There is nothing more fantastical than those 30 minute TV room make overs. You know the ones, the home owner comes home and everything is new and perfect? I love the idea of that, but the reality of it sounds cold. Your home is your stuff. Your things, furniture, books, trinkets, etc. When we redecorate a room, we always ‘shop our own home’. We find things in other rooms that are ready to be reinvented. A coffee table that didn’t fit anywhere suddenly fits in a new conversation area. It’s been given new life. This is probably my favorite part of decorating cause you can just move stuff around and see if it looks good.  And who doesn’t love a good hunt? I like to hunt everything: antiques, my own home for stuff, and ice cream. I share a theory with my sister that ice cream that has stuff in it to hunt for tastes better. (Ben and Jerry, we are talking about your Chubby Hubby and Phish Food.)

We’re currently working on redecorating our living room with West Elm and Rejuvenation, and having new pieces of furniture is exciting. Most of the new items are foundation pieces, like couches and chairs. There are those last few items we need to polish off the room, so we decided to take a walk around our home to fill in the blanks. Not only is this economical, it prevents usable furniture and items from ending up in landfills.

The Adventurous Hunt

We ventured into our dusty third floor. A place where there is little-to-no electricity. I can’t even believe this place is part of our home: it’s so creepy! During the past 3 years things have accumulated up there. Furniture from our old loft that didn’t fit anywhere in the rooms we’ve redecorated. A big box of old art work. And let’s not forget Grandpa and Grandma’s stuff. When my Grandpa died several years ago, my Aunt sent me a POD from Wisconsin with all their stuff in it! When I decorate a room, I like to go through all of Grandma and Grandpa’s things to see how I can incorporate it in our home. If you follow us on Instagram – look out for our stories – I’ll share some of the items we discovered.

Here’s my top three items to repurpose:

1. 1. Side tables and coffee tables, other small furniture

1. 1. Art work

1. Trinkets and other small accessories

I’m curious to know: what are the items that stick with you over time? Things you keep reusing time and time again? I love the ebb and flow of objects in and out of rooms in our home.

What once lived in our bedroom now has a home in the living room. It’s a cycle of life through objects and previously played out furniture.

While we might not use everything seen above in our living room redesign, at least we now have an idea of what type of things can be used.

We would love to see what you repurpose in your home.