Two things I really want right now

1. I want to build an old looking farm house with vintage (or vintage looking) stuff.

2. I want to be a minimalist-not the zen type, the country type.

The farm house thing evolved from our longings for a log home. About 7 years ago, Shane presented me with log home brochures on Valentine's Day. We bought some land and moved to town. Kind of backwards, but that's how life works sometimes. We've been in town for 5 years this month but next year we are making a HUGE family effort to put every extra (and not so extra) dime towards debt so we can build in 2009.

Back to the farm house. Shane and I are big Smallville fans. Clark Kent (you know, Superman) grew up in this sunny looking, warm yellow farm house. After watching every epidode, I fell in love with the farm house look. In a way, it complements the home we live in now, which was built in the 1890s.

I don't want a "kountry bumpkin" home with home sewn bunny vacuum cleaner covers in mauve and country blue...I don't want a hunting lodge look either, I want a rustic, charming, simple farm house with eye pleasing lines and simple furnishings. After reading this blog, I have some concrete images to go with my tastes. This is a big step for me since for several years I've struggled to identify my style, I just knew what I liked when I saw it (old colorful quilts, simple handcrafted tables with notches and scratches, weathered wood in worn red, sage, brown, or robin's egg blue, mismatched old dishes...)

In my present home I'd love to be a minimalist. Rid my house of all unnecessary clutter. However, the reality is I can only start decluttering more so that we won't move into our new house with so much stuff. It's hard for me to judge how much stuff we have. You see, much of my Grandmother's belongings are still here. On top of that, some of the decor just naturally makes it visually busy (like the 2 rooms of darkish paneled walls), so even if it were bare, it would still look cluttered in a way. Also, I have 4.5 children (.5 is my cousin's baby Adri who's here each weekday, lol), who have STUFF. And Grandparents who like to give STUFF. And a husband who doesn't like to get rid of STUFF.

How do you rid your life of excess with a big family? I find the age range of my kids makes it hard to minimize their stuff. The toddler has her own set of toys, the middles play with Polly Pockets, and the oldest has big kid stuff-so that adds up to a lot of stuff!

My fantasy is to get my mom to watch the girls for a day while all my friends come over. A couple would help me pitch the junk while another one or two organized what was left. Another one would take all the stuff immediately to the thrift store. I'd also have unlimited cash and time to paint, redecorate, and replace mismatched or worn out furniture. Ahhhh...

Reality is-minimalizing takes work-continuous work. It's a great goal for our move. After all, I don't want STUFF in my Clark Kent farm house!