Craft room redo: Before and After

No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you.  And yes, you probably really are asking yourself "Where did all the color go?!" 

Friends, I went for it and in a mad dash, gave my craft room a makeover.  A clean slate if you will.  I knew it was coming.  The nesting feeling is "game on" since being in the waiting stages of adoption.  That combined with the fact that a shift has happened in my creative schedule the past six months or so had me ready for change.  Looking back to when the girls were babies, I actually had loads (like hours) of free time when they napped to paint and create.  Fast forward to now, where we have early-risers and no-nappers.  There just aren't big chunks of time at my disposal anymore. 

Do I believe I should just shrug off my desire to create and put it on hold to things slow down?  No, if I do that my fingers will ache for years and let's be honest, life never really slows down.  I simply must create!  I can literally feel my insides settle down and breathe a long "ahhhhh" when I paint or make.  So for now, I've found myself craving a fresh start, both literally and figuratively.  I've needed the space to figure out how creating looks in my life during this season, instead of always longingly referring to all my ideas in the past.  I'm so very proud of chasing my dreams like Rosy Retreats, but it's time to let things be new again.  No more turning to chapters read over and over.  It's time to face the blank page and see what new idea seeds sprout.  

I thought it would help to literally create a blank space in the craft room.  You can see my progress through the photos below.

 (This photo isn't staged to look like a mess.  It is really this messy.  This is real-life folks!)

 (getting there)

 I painted the walls with my favorite white (Behr, "unwind", the same as my kitchen table) and wanted to dance a happy dance at the sight of the plain white.  I have no idea why this big, blank space is speaking so much to me when there's nothing on the wall.  

The after! I see this blank space and imagine possibility here, there, and everywhere.  For now, I don't plan to cover it back up with more stuff.  Instead, it will stay blank. 

 A little shelf display..

Another little display with collected bits and treasures. 

(all photos taken with my iPhone)

I'll end with my thoughts I posted on Instagram yesterday that perfectly sum up me for now: 

It's time to start fresh, to step back a tiny bit from social media, but not completely, to spend time alone with just God and I, to trust that quiet can move mountains, to let God speak about the direction of my dreams and loosen my grip on the steering wheel. It's time for a new year-round schedule for my life as an artist, for really living rich without sharing every single bit, for chasing ideas just because they'd be crazy fun. It's time to remember that it's in God I trust, not in the Internet I trust. Time for breathing, resting, quiet, and wide open spaces. Time for real connecting and grace. This is my heart today.