A Weekend Designer

Most of my personal friends know that I have a real talent for decorating. What they may not know is that I have a degree in interior design that I never speak of basically because I just never felt I would use it.

I have a personal affinity for Hollywood Regency and vintage Dorothy Draper’s designs. I can pick out an authentic 1940’s poodle lamp as good as any expert design consultant. I mean I went into Public Relations decades ago by default and once I excelled at it, I became content to just make that my calling card.

But as women, we are never just one-sided but rather intricate and complex beings with many facets of talent and glossed over abilities. Rarely does everyone we know see everything that we are fully. That is except God.

For the most part, my creative energy was spent working with my diverse clientele, as a writer, brand manager, and a communications problem solver.

Behind the scenes, I did, however, derive great joy from designing and creating ever changing visual palettes inside my personal homes over the years. My friends and close associates often commented about my talents wanting me to help them achieve a cohesive look for their homes as well. Sometimes it was whole design themes and other times it was merely freshening up a look or a room for a party or a holiday season. It was always a pleasant diversion from my day job though.

Decorating is a lot like life. You must have a vision, a goal to achieve ecstatically and the patience to gather the items necessary to see it happen. And it’s not an overnight transformation. Sometimes you must tear up some stuff before you can rebuild. Our tastes change and we can become more refined as we mature. What we would live with 10 years ago doesn’t always fit in with who we’ve become in the now.

I recently did some tweaking on my own home. It’s a beautiful place for us to be sure. But we noticed the house needed a little work done here and there. It was time to fix some things and replace some things. It’s just that you hate to drag all that stuff out and see behind the corners and alcoves. We hated to have to dust and clean and face what we may have found once we agreed to really see what we were living with. If we had let it go too much longer the small repairs would have caused bigger problems and dilemmas. It was long overdue.

Through it all, we got a new perspective on how we were living. It was good but it could have been so much better. We had brought along so many old things from past homes with us. Never really assessing if it fit into the new house. It was past time to purge stuff that only cluttered up our living space. Not to mention things didn’t work or things were outdated that we hadn’t addressed architecturally.

There is something about embracing the new. Seeing things open and clearer than before, considering a blank canvas of fresh options and ideas. Out with the old and in with the new.

Just like God tells us…He wants to do a new thing in us can we not see it?!

Through it all, we got a new perspective on how we were living. It was good but it could have been so much better. We had brought along so many old things from past homes with us. Never really assessing if it fit into the new house. It was past time to purge stuff that only cluttered up our living space. Not to mention things didn’t work or things were outdated that we hadn’t addressed architecturally.

There is something about embracing the new. Seeing things open and clearer than before, considering a blank canvas of fresh options and ideas. Out with the old and in with the new.

Just like God tells us…He wants to do a new thing in us can we not see it?!

I remember as a young wife I painted my first house mauve inside. I had mauve carpet and drapes and I decorated with white ducks wearing green ribbons. Yea!!

I thought it was beautiful at the time. But what did I know I was only 20 years old. I look back on many of those old fraying pictures and think what in the world was I thinking back then! My tastes have changed drastically since. But I am older, wiser and more traveled, to say the least!

I certainly could not have stayed in that little doll house with the mauve carpet all my life. That would have driven me crazy.

God will open incredible new doors to his children when you understand that to go where you want to go and be who you want to be means you may not look like you always did. You must be ready to move, to shift and to submit yourself to his redesign in your life. He moves us from glory to glory.

It takes work and dedication to transform anything, be it a small room, a whole house or your next exciting season of life.

And honestly, the little details really do matter. It’s not just painted walls but the coordinating color and the texture of it that you must consider. It’s not just flooring but is it laminate or real wood. Is it walnut or oak, marble or stone? It’s not just throwing anything up to say it’s done. The craftsmanship of anything will show when it’s held up to the light of day!

In essence, you can’t fake true transformation. It may just take some time to see yourself in a new dimension.

Can somebody say…it’s a process!

Sagacious ladies are more than just the sum of their last few years.

Wherever you are right now doesn’t have to be where you remain. The world hasn’t seen the best of you yet. God gives us all multiple gifts and talents to make an impact and share with others around us. A few tweaks here and maybe a refreshing there and you could be in a totally new and exciting place this time next year.

It’s up to us to be open to God as He reveals our latent gifts to us. There are beautiful new rooms just waiting for us to explore and settle into.

Keep living the sagacious life with me!!

Tina Polite