic post, just love it!
Thank you so much for the well-written reminder! And like many others who have commented, I love your “perspectacles!”
“Perspectacles”. I LOVE this! Mind if I borrow that? We all need to get a pair of those on our face often. Thanks for a truly inspiring read. Enjoy that kitchen dancing!
Love, love, love your article AND the term perspectacle! Thanks for the reminder to be grateful for all we have whether we think it is a lot or a little. Personally, living in a hot and humid city, I’m SO grateful for my working A/C. Also love your kitchen makeover too. Very sweet!
Best.makeover.ever.
Honey-chile – you just said it. Wish I had. Goodonya!
Could not agree more and have always felt this way myself. I do my laundry with one of those hook-up-to-the-sink washers and feel grateful that I even have a washer at all. Grateful that I have a home with beds for everyone to sleep in. Grateful to have “everyones” to sleep in those beds. I grew up dancing in the kitchen so I get it. I have the most old fashioned kitchen in the world and still throw parties for a lot of people who all try to crowd into that kitchen by the way. I’ve seen friends upgrade their lives and it always seems like the fun is over when they do.
Great article! When I wrote my first gratitude list, I found it amazing how once you start, things just keep coming. As with above listed electricity, light bulbs, running water, hot water, an indoor bathtub and toilet, showers, and everything you listed. It just keeps coming when you take the time to look.
Isn’t it funny? Everyone has a suggestion on how your life could “look” better based on presumptions that incorrect.
FYI, one more thing to be happy for: you have light. Lots of people cook and prepare their food in near-dark conditions, and they’re thankful for the water-bottle light contraptions that get stuck into their ceilings. One flip of the switch and the magic of electricity makes it so that you see. Also, you have counters!
Great article, and it’s the way I feel about the “latest and greatest” homes and also, electronics!! Fortunately, we were able to build recently, and I have a really nice home with some of this now. I did not go for the BEST of everything, kept my head level, and now we are not upside down in our house because of that clear thinking. Tried to stay with what was smart, and what would add value, and put a lot of thought and research into that. We only have 2 kids, and I think you have 4, so that makes a big difference. You decided where your priorities were when you had them, and limited yourself, and now, you need to stick with your heart!
Great article, and it’s the way I feel about the “latest and greatest” homes and also, electronics!! Fortunately, we were able to build recently, and I have a really nice home with some of this now. I did not go for the BEST of everything, kept my head level, and now we are not upside down in our house because of that clear thinking. Tried to stay with what was smart, and what would add value, and put a lot of thought and research into that. We only have 2 kids, and I think you have 4, so that makes a big difference. You decided where you’re priorities were when you had them, and limited yourself, and now, you need to stick with your heart!
perspective, priorities, and Dancing! Thanks for a lesson in perspective.
This is the best thing I have read on face book in forever. What a beautiful attitude. If we were all this way what a beautiful world it would be. I vow here to be more grateful for what I have and not what I would like to have… Right now my home is full of love, grand children present, so I am just grateful to wake every morning to their happy faces,, Thank you so much.
I love your kitchen AND I love mine too! I do not care about keeping up with the neighbors. In fact, my whole house is retro and I like it! My husband built it 20 years ago and we made it look like an old house. No one can believe that it’s new. It’s perfect for us just like yours is perfect for you. Not to say I don’t have some projects…. I call it character!
I really appreciate your perspective. In this country we have so much to be thankful for. May I also just say, how incredibly rude for people to offer to update your kitchen or send pictures of what it could look like.
Really! What kind of people would make that kind of unsolicited offer?
They were probably just trying to be helpful, but as someone I used to know was fond of saying “When is help not help?”
Anyway, as a designer I feel I can assure you that your kitchen is very nice as it is! The appliances look good (and pretty new), the ceramic tile counter tops, while perhaps out of fashion, look good, are in good shape, and help make the room brighter. I have no problem with the cabinets either, they have a sleek look, and the whole room hangs together well. While it is not on trend, as you rightfully point out, that is NOT what is important!
amen sista!
ditto
THANK YOU for this post! It is one of the best I have read in a long time and I happily shared it on FB, Twitter, G+ so that others will take the time to read it. Too often we forget the amazing world we live in and what we already have even if it is not a million dollar mansion or a designer pair of shoes. I love that you added in information about those in the world who do not have things we take for granted each and every day.
I have to say WELL SAID
Rock On! (on that perfect and indestructible ceramic tile floor with your kids!)
Beautifully stated! Thank you! It is very easy to forget what really matters and is important in this life… we are so fragile… every breath is a gift. Sometimes we think that if we give more and have more that means we are being loved or that we are giving love…We all fall into that trap. We all want better things. But it’s a trap!! Perhaps we should post this article to our bathroom mirror so we get a little reminder everyday! Thanks for sharing!
I kind of feel bad about my subway tile now. BUT, after I remodeled my kitchen I realized that it’s just a kitchen. It was a kitchen before, it is still a kitchen. Although, now it’s a kitchen that holds more people and my family is around me when I cook now, which is very nice. I’m grateful for that. But still feeling a teeny bit bad that I do like the subway tile.
Hey, love your subway tile!! It’s fun!! The point is to keep loving it when the next trend comes along. Making changes to better serve your family allows you to “dance” your way in your kitchen just like the author does in hers
This gives a whole new perspective on how we are constantly bombarded by what I now know are “Trend Setters” and how it has effected our lives in general. “Oh, you don’t have granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, the latest in new flooring materials? You are soooo yesterday, last year, last century!” And so, as a rule, we do feel we are “less than” because we haven’t kept up with the latest and greatest. Doesn’t seem to matter if what we have still functions and looks quite presentable……we haven’t spent enough money to keep up, so shame on us! Doesn’t matter if we can’t afford to pay cash……why just put it on credit (at 18% interest at least) and by the time it’s paid off (if it ever gets paid off!), then we’ll be way past due for an update to keep up with what the trendsetters say is now absolutely necessary for us to be caught up with the “in crowd”. Thank you so much for shedding new light on what already should have been so apparent to all of us! 😀
I had to come back and read it again. I truly love this post. So beautifully stated, with great sentiments. I also love the term, “perspectacles”…I’ll be coming back and re-reading this every now and then.
I love this article so much, so dead on ! I wish everyone would have a heathy outlook like you !
Love you! And I wholeheartedly agree!
THE BEST THING I HAVE READ IN A LONG TIME…….thank you for your awesome words reminding us all that we are ENOUGH, exactly as we are, mismatched, well worn miracles! I heart this big time 🙂
So very well said. I concur heartily.
This was so great. So great! Thank you for this great post! It was just what I needed to read today. Loved the “after” 🙂 🙂
My sentiments exactly! I so agree with you about the Joneses. I happily live with my 83-year-old original solid wood kitchen cabinets, which have been repainted a few times. The sink and countertops have been replaced, but with laminate, not granite. The resilient flooring was stripped away, revealing the original oak floor, which has been refinished. I am thankful to have a frig full of food, running water, appliances that work, no mortgage and the inner security to be able to laugh at trendiness. Thanks for your post.
Thanks for making me want to wear my perspectacles – Your “After” pic is one of the best “make over” kitchens I’ve seen in a long time. Yeah to you for getting it right!
Gratitude is a wonderful thing! You have a healthy beautiful family. We live with an embarrassment of riches and for so many, its still not enough. Poor fools.
Thanks for the reminder. Enjoy!
In a word: ‘Wonderful!’
I took it all for granted, but after reading and viewing this,
I feel Grateful and I should be 🙂
Thank you so much.
Love and Happiness to you all!
Thank you so much for this article. I felt as if God Himself was instructing me. You are so right that we are bombarded with what we should do with our bodies, spouses, clothing, homes, cars etc. When all we really need is to be content with what we have. My word this year is Gratitude. Your post has reminded me of this & I thank God for it.
May God bless you abundantly for this & I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this gentle reminder.
God bless.
Such an amazing article!!! I totally agree with everything you say! AND love the picture of your happy family at the end!!! We certainly do need to be grateful for what we have, and every once in a while, we do need a reminder of that!!! I have shared this article because it is so true! THANK YOU!!
P.S. I also like the one about the coffee…;-)
Looks beautiful to me, For all the above stated reasons! Exactly what I am grateful for when I think about how mine is not updated. 🙂
Thank you so much for such a refreshing perspective. I really needed to read this today and wow I feel better! I know I will one day miss the clutter of toys in my livingroom, the cup of milk that falls on the floor nearly everyday
and the mountain of my boy’s art work that is balancing on a table.
This is the single greatest article I have ever read
As a widow, this article gave me great comfort, my children were 8 &10 when their dad died from cancer, my favorite photos showing what our life was about are of my family in our lived and loved in kitchen. Thank you for reminding your readers what is important…..signing this gratitude for the time we did have together in our PERFECT for us kitchen.
LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT! I am here by way of my all-time favorite author Elizabeth Gilbert and I want to say your words have set like a billion people free. Gratitude is everything and I thank you for using your life and space to tell the truth.
Thank you! 🙂 you, your family, your perspective, and your kitchen are beautiful.
Tell me how your Lyme disease is in remission, please! I have a sick friend who has been struggling for three years. She has six children and is in pain daily. She needs resources! Thank you!
Um, I don’t think there is anything wrong with your kitchen. I really can’t believe folks had the temerity to say anything negative about it. It’s your kitchen, everything in it works and you like it. What’s the problem? Love your response.
Brilliant! This is going on my fridge. All of it. Right next to my kids’ drawings, coupons I have yet to use and recipes I will probably never make. Love it!
I love this post and I love your kitchen – my whole house is ‘out of date’ and furnished with interesting recycled finds, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
The IKEA blandness of most homes makes me shudder….
I loved this article! My company Get It Together Girl helps people get it together. I even have a workbook on home organization. However, in my view, it is about have organization and processes that work for you and your family. It isn’t about following trends or keeping up with the Joneses (who are they anyway??), it is about knowing what works for you.
Your kitchen is clearly filled with love and there is a lot to be grateful for. That’s more important to new appliances and tile any day!
How could you not have tears falling while writing this article…or maybe you did, I just didn’t hear it in your voice.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful kitchen, full of warmth, life and love with all of us.
btw…we could be related. My maiden name is Melton.
Enjoy the Journey!
Love your kitchen, the hearth of your home has every thing you need because it has LOVE in it!
I learned a new word today, one I wish that I have known for years…”Perspectacles”. I, starting today, will clean mine off, put them on and wear them with pride! Thank you, we all need to put these on, wear them, and see everything in a new way.
my wife and I have been married for 38 years and have 7 children. we’ve lived in the same home now for 27 years. our home is a 40 year old farm home. when I look at our kitchen I see fun and laughter…and tears, lots of tears…from laughing so hard we cry 🙂 our home is not new and it is not fancy, no latest trends but it is filled with love. our grandchildren now fill our home and we are making eternal memories with them. Lots of “Joneses” own a house. we own a Home. they are seeking happiness, we are creating happiness. Thank you for sharing your perspectables.
Wow, such an amazing article! Thank you. All that plus a cute husband and adorable children! 🙂
LOVE this – LOVE your attitude!!!! Thank you!!!! Your kitchen is BEAUTIFUL – This said from a military wife in an Italian Kitchen with an oven the size of easy bake and a mini frig – you have to turn off the oven to run the microwave – only 2 of my 4 burners work…. But I LIVE IN ITALY!!! Its all about perspective baby!!!! 🙂
I love that word “perspectacles.” I’ll start wearing mine every day!
Beautifully written and my sentiments exactly.
LOVE IT! I wish I had that much counter space!
Well, ‘I’ look at your kitchen and I can add a couple other “gratefuls”: your appliances MATCH!!! …. and your counter and floor match TOO!! And to the person who says that you should only consider updating if you are thinking of selling, well I personally would buy the kitchen as is since I have yet to own anything “tile”. We are still stuck in laminate and frankly will leave it since it, well, works. I think this staging and updating craziness when you try to sell a house is out of hand too. Our home is so “underwater” there is no way I will throw money at it to make someone else feel better – if it bothers them, they are welcome to change it.
GREAT POST!!! So important to remember!
I love your perspective, and I love my old-fashioned little apartment kitchen for all the reasons you describe (I must, ’cause I’ve lived here for 32 years). Whenever another apartment kitchen in the building is renovated, I start to think, “Hmmmm. Maybe I should have more cabinets.” Followed by, “Yeah, another reason to collect more crap I don’t need.” My little kitchen is a collection point for friends who love my cooking and company, and filled with my deep gratitude for the comfort it affords me. As you said, Beauty. Thanks.
