When I stumbled across Pinterest about 7 years ago, I discovered a treasure. For years, I collected ideas in a cheap three-ring binder filled with clear plastic page protectors. It contained recipes from Southern Living (exclusively because “they” have great taste!), DIY instructions for all kinds of crafty Christmas gifts (we were a low-budget operation for a long time), and pictures of flower arrