A perfect match....

Today a real estate agent showed my house to a rental client.  I have to be here because there are so many houses for sale that it seems the agency doesn't have enough lock boxes to go around.  It doesn't bother me though because I get to scope out the probable tenants and today I met an amazing woman.

She - we will call her Mary - LOVED the house and was excited just like I was when I first saw it.  The one big difference between us is that she has a 31 year old disabled son that lives with her ... Mary said she had been looking for a place that would give both of them space and her son a sense of his own place and this has both . She was in total awe of the view - even on a foggy day - I could see her mind churning with the ideas of sharing the warmth of the house and the closeness of nature with her son.  I hope she gets the house....she deserves it.

My friend Wendy happened to be here when this was all going on and actually negotiated a deal with Mary so that when I needed a break from urban living I could come back and sit on the deck and take in the view...perfect !  Who knows, I might even have a decorating gig....she was so taken by every piece I have that she might want some decorating help.  Just another excuse to Thrift.  It is all working out !

The Inspiration Piece...

Today is the day that I bid a fond farewell to my inspiration piece...my sofa.  It is a 9ft, orange and yellow velvet tie-dyed, mid - century modern sofa and was the first piece of furniture I had in this house. My "muse'" inspired me to create an amazing living space....from the orange walls,  to the gold 70's hanging lights,  to the vintage fabric I found for the dining room chairs....she had a hand in all of it. (tears in my eyes).

It is going to a nice home and I will have $$ money in my pocket - Craig's List is great.  The funny thing is - the people who are buying it both work for Raymour and Flannigan which is a furniture store on the east coast.  She said she is so tired of looking at boring traditional furniture and needed to find something unique.  She found it !!

Now to look for the next inspiration piece , maybe one of the pieces that I already have will be the one ... can you build a room around an oversized gold lamp ? I doubt it... but we shall see.

A dandelion seed drifting over landscaped lawns...

On the move - again. Yes...you read it right...I am packing up and leaving the suburbs and headed back to urban living.   The life of a renter ... not tied to anything ... I can pick up and go anytime I want and start over . I breathe a sigh of renters relief that I am not tied to a mortgage and market value - the (rough) Latin translation of mortgage is "death pledge". I recently read an article in a magazine , the writer admitting that she rents and describing her transient self as "a dandelion seed drifting over landscaped lawns." That is me... you never know where I will plant myself.

I am one of those rare people that likes to move - weird - I love sorting through my stuff and getting rid of things ... rethinking what I really need.  The whole move thing started for me in 1982 when my parents moved from Indiana to Texas... my father's new job took the family there and my mother seemed to like the idea of a change. Change is good...I have moved 17 times in 30 years.  My mother's address book has all of my addresses crossed out - she should have used a pencil !

I will admit a few things about moving this time. I love this house .  I have had the most amazing parties. It has the most amazing views.  I will miss the sunrises, sunsets and the hawks. I will even miss my crazy landlord who would bring me fresh eggs from his farm.  It has been like being on a vacation every day
(what the Helen the realtor told me when I looked at it)...but the vacation is over and it is time to get back to living!  I have spent endless days staring at the landscape and have missed being with my friends,  missed being able to jump on a train at a moments notice to go to NY, missed the energy I get from a town, missed being able to walk around the corner and get something to eat or go to a bar or listen to live music.

So here we go again... another thrifting and decorating journey ! I love the challenge of decorating a new place .  The apartment that I am moving to needed to be painted so I was able to pick out new colors and I can't wait to see what it looks like.  The place is smaller and I have been scouring magazines for ideas on how to make the most out of limited space and will take those ideas on my thrifting trips.  I can't wait to get started.

So that is the scoop.  I will take you on the decorating and thrifting journey with me... exciting !
2012 is going to be great !