No Pinterest Category for Me

I received a very generous gift of a like-new couch the other day.  I debated a bit on whether to take it, because we had a matching set (a chocolate brown leather love seat and couch, and a tan-colored co-ordinating chair and a half).  But it was too good to pass up.  Our love seat has many tears in it, and since the purchase of new furniture is nowhere near on the horizon, I knew it was either speak now or forever hold my  peace.  Not to mention the fact that, as a family of eight (including six growing little ones, and quite possibly a few more in the next few years) it just makes sense to have more seating space.  I knew if I said no and then went into someone else's house seeing it looking all good, and coming home to my tattered and torn (but matching) loveseat, I would kick myself.  Practicality won out - we took the couch.

And I must admit, it is very handsome.  But - it's also big.  And it adds a third color to our living room, and means that all three pieces of our furniture are now different.  I spent a ton of time moving and swapping things around, not really feeling great about any room configuration I could come up with (and driving my poor husband crazy in the process!)

I decided to take to the Internet for inspiration. To keep it simple, I just searched "room configuration two couches" first (I figured I'd never find anything that had two large cabinets, a desk and a piano!)  The results pulled mostly huge rooms (and likely budgets) that I could not match.  I tried again, this time with "room configuration two couches small space", which still ended up being pretty useless to me.  I sat and stewed for a good long while, torturing myself about creating the perfect space.  I went over and over ideas in my head, coming up empty every time.  "That darn piano," I'd think, or "that desk - if only it were smaller!"  But it was no use.  This is the space I have, and these are the things I have to fill it up with.  There is no Pinterest or Houzz category for me, because my life is just as unique as I am.  Having new (or new-to-me) furniture made me wish for a split second that I had more - more space, more decorating abilities, more flair.  But in the process of trying every avenue and realizing there were no others, I came to an important conclusion.  This is my life, and it's beautiful.

It's beautiful that my family is so big that it takes two couches to fit us, and to make our home more welcoming for guests.  It's beautiful that I have generous people in my life, who will give me a couch they are no longer using.  It's beautiful that our living room also doubles as a classroom, and that I get to spend my days with all of my little ones surrounding me.  It's beautiful to have the gift of music, and instruments to play on.  There is no Pinterest category for this because you can't make this stuff up.  This kind of life is not planned in perfect detail, it is carefully crafted, moment by moment, lovingly revealed by a God who is just waiting for me to say yes.  Maybe someday my home will look like the pages of a magazine.  But for now, this is what I have.  And it's lovely.

"All the wealth in the world cannot be compared with the happiness of living together happily united."  (Blessed Margaret d’Youville)