But something had changed. By now I was fully ingrained into the world of social media. And every day I was faced with photos and videos of beautiful houses. With huge kitchens. Immaculate living rooms. It made me look at my house and start to long for more. I would enter a shop and become paralysed. Stop dead in my tracks. The thought processes I began to have were along the lines of "what if I buy the wrong thing?" "why can't I work out what is on trend?" "what the hell do I like?". I began to look at my strange little objects and wonder why they all looked out of place.
I like gnomes. Now back off.
Don't get me wrong. The people who have amazing and immaculate homes are wonderful. They have a style that is perfect for them. I would watch YouTube videos of giant kitchens and literally drool over the counter space and storage. I bought not one but two fancy rugs that I had seen on instagram. And wondered why the hell it didn't look quite the same in my house. And it's because quite simply it's not my style. I had been "influenced" so much that it had influenced the life and soul out of my house and the opinion of what I do and don't like out of my brain.
I collect ceramics. Like an utter geek. IT BRINGS ME JOY
So that's it for me. I will still drool over storage as that's my drug of choice. But my home is MY home. It's not huge as we choose to spend out hard earned cash on other things like far too many Disney trips. So here is the moral of the story. In this new online world, where thousands of images are thrown in front of our eyes on the daily. Never lose who you are. Be your own influence. Follow those people who fit into your style. Who fill your eyes with joy. For me I'm going to remember that feeling of the houses I used to visit growing up. With bookcases spilling over. Giant posters framed with love telling tales from the past. And a sense of home that I want my children to grow up with.