Home Update | Learning to be with the undone

It’s been a while since I last did a home update. Things are moving slowly and I’m learning to live with the undone.

The decorating process, shaped by my desire to turn this house into a home became a pre-determined vision of what my home should ideally look like.

Modern Western societies tend to seek that kind of perfection everywhere. From walk-in-ready designs, created and executed in short spaces of time, and well-curated Pinterest boards, everything is picture-perfect, preselected, and ready to consume.

But life needs time to unfold.

And I am determined to allow myself the luxury of time on this occasion. I am leaving room for the natural “unfolding” process to occur, allowing one slow decision to occur at a time.

By collecting one item at a time and by being patient I allow my budget to stretch over time and my real needs to reveal themselves as we go. 

It’s like having an open dialogue with my space and approaching this one thoughtful decision at a time.

Once I have gotten to know the space, how I live in it and use it, its proportions, light, and feeling, it will slowly start to reveal the answers to questions such as how long the dining table should be or where it ought to be placed.

Shaping and moulding as I go means letting go of perfectionism and unrealistic expectations.

It requires a shift away from a perfect image of what my home should look like and a move toward embracing the idea that our homes, like ourselves, will never be ‘complete’.

It’s a rental, so there’s only so much we can do about the basic structural elements of the house. I cannot change the bathroom tiles or make my work kitchen a bit wider.

But what I can do, is come to terms with the fact that:

Our homes, like ourselves, will never be ‘complete’.

Ioliofnow posted a beautifully made video about letting go of perfectionism that I will attach below.