Sunday was my only day off this week. This means I had one million personal items that needed to be done on Sunday, including not setting an alarm and slowly drinking my coffee…you know, the important stuff. Somehow amidst trying to squeeze in enough rest to make it through the upcoming week, I made quite a bit of progress on the home front.

I’ve mentioned before that hanging things on the wall gives me a bit of anxiety. After writing this post (and reading that fantastic book), I made a tremendous amount of progress with decorating. I was inspired and encouraged and even a bit fearless with making things happen. Then I hit a wall. Several months have passed where I’ve done very little decorating at all. The ideas were still coming, yet I was overwhelmed and not actually doing anything. I seemed to have hit that decorating paralysis where I was too afraid to do anything until I was certain. Or until I had a perfect plan.

Thankfully, I snapped out of that over the weekend. I mentioned that one of my August goals is to share a home tour, showing my home in its current state. (I feel my blood pressure rising just typing that sentence.) Even though we’re not even close to finished, we have made a ton of progress with our renovation. Knowing that I want to share a progress report this month, has forced me to really think about the unfinished portions of my home. In addition to the one million projects we haven’t started, there are also one hundred projects that just need to be finished. With our busy schedules, it’s easy to put off finishing things because we actually need time to rest or spend time with family/friends.

We’ve also started several new projects lately. We are currently in the middle of turning our guest room into a guest room/home office. This means we have mattresses standing in our foyer…totally normal. All of the items that were safely hidden under the guest bed are piled in my dining room. We’re also FINALLY making some progress in my closet room. We purchased a new storage system from Ikea that I’m so very excited about. However, some of the pieces were out of stock, so we’re at a standstill on that project too. This means there are piles of clothes here and there that don’t have somewhere to live just yet.

Starting two new, major projects while I still didn’t feel settled in the other rooms has made me feel a bit crazy. Sometimes, I’ve wanted to throw my hands up and quit. Or move. There has been a certain amount of chaos around our home lately that hasn’t been very conducive to progress for me. (Just imagine folded laundry piled up not far from the protruding mattresses.) I know that you have to start somewhere and tackle a bit at a time. However, sometimes I reach a point where I just can’t think that rationally. Finally, I started chipping away at the chaos today. I started in a corner of the dining room and worked through things one piece at a time. Shortly after squaring away a few items, I began feeling inspired to hang some things. I’d had a few lingering ideas lately and had not had the time (or the courage) to actually start putting nails in the walls. I recruited Matthew to come along, and we hung several new things here and there. It transformed my entire day and my outlook on our home.

First, we hung a new (and slightly dangerous) Hobby Lobby find over our bed. We finished my bathroom gallery wall that I’ve been working on for months. We hung two sets of curtains (!! – even though one is just temporary). We hung the pallet hanger that Matthew made for me for our second Christmas, and I played with chalk on an old chalkboard to hang there. I also ordered a print for the kitchen from Etsy and hung a frame to put it in.

After so long of a creative funk, it felt amazing to make some progress. Several of the projects still need some attention or are temporary, yet it still feels great. I am reminded that I CAN get this home looking how I’d like and that I WILL eventually be happy with it. I never intend to be “finished.” However, I want it to feel good enough. After yesterday’s progress, I’m feeling much better about the possibilities. I’m also wanting to paint everything deep, bold colors. (Thanks, Pinterest.) I’m fairly certain that at least a wall or two will become this green color. Brace yourselves! If you haven’t seen a home tour here by the end of the month, you might need to prod me a bit. I’ll probably be hiding in a corner somewhere…next to something that most likely doesn’t belong there.

(P.S. These aren’t the best photos, because I was running out of daylight. Please forgive me.)