Well, I guess it isn't a pile, but I couldn't resist the alliteration. Anyhow. on our recent trip to Oregon, I was inspired by my friend Jenny's interior decorating prowess. Her house is so darn CUTE and I love how she always incorporates beautiful things that are also functional into her home without paying any attention to design rules. She seems to live by the "if I like it, it will work" rule, and in her case, this is absolutely true.
In my house, I am constantly torn between the desire to make things look nice and the desire to throw in the towel. It is, after all, a one-bedroom, 60-year-old mobile home that is just plain ugly. But little fits of despair usually clear the way for another go at making things look better. I put together this little tray after getting home from Oregon. Since I don't have a bedroom, there is nowhere for me to put MY things where they won't be destroyed by an illegally thrown frisbee or knocked over by a rogue Lego car. So I am taking a risk by putting something GLASS in a high-traffic area, but what the heck. I scored this wooden tray at Joanne's in the clearance section, and bought the little notepad and pencils at Paper Source. The glass apothecary jar was bought at TJ Maxx a while back with the intention of making a terrarium, but has been collecting dust until I decided to fill it with my small collection of seashells from Bali. The little turtle is from Bali too, to commemorate me getting to hold baby turtles while we were there (one of my favorite memories). Brett made me the little jar on our neighbor's pottery wheel, and the book under the notepad was given to me by my 8'th grade teacher when I graduated from Jr. High. I love looking at all these pretty things, which were previously hidden away in the back reaches of my shared closet. And it has already come in super handy to have a note pad and pencils right inside the front door. My kids still don't understand why I bite their heads off whenever their cute little hands reach towards my jar of shells... but they are learning to respect the tray. It is my tiny little square of peace in an over-crowded house.
