How My Bedroom Colour Scheme Helped

I’ve collected a lot of mish-mash of items over the years: new things; hand-me-downs; old things.  My house doesn’t look anything like a magazine. I don’t mind.  Mostly.  However, sometimes, just sometimes, a seed of discontent grows inside me. 

Discontentment is an interesting thing, and I’ve learned to take a moment to analyse it before it grows. Sometimes, all I need to do in this situation is give myself a pep talk and set my expectations straight. Get over it. However, sometimes the unrest growing stems from legitimate reasons; sometimes from real needs and sometimes because of the way I’m made up.

I’m not a materialist person, never have been. But I love beauty. Truly beautiful things: colour, light, shadows, nature, interacting lines, simple good-good design…things that add value to life.   I know myself and how I interact with the world around me.  I know that colours, sound, light, nature: it all impacts on me greatly. It’s part of who I am.  

I’ve lived in many places, and some suited me better than others.  There’s no point waiting for a perfect situation to come upon me. No.  Neither have I found it helpful to continually squash myself — my God-given beauty — under the banner of should-be-gratefullness. Should be. Should be. Should be. It’s about seeking to balance reality with expectation; it’s about acceptance while still investing in things that help me shine; it’s about being an overcomer.  

So I see value in acknowledging how I feel (without wallowing and becoming a serial whinged).  When I recognise a seed of discontentment growing inside me about my situation, I go through a process.

1. Acknowledge reality

2. Look at what do I have

3. Observe inspiration as I live life

4. Make the best of it. Create something!

5. Be grateful and enjoy

The Bedroom

Using my bedroom as an example. I see my bedroom as a refuge. Sometimes I sneak in there of an afternoon and curl up on the bed, looking for a few moments of quiet. Even just 1 minute.

Reality: the colour theme of the bedroom is not my favourite.  And when you add the 13 year old bed frame, a coverlet found on a clearance sale a few years ago and an antique commode chair from my grandparents, well, it’s a bit of a mess.

Inspiration

Then, I took a moment and looked at my bedroom objectively.  I saw the colours brown, maroon, yellow and blue.

Then, I flicked through photographs of special places I’ve visited, and I found one of Spring Bluff Station near Toowoomba, which is one of my favourite places.  It reminded me of the colours in the bedroom. All the room needed was just one more colour to tie it together.  Green.  Dark green.  And so I got dark green sheets that reminded me of gum trees.

… the inspiration

Warm and Earthy

I love it! It’s warm and earthy.  I now walk into my bedroom and I think of a burnt red cabin surrounded by gum tree woods, with a blue sky backdrop and the sun shinning all around.

…can you see it, as I see it?

…tinted coffee jar I featured also in this post

…see that teddy bear? Had it since I was 3, when I had a hernia operation. My favourite toy.

I sometimes leave out the ECCO shoes I wore on the World’s Longest Catwalk because they go with the bedroom. Nothing wrong with using shoes as decoration when they are not on your feet!

I make a point of enjoying the room now — it’s not only a refuge, it makes me happy. Joyful!

Discontentment isn’t helpful or good.  When it happens I either throw a tonne of gratefulness at it or use it as a catalyst to overcome by creating and relishing in beauty…even if it’s only beauty I can see. Because if I can see it, then others will feel it. Give.