What this is all about.

This is my first blog.

The inspiration: I get frustrated when I see people spending lots of money on new furniture and home decor. Why? Because I truly believe that everything we need to make our homes look and feel stylish and comfortable, we can find at one of the following locations: garage sales, yard sales, thrift stores, vintage shops, on craigslist, or on the street. I really don't believe there is ever a reason to spend hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on furniture. Use that money to go traveling or to eat really good food! I promise, with a bit of creativity, time, and occasional paint, you can design for a LOT less, and sometimes for nothing at all.

I owe a lot of my ideas to my parents, who, as professional opera singers raising a daughter in NYC, furnished our apartment with tables, chairs, beds, and shelves found on the street ("one person's trash is other's treasure"), and did creative refurbishing all the time -- my dad often made our hanging lamps out of upside down baskets and collanders. So now, I've started to do this myself -- not the lamp part, per se, but I'd say 85 percent of my home is second or third hand, and I often see things on the street and say, "oooh, with a little cleaning up and paint, that would be GREAT as a coffee table...."

This is my project: For the next year, anything that I use to decorate my home will be second-hand and re-used. Each week I'll post about an item I've found, and send pictures and descriptions of how I'll use it. If I find something that I can't use, but I think could/should be used by someone, I will photograph it and send details about where to find it and how I'd use it!

This project is part of my commitment to leave a smaller footprint on the planet. I am commiting now NOT to buy anything new with which to furnish or decorate my house for a year. This is a challenge, but not a difficult one for me.

Decorating is one of my creative outlets, and I look forward to sharing this process with you, whoever you are. I hope you will find my ideas helpful and I encourage you to send me ideas that you have too!

Til next time.