A Letter From Lynn

Someone told me once that birthdays are more important to the people who love us than what we, ourselves, think of them.  Is that a lot like blogging?  Am I to put down my thoughts for me or for someone else who might get more enjoyment out of it than I would?  At any rate, I am putting down my thoughts because I have lots of them….some pertain to my self-taught decorating aesthetic and other thoughts….not so much!

In my opinion, talent is not learned.  It is within us to either be inherently good at something or not... that is because we will be interested or not.   I do, however, believe the outcome of our talent can be perfected. Talent at what you are good at can mature from what you might have done ten years prior . If you are passionate about what you love, then you will always be open to learning and appreciating talents of others as well as the possibility that we will grow and “cultivate” our own passions.

Decorating for me is a passion. Ok, I admit it. I started decorating as a teenager.  I remember rearranging my room around on Saturdays primarily. I would get in trouble because it was so messy that it just seemed like the time to completely redo.

I didn’t have much to work with but each time I did it, I realized I liked it better than the time before. I don’t really remember what I liked about it…perhaps it was just neat and more orderly!  I did feel an immense sense of accomplishment and a certain amount of pride. Only later did I realize that I was feeling then would continue to manifest itself as I grew…(or aged)!!


At any rate, I found that I would still be messy during the week so that I could do something with it when the weekend came. I looked forward to it!  Then I branched out to the other areas of our home. My mom worked so I had time to rearrange and regroup and reconfigure…It’s been in my blood for a long time……When I married at the young age of 19, my husband, Jim quietly moved the furniture around without saying that he would rather be watching a ballgame.  He was a constant for me (and still is). With his own talents, we make a really good team!

Decorating a home is very personal. A home should never reflect who the decorator/designer is but should reflect the characters and personalities of the people who live there.  I think the nicest compliment I received recently was regarding a home on Bluff Drive in Savannah, GA.  It was on a fall tour and a customer of mine came in to our store one day and said, “Lynn, that home was beautiful and you could tell a lot about the people who live there”.  Couldn’t have been nicer for me to hear…. I got soooo excited that we had accomplished what we set out to do and that was to create a sanctuary for the family who lived there but also make it fun and inviting,  You could definitely tell this family didn’t take themselves too seriously because of all the fun and personal elements we used. Their personalities were all around the home.

Because I have always been on a budget when decorating my own home, I think it has made me think outside of the box more than some others might.  To have an unlimited budget sometimes creates less creativeness. When everything is accessible, and money is no object, sometimes I think homes can be boring. I think it is far more interesting to create something out of nothing or for very little money and then feel like you won the jackpot!  I like to be able to say look what I did with $50 rather than look what I did with $5,000.  Don’t know, but there is much more a feeling of accomplishment….( Perhaps a little bit of talent, too!)

This is the first page of my “blogging diary”. New concept for me but I will continue to air my thoughts in public and hope that some of you realize your talents and grow to be passionate about them…

Styled by, Lynn