Living Deluxe

I'm doing the thing that I love to do and have all my life been well-known for. My husband even wrote a line into our wedding vows about it. It was something like, 'I promise to love, honor and rearrange.' He's lucky. I actually do this much less frequently than I did in my younger years when rearranging the house only took one day to complete with little recover time needed.

We've been working on the trimming down, going toward streamlined, organic and recycled. I'm really feeling upbeat and optimistic. I'm down right cheerful as I lug the little bamboo drawers out of the den. This Pier I treasure is retiring from office work and headed for kitchen duty. As I work things become organized, clean and sparkly.

Nobody has ever quite understood my need for this activity, the wondrous feeling as you nearly complete the job. The exhilaration when looking at my clean home with artistic flair. It's a joy to walk through. Cozy nooks are here and there and conversational seating with lovely still life arrangements abound.

But then there is always that one room. I promise to return and put all the rest of the stuff away and I mean it. I really mean it. My intentions are to put each and every item in its place creating nothing but the purest of organization. The sacrificial room where you put all the crap you really don't need but can't seem to throw, or even give away is not a luxury we enjoy in this small Homewood bungalow. You know the one, where you close the door so it won't bother you and declare your home well kept and only go back in when it's time to move. Being the daughter of a depression era mother I'm just programmed that way and so there is all that stuff. I never get back to that last bit of stuff and eventually it all infects its way back into my home filling up the breathing spaces and gathering dust.

And then on my cheerful way to the kitchen my belief in this project is momentarily shaken. A distant memory has popped up; a long since passed rearranging adventure. I'm at Pier I wandering the aisles looking for something that will do the trick. The perfect piece of furniture for And this will be the piece of furniture that makes everything neat and clean, organized and efficient. And once in place I know that my home will forever and ever be neat and clean, and without cat or dog hair, rabbit pellets or dirty dishes. I will have hours upon hours to do just as I pleased and all those things I've been meaning to do will finally get done.

But I am only deterred for a moment. I am even more certain that this is the one that is going to take, the plan that really will make things around the house just 'work' better, like at Martha's where there's never any mess. And there is a chance. I'm not consuming like I used to. I've let go of some things that I didn't really need anymore. I've begun to realize how nice it is to be free of excess. In looking for the life of my dreams it's never been about what I didn't have. It's always been about what I have that I don't need and as I work it seems the home is truly becoming transforming.

My dear Richard dutifully helped all weekend and we worked hard! But as we laid our exhausted bodies into the bed I saw him look around the room and I watched as his face grew bright. And I could see; he got it!

"It looks so nice. It's like a fancy hotel room!" He smiles really big and then he says, "It's just.. it's deluxe!"

Yup, I married the perfect man!