Getting settled in a temporary home, working out the kinks in the process of building on the lot next door, and my crazy brain attempting to find something to focus on while we wait for the house to get itself build, gosh-darn-it.
I've felt a bit lost. Even as we pursue our dreams of building a modest cottage and living closer to town, I've just felt ready to do something new.
14 years of homeschooling can leave a ginormous, gaping emptiness in your day once the kids finally leave. Since the fall, my two youngest have been attending a small private 'homeschool', run by a friend (who happened to attend their births, how weird is that?), leaving me time to ponder what this season of my life will look like.
House building progress so far: we have a couple sticks.
At one point I got pretty excited about maybe monetizing this blog. Really going for it, connecting to every social media outlet there is, getting sponsors and advertisers and and and.....
....and I realized I don't enjoy being connected to the computer constantly. I think it would feel draining to 'have to' keep up on the frenetic pace of all that. I've decided for now to simplify the blog to keep it a joy. A happy little spot for me to continue to document my decorating misadventures. I'd love to get more readers and comments, and I'm working to read more and comment more myself to build community. That is what drew me to blogging 4 years ago, and is still what motivates this scatterbrain to keep at it.
Ye olde blogge just got a little freshening up....
Started asking myself questions like "so if I could do anything in the world, what would it be right now?"
And I remembered the cute little workshop attached to the garage. I remembered thinking what a great space I thought it was for painting furniture when we looked at the house, and how convenient it would be once the kids moved in (when our house next door was done) to continue to use it as the rest of the garage would still be plenty big for them and their stuff.
I remembered how I used to lament not having a space to paint in the wintertime...and how the previous owners of this place left 2 space heaters in the workshop. How it had a separate locking entrance and a window (with security bars that kinda freaked me out....the dude made firearms. Yikes)
Hey wait a minute.
I love to paint furniture! I love to thrift! I think I shall upcycle furniture and peddle it to the masses of Fort Wayne IN!
And I went for it. With gusto. In the face of a VERY financially conservative city, with several others trying their hand at it too.
I've had fun organizing my new work space...using old pieces of furniture that don't fit in the house...
But I believe in Serendipity. There's been too many of these moments and circumstances for me to ignore the pursuit of this dream. (see HERE) I'm going for it. I want to be brave and believe I have some talent for this kind of thing, and I'd mega-super-duper LOVE to be paid a fair price for my work.
So I set up a website and a facebook page (Please go 'like' my page, pretty please with little debbie's on top!) to start getting the word out. I'm looking into a couple unconventional ways to market myself and my pieces locally. I'm networking, trying to avoid the competitive junk, believing there is room for all of us and money to go around. I really do believe the right pieces will come my way, and the right buyers will find me.
And I'm also painting. Learning new mediums, trying new techniques, reviving tried and true methods. It's kinda hard. It's kinda discouraging (especially seeing all the a.mazing work others are doing around the internet). But I'm gonna keep at it. I have to believe I have something to offer the world. I'm really tired of talking myself out of ideas that have the potential to bring me real joy (and maybe some extra cash!)
So hey. I think at 46 it's time to start believing in myself. Time to believe good things can happen.
And now, it's time to clean out some brushes....
10 comments:
Go for it!!! I love your blog and always enjoy reading every post. Love your decorating style as well.
You are amazing!! I come here for inspiration and ideas, and I love that you are doing what you want to and going at it with gusto!
I, too, thought for a long while that I wanted the blog with oodles of followers and to monopolize on that money, but then, I realized that the few comments I do get, wouldn't seem so close and dear to my heart. There are a few women who pray for me, and continually lift me up, and that is far better than a litany of followers.
I can't wait to see what you learn and what pieces of furniture you take on. Will you share some of your works with us?
Take Care :)
love reading about your new venture. good luck with it.
so happy for you and wishing you the best of luck! :)
You.go.girl! What's the worst that can happen? You learn a thing or two?
Good for you for having the courage to take this big step. It can be hard to put yourself out on that limb and taking the risk of failing but you will never succeed if you are too afraid to get out on the limb.
For what it is worth, I think you will be great at this. I will hope over to your new site and FB page to lend my support.
I am glad you are keeping this blog and I will look forward to following your progress.
Traci
You go girl! As I used to tell my children "If anyone in the world can do this- you can too- and probably better!" God bless your blog and furniture endeavor and may you bless others along the way!
Peace,
Linda at The French Hens Nest
It would be a crying shame to have that EXTRAORDINARY workshop and *not* be sprucing up good to sell (sounds scandalous). I mean really.
I'm with you on the computer thing. My hubby tells me all the time to quit my job and just blog full time. Ick. The thought of being cooped up in this house with nobody to tease? Can't do it. I can keep my focus going for about 15 minutes and then I'm done...maybe that's why it takes so long to put a post?
Woohoo! I jumped into the same type of business last fall! Check out my facebook page, too...www.facebook.com/thehomeshed
and my regular blog: www.onthebanksofsquawcreek.com
Katie
I wondered when you started painting, and hwy you were playing all the games everyone else on the blogosphere has been lately. What a nice post to stumble upon. Yay for sidebars with older content. I am so glad you jumped. And that painting has brought you so many good things. I have jumped several times in many directions in the last 4 years. I became a professional artist. Then I started a barn sale then I started a blog to promote the barn sale. It has been a great adventure, but I am letting go of the barn sales and returning to my art. The admin for the show made it impossible to do good art.But the blog goes on, and evolves and retracts and grows. And I keep having to refuse to doubt myself. To keep pushing, in a balanced way, so my little dreams don't die, or get crushed by the rest of my life. Thanks for this post. I love beginnings and this reminded me of the hope and joy I felt at making all these decisions those years ago.
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