Creating the Home You Want While You Wait for the Things You Can’t Buy Yet
Maybe creating a home you love isn’t about being able to buy everything you want. Maybe it’s about learning how to make it feel good in the meantime.
There are things in my house I knew I wanted almost immediately.
And then there are things I’ve been thinking about for months. Sometimes years.
Right now, it’s a fireplace.
I already have a real wood-burning brick fireplace in one part of our home. I painted the brick, made it work with the room, and I love what it adds when the weather finally turns cool.
But there’s another living space where I’ve pictured something completely different: a long, modern electric fireplace that would make the room feel warmer and more finished.
I found the one I wanted more than a year ago.
And I still haven’t bought it.
Not because I’ve changed my mind. I actually check the price fairly regularly, hoping I’ll catch it at the number that finally makes me say, okay, now.
For now, I wait.
And I’ve realized that’s actually how I’ve created a lot of my home.
The house doesn’t have to wait just because you’re waiting
This weekend I found a great piece of used furniture at a yard sale.
Is it the piece I ultimately picture in that space?
No.
But it works. I like it. It fills a spot that’s been bothering me, and it lets that part of my house feel a little more complete while I wait until I can buy what I really want.
I think sometimes we convince ourselves there are only two choices when it comes to our homes: buy the thing we really want right now, or live with an unfinished space until we can.
There is so much room in between.
A Facebook Marketplace find. Something from a yard sale. Moving a piece from another room. Painting something you already own. Finding the surprisingly good version at Walmart or Amazon. Buying something inexpensive now because it makes your life better, even if it isn’t something you’ll own forever.
Temporary doesn’t have to mean thoughtless.
Sometimes the inexpensive thing gives you exactly what you wanted
I did the same thing this week with a TV.
I’ve wanted a television outside on the patio because this time of year I want to be outside.
I want football on while we’re sitting on the patio. I want to put on a Hallmark movie when the evening finally gets cool. I want a glass of wine outside instead of automatically moving indoors because there’s something we want to watch.
I could have turned that into a project.
I could have researched expensive outdoor televisions and decided I needed the perfect setup before I could have any of it.
Instead, I bought a used TV.
And now I get the experience I actually wanted.
That’s something I’m trying to remember more often.
Sometimes we’re so focused on the finished version of a life that we postpone enjoying the version that’s available to us right now.
I don’t want everything in my home to be expensive
Some of the things I love most in my house aren’t.
I’ve found furniture secondhand. I’ve bought pieces from Walmart that give me the same feeling as things I’ve admired at much more expensive stores. I found Amazon curtains I loved enough that I eventually put them in room after room.
And there are other things I’m willing to wait for.
That’s becoming my favorite way to create a home.
Save where it doesn’t matter to you. Wait where it does. Spend when something is worth it. And never assume the price tag is what makes a room beautiful.
A home that has been collected slowly tends to tell a better story anyway.
There’s the piece you found at a yard sale.
The thing you searched Marketplace for every morning for two weeks.
The inexpensive curtains everyone assumes cost much more.
The furniture you planned to replace but somehow ended up loving.
And eventually, maybe, the fireplace you watched for more than a year before the price finally became right.
Let the house become yours while you’re living in it
There is always going to be another project.
Another room.
Another piece of furniture I’d love to replace.
Something saved in an online cart.
Something I’m waiting to go on sale.
I’m starting to think that’s okay.
Maybe a home isn’t supposed to arrive at some magical point where we stand back and declare it completely finished.
Maybe we’re supposed to keep finding things, changing things and making little improvements as our lives change.
And maybe we don’t need to postpone the feeling we’re trying to create until we can afford every piece of the picture.
Buy the used TV.
Bring home the yard-sale piece.
Hang the affordable curtains.
Light the little lamp that makes the entire room feel better.
And keep watching the fireplace.
You can want more for your home and still love what you’ve created while you’re getting there.
That feels like a pretty good way to live, too.
A little something I’m watching
There’s one electric fireplace I’ve had my eye on for more than a year. I haven’t bought it yet, so I can’t personally review it, but it’s still the one I keep coming back to.
See the fireplace I’ve been watching on Amazon
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