The gorgeous living/dining/kitchen space in this photo is not mine. But I wish it was. And I guess that means it's confession time. I absolutely hate -- yes, I said HATE -- entertaining in any sense of the word. Whether it be hosting dinners, holiday parties, martini nights, or any sort of get together involving anyone other than my parents -- I really can't stand having people over.
And it's not because I'm antisocial or don't want to deal with cooking and cleaning for anyone other than myself, my husband, and my kid. It's because I'm embarrassed about the fact that the interior of my house has absolutely no decor going on whatsoever.
There aren't any pictures on the walls, mostly because I have an irrational fear of hanging pictures on the walls. I don't have cute little knick-knacks displayed on perfectly positioned console tables and shelves. My windows have no curtains hanging from them. And my furniture? Well, most of it could use a nice upgrade from the hodge podge of pieces my husband and I combined from our respective apartments when we got married almost 10 years ago. (It's kind of like a dorm room up in here, you guys.)
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And I know my true friends don't give a rat's behind about what the inside of my house looks like and probably don't even notice the lack of decor when they come over. However, I'm painfully aware of the eye pleasing and attractive interiors of their homes every time they host some sort of gathering. Whenever I so much as set foot in one of their chic, stylish houses, I get a sinking feeling in my gut -- because I know my own pad doesn't even come close to measuring up.
It's not that my husband and I don't want our house to look nice or that we don't have the means to make it look somewhat put together and polished. I think the problem lies in the fact that neither one of us really has the time or energy to put in the effort required to turn our home into a showplace. And even if we did find time to give decorating a whirl, neither one of us has any sort of vision as to where to begin. (We're such a lost cause. It's hopeless.)
But who knows? Maybe one of these days, the decorating fairy will show up on our doorstep with a magic wand and transform our house into something that resembles the pages of the Pottery Barn catalog.
But until then, I guess we're just going to have to find other suitable places to party.
Have you ever avoided having guests over because you don't think your house is up to par?
Image via stevebennettbuilders/Flickr
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Comments 25
Yes, but I also fear renegade beyblades for when I do get something nice.
No. People willing to befriend me are pretty nonjudgmental and not focused on outer appearances. And their priority is usually on doing other things than decorating.
Hire an interior decorator.
I'm not embarrassed at all. We have a very nice two bedroom apartment that is fully decorated and very home-y :) We put a lot of work into our home to make it comfortable and presentable. That being said, a lot of our house is full of things that will last through two kids, and that are easy to clean lol. If something breaks, whether its a picture or a table, it won't hurt to replace it. Our couch is a really nice chocolate microfiber that resists spills and is easy to clean, great investment :)
starting with our furniture, our couch is the one my hubbys mother had when he was a kid (hes 31 now) we just put a couch cover on it, our chair is used and handed down from a friend of my hubbys parents, its also at least as old as he is, it also has a cover on it (both the couch and chair are in great condition since we don't want to buy new furniture till our kids are much older but they don't match and that bugs me so hence the covers LOL plus its added protection against the kids) our coffee tabel and end tables don't match and are also hand me downs! Most of what we have as decorations are presents or dollar store, some walmart items since the dollar store doesn't sell everything LOL.
basically we make due with what we have, we haven't bought anything new since we've been together and the stuff we each brought to the table are all old used hand me down items, but somehow we pull it off and everyone seems to love our place. They say its comfortable and homey and never seem to notice that everything we have is old. I guess its more how you present your home rather then whats in it!!!
And no, hiring a decorator is just not in our budget