My Decorating Dilemma

Lately I've been getting really into decorating blogs, which really interest me yet also depress me, because I don't think I have the necessary time/money/ambition/creativity needed to become one of those people whose home looks like this: http://www.designspongeonline.com/2011/01/sneak-peek-lara-collins.html

Ughhhhhh. I'm borderline lusting over that home. Just tell me that home was custom-designed by some over-priced decorator. I don't want to find out if the people who live there have full-time jobs and they just kind of "throw things together" on the weekends to make the house look nice. If they scour flea markets and mix their own paints or whatever, I don't want to know. It will only make me feel bad.

If I say I'm "nesting," does that just mean I'm justifying obsessing over material goods? Is nesting a legit thing? Is "nesting" a term that some materialistic person came up with to make themselves feel better for caring too much about their home? Who knows. I don't care. I don't want to know right now. Feel free to leave a comment if you think I need to be convicted about this.

Anyway.

Every weekend or weeknight, when I'm not working and have a chance to pursue hobbies, I'm torn between wanting to clean, organize, create, and make spaces beautiful... and sitting on the couch watching Auction Kings. (What do you think we're doing tonight?)

"Oh, I love that vase that woman just bought for $20." Too bad I'm just going to spend my night watching other people bargain-hunt for awesome items instead of organizing my own home, while at the end of the night, I'll go back to my bedroom where most of my clothing is in laundry baskets because we haven't purchased a normal dresser yet.

Maybe I'm too ambitious right now - I want the entire apartment to look awesome right away, with very little effort and very little money. I've found some cool ideas for making/re-furbishing interesting pieces, but do those individual items look good in the midst of a room decorated with IKEA furniture, or does your whole house have to look like Anthropologie before adding quirky, interesting pieces to the mix? Like, I'm really enjoying this light and these cool glittery birds, but if I put them in the middle of our normal-ish, hodge-podgey living room, would people come over and be like, why the hell is there a sequin bird on top of the fax machine? Is that lightbulb-in-wood something you made for an elementary school science fair?

Anyway, those animals are cool and I want them. Too bad they're from West Elm, so, do I care more about paying my phone bill or having a glittery squirrel in the living room?

I don't know. It's a tough call. I've been looking at a lot of decorating blogs tonight, and am not really in the right frame of mind to answer that question rationally.

So, that's where I am right now with the whole home-decorating thing. Does anyone else feel this way? Is anyone good at decorating on a budget? Who can help me? Is it weird that I like that lightbulb thing?

Alright, let's move on. It's 9:40 p.m. and I'm still watching Auction Kings... so, let's talk about decorating that's feasibly going to happen in the near future: fixing up the nook. Oh, the nook. If you've been in the apartment, you know how inadequate the "dining area" was for anything other than possibly falling off the wobbly stools and trying to hang on to the table-top that wasn't big enough for people to actually eat off of. Fortunately, my dad made us some booth chairs and an awesome new table-top, so now we'll actually have a place to eat (and a nice place, at that). It's really cool, but unfortunately we can't find the camera cord right now, so a more extensive post with pictures will have to wait until later.

And now it's time to wrap turn off Discovery and get ready for yet another week!

Tomorrow night: A birthday present from my parents - Pistons/Bulls game! Look for Dave and I on WGN.