you’re worth it.

It’s the one room in your house that usually gets neglected.

Especially if you are a parent.

More especially if your children are still young.

Laundry piles up.  Clean piles.

Where should I hang that painting that doesn’t exactly match our home but that I’m not ready to part with yet?

It’s the resting space for those extra empty boxes from Amazon that you need to take out to recycling.

The waiting projects.

The broken toy you mean to repair.

You’re thinking maybe the garage?

Or the guest bedroom?

Hey, maybe those are messy too, I don’t know.

But I’m talking about the master bedroom.  Your bedroom.

What should be a place of refuge and quiet is frequently a place of chaos and leftover furniture bits.  The home of lost socks and stacks of No One Can Identify.

I’ve spent most of my years as an adult sleeping in sub par bedrooms.

Not because I intended to.  More because they were always leftover space to me.  A room that very few people saw except my family.   A room that didn’t get enough run of the mill traffic to take priority in the decor department.  Where I didn’t want to hang the best art or the most inspiring quote.  Where I would shove and stuff extra things when attic space wasn’t available or a garage didn’t exist or I just ran out of closet area.

When we moved (and I bought my own house – still feels like a dream sometimes to me) I decided that I didn’t want my bedroom to be leftover space.  I didn’t want to think of that room last.  I didn’t want to put the leftover pieces that didn’t fit anywhere else in my bedroom.

I wanted a plan.

First, I wanted a bed.  As in – a bed frame with a footboard and a headboard.  For all the married years we mostly never had a footboard – which was fine.  It wasn’t my preference, but it wasn’t a game changer or a dramatic deal, of course.

But since this would be my own bedroom and I had no one’s personal preferences other than my own to consider, I wanted a real assembled bed that looked complete. 

And I wanted it to be pretty.

As the move was getting closer, my generous father asked me what sorts of items I would need for the new house.  I mentioned my hopes of acquiring a new bed frame and my dad volunteered for that to be his house warming gift to me.  Then, my generous friends in Florida asked if they could purchase the mattress for me.  It was all very exciting.

This weekend I rearranged a little and changed up the space and added in a chair from another room.

I still have details I want to see finished.  I can’t decide what sort of curtains would go best, although I’m imagining something sheer with embroidery.

I’ve put up my favorite inspiring quotes, art from a tree stump project at Lost Valley Ranch, beautiful flowers painted by my dear friend Hilary and the most beautiful Basha blanket.

This quote hangs on the wall: 

She could never go back and make some of the details pretty.

All she could do was move forward and make the whole beautiful.

― Terri St. Cloud

The room, while not magnificent, seems dreamy to me.

I feel encouraged to make my bed every day so that I can sneak away throughout the day to sit in my room and bask in its quiet peace and pretty decor.  The two windows let in happy sunshine and the crisp tidiness of the room really inspires me to keep things neat.  It’s the most pleasant of feelings to walk into my own room.

At night, an hour or so before bed, I turn on my diffuser with lavender or valerian, with bergamot or stress away, and I shut the door.  When I officially head to bed, my room is inviting and welcoming.  It speaks of comfort and rest.

It’s a small room.  Technically, the smallest bedroom in our home.  (Which is fine, since every other family member shares a bedroom.)  It’s much smaller than my bedroom at the farmhouse and less than half of the size of the bedroom I enjoyed growing up.

But, for this season, it is absolutely perfect for me.

I’m not saying you should go out and spend money you don’t have to refurbish your own current bedroom.

I’m never saying that.

I’m saying this:

Stop thinking of your bedroom as Less Than.  

Stop treating your personal retreat space as unimportant.  Like you and your stuff don’t matter.  Like everything else has priority.

Pull in a cozy chair from the living room.  Move out the junk you don’t like.  Quit letting your bedroom resemble the thrift store bargain aisle.  Hang a beautiful painting on the wall so you see it first thing when your eyes open. Add in a lamp or a diffuser.  

It doesn’t have to cost a dime.  You can do it this weekend.

Put your favorites out to enjoy.  Yes, even if only you or you and your spouse see them.  

Aren’t you worth that?

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