Love. Love. Love. this feature! I can usually talk myself out of purchasing new stuff by telling myself that I have so much more than any one person needs. I am lucky to have visited several 3rd world countries where many of the things you are talking about are lacking, and that perspective saves me from being a keep up with the Joneses person
Reality check of what’s important. Dishes in the sink – I’m dancing in the kitchen.
What a precious read in my early morning 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing your blessings!
Bless you! This is the most beautiful thing I’ve read and seen all morning…and the morning has just begun.
Hello, I really loved this, and would like to ask for permition to translate it to Portuguese for sharing, with all due credits and links, of course. Let me know if possible. And thank you for the amazing piece.
I absolutely love this post. I’m a real estate agent so I’m seeped into the trends of today, but I think that unless someone is selling or planning to sell, they should do what makes them happy and forget about what the world says things should be. I personally like to have my home decorated in a certain way, as it lifts my mood when I walk into a space and it sends off a vibe that is just what I love. But I am 100% with you on the other stuff. I rarely buy clothes, makeup or shoes and couldn’t care less what brand anything is. I just want it to work for me without costing a fortune.
Thanks for reminding all of us how grateful we should be every day for the little stuff.
50 years ago my father bought a very simple very small one story ranch house. I asked him why he chose it among many other options. He replied, “I could feel the love that was shared in this place. That brings good luck.” Never forgot, never will.
Bubba
That’s cool that he was tuned into that!
Thank you. I have just polished my own perspectacles and the world is so much brighter, clearer and infinitely more beautiful.
Thanks for this great perspective, beautifully expressed! I’m in the decor business, but I’m concerned about the acceleration of trend cycles in interior design – this wastes resources, leads to a boring sameness, and most important as you’ve vividly pointed out, causes unnecessary dissatisfaction. “Dated” is a concept many of us have been too quick to accept. Life is about people, not things. Warmth and creativity in a home do not come from spending money on appliances or tile. And feeling gratitude for what we have is a great secret to happiness. Inspiring post!
Love it! I have the running water thing as a recurring theme in my gratitude journal all the time. That, and flushing toilets – consider what life would be like without those! Thanks for the blog. It’s a good one!
Well written!!! Agree with everything you said! Great reminder! However, I don’t see anything wrong with your kitchen as it is, and I am actually shocked that people would comment to you that it is time for an update. It looks good and it looks very functional, so I agree that it would be a big waste of money for you to change anything. May be it is just because I share your perspective, but if I were you, I wouldn’t change anything either. Now, I have seen kitchens that REALLY NEED updating, because they are completely un-functional, and look disgusting! I guess we all need to be our own judge, and hopefully you have created a new movement in the direction of more gratitude and less living in lack.
Best Makeover EVER!!
When we were growing up and there was 8 of us, there was always stuff hanging around, in fact, one chair in the kitchen was for my fathers stuff and you didn’t touch it because he wanted it were he could find it when he went to work. When my friendss used to come visit my mother was worried how the house looked, I used to say to her they are coming to visit me not the house and if they don’t kije it, they don’t have to come over. So love is the most important part of a kitchen or any room in a house and we had plenty of that.
I love what you’ve done with the place!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this post and your attitude. My kitchen is older than yours and after reading this, I am so thankful for my old kitchen.
Your kitchen is beautiful, because the people you love are there!
I ❤️ you!
Best kitchen makeover ever!
Thank you for restarting the common sense revolution.
Your kitchen looks fantastic to me.
Very true! Its unfortunate that we often fall into this trap although deep inside we know how grateful we are. Thank you for this reminder and keep enjoying the blessings of life. What a beautiful family you have!
Just wonderful. I am sitting here in my kitchen, the same kitchen that was once my moms. Really not much has been updated. House was built in the 60’s, we moved in in 1979. My dad had retired from the Air Force after 26 years. After many, many years of base housing and the space not really being yours…my mom was home. I still see this house through her eyes…it is perfect. It still has the original oven, not self cleaning, no bell and whistles…but it still cooks a mean Thanksgiving dinner. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
As we embark on yet another kitchen transformation (a 3rd move in 7 years) I absolutely am with you on the concept of soul in the kitchen! What a beautiful bunch you have! Thank you!
Thank you for your beautiful words and inspiration. My day is now more calm and serene.
Another great feature of your kitchen is SPACE! Living in cramped Paris suburb living quarters, we’re about to redo the kitchen out of sheer necessity (been using a table top fridge for the pas 9 years), i could only dream of having your space! Great post!