A Few of my Favorite Mistakes .....

If you Google Decorating Mistakes, you will get dozens of posts on what not to do; design rules, do's and don'ts, and lots of ideas on how to do it all right (by not doing it wrong).

I was looking through some photographs the other day, and I came across one that I had totally forgotten about. When we first moved into our house, it was a sea of carpet; a lot of pink, and even more beige (and not in a good way).

Because I was at the beginning of my decorating life, it never occurred to me that I could remove the awful carpet, but I did think (in some delusional way) that it was perfectly normal to paint the sofa. With coffee.
Never mind the process of how much coffee it took, and how long it took to dry (until the sofa was dragged to the curb), we also couldn't sit on it, and, it started to smell really bad.

Even now, I don't understand what I was thinking, but I love that I didn't care what anyone thought, and I laugh that I made the conscious decision to permanently saturate my sofa with gallons of cold instant coffee.

While I can't think of anything else as bad as this (well, I can, but it's too embarrassing to write) I have to confess that my home is a constant moving part of who I am, and I never strive for perfection. However, some things can be avoided, so here are a few of the mistakes that I have made (so you don't have to).

• I decided to put my indoor, wool rug outside on the patio. It was a great idea, until it rained. I can't tell you enough how heavy it became, how many birds pooped on it, how difficult it was to move, and how long it took to dry.
• A furniture shopping spree ended in disaster when we realized that nothing would fit through our tiny front door. After much discussion, the mover's had to stand on a picnic table (which promptly broke - thankfully no-one was hurt) and pass everything through the sun-room windows. Then, they couldn't get it around the corner into the main house, so it all had to live forever in the sun-room.   
• Another time, I fell in love with a gorgeous, brown, suede paint, but, when I painted it on my bathroom wall it went from gorgeous to gross. (I don't need to explain). The next day, as soon as the store opened, I ran to buy new (cream) paint.
• Sometimes, I find things, and in my excitement, forget that they are not new and sparkly clean. I saw a lovely, old mannequin on the side of the road; put it in my car, dragged it inside the house, and admired it in the corner of the Living Room   ...... then, three baby mice and a pile of leaves fell through the bottom and onto the floor.