We have been living in our current apartment now a one year. Those who have followed me on Instagram or this blog know, that we moved last September from Spain to Finland, and we hardly bring anything with us. Instead of buying everything in new, we decided to go zero waste and buy furniture and stuff from flea markets. Some of the furniture we even found on the streets or got free from our friends.
Now we have lived in this so called zero waste home life one year, and I would like to examine a bit closer our decoration project and write about our experiences so far.
So lets start.
I have to admit, that zero waste home hasn’t been that easy project. As an aesthetic person it would be nice, if our furniture goes well together and the decoration would build a harmonic combination. If that would be the case, we would wait even longer to decorate our place.
So the first thing that this zero waste lifestyle has taught me is to be patience. To look for a perfect armchair or sofa can take years, and when you look for those items from flea markets it isn’t that easy task: You need to go hunting often and then I guess, there is a question how lucky you are. I have learned, that if you find something that you fell in love right to way, reserve or buy it – you might not get a second chance. I have learned that lesson well!
Then again, when you find that perfect item after a long hunting period, it is a feeling of pure happiness. We got out kitchen table from free from a friend of mine. It wasn’t in a good condition, but we decided that we would manage for an instant. Then a year later we found that perfect, wooden round table from the 60s, the one, which goes perfectly in our tiny kitchen place. Everyday I am happy to see it! This is also a lesson: you don’t need to get everything ready or the perfect decoration done right away – it is better to wait and see – get to know your place and figure out what will work there.
Also, I have learned to follow the zero waste principle number one: refuse. If we don’t find that beautiful and functional bookshelf, we try to be without and find other, creative solutions. It is better to be without and wait for the right one than get something that you will throw away in a year or so.
The one thing that I have learned too, is to get use to imperfect and in progress situations. Lets face it: decoration a home is a long, long project – in the meanwhile you have to get comfortable with unfinished situations and find peace with that. Of course there are moments that I feel envy of my friends perfect natural white-wooden-decoration, but then I need to remind myself, that as a working mother the decoration project isn’t that high in my list and with time everything will be ready someday.
Yes, there might be a little mix-match-decoration in our place, but when I look around, well, it isn’t that bad. We have found nice things, we have a comfortable armchair, which in my dream life I can sit down to read a book (for instant I just watch the kids play). We have decorate with warm colors to get that cozy atmosphere. Most of all I see life, a family life around me and lots of joy in here – and isn’t those the things that you can’t buy? And lets not forget our carbon footprint and the good we try to do to our planet – with that the decoration goes second.
Read more:
Zero waste lifestyle on the road
2019 – make it a year of sustainability
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