Decorating a home can often be about ‘the find’, that inspirational piece that starts your creative wheels moving and gives you the framework for your next project. I see people digging through home décor stores searching for that perfect piece – I have even been stopped on occasion and asked my opinion from someone who recognizes me or decides that my cart full of décor items makes me look like an expert.
The find can happen to you when you aren’t even looking, sometimes things or situations present themselves in such a perfect way you have no option but to say yes.
This is particularly true if you are antiquing or looking in a store that does not stock the same items over and over – you need to be savvy and decisive when you find items in rare places and never hesitate to grab that perfect item. Trust me, if you go around the aisle twice that perfect piece may be gone (I believe the company has television ads which show many disappointed women who left that perfect piece behind and it was GONE).
I am not much of an outdoor decorator but I really wanted something cool for my front flower bed.
Last year my clematis was out of control and the pathetic trellis I had wired it to eventually bowed under the weight leaving me with a candy cane shaped plant at my front door. I had envisioned an old ladder leaning against my porch with this beautiful plant climbing all over it and began to keep a look out on line and at yard sales for an old and weathered ladder.
One day I’m strolling with my sweetie at his parents’ farm and guess what I see leaning against a shed?
Yes! An old weathered ladder with wood that was cracked and grey from the elements. It was perfect and the best part of it was that my guy had built it when he was a kid.
My find was found and it made its way to my flower bed and is now proudly supporting my happy plant.
Those kind of things are really priceless, you have no idea how many times I look out at that and smile and how many comments and compliments I get from neighbours walking by.
It is a neat thing, a true find and I couldn’t have left it there even if I had to carry it all the way back to Red Deer myself. I can’t tell you how many times I have bought a piece of furniture or a huge décor item only to leave it paid for at the store while I rounded up some Good Samaritan with a truck to bring my prize back home with me.
Your find can be great or small, from the perfect shade of lipstick to the best deal on a garage package or even a brand new home, you can be strolling along and walk right into something that you just can’t quit smiling about.
Pick it up, hold it close and run with it like you are scoring the winning touchdown at the Grey Cup. You will never look back with regret on finding the find and claiming it for your very own.
Kim Wyse is a local freelance designer. Find her on facebook at ‘Ask a Designer/Ask a Realtor’.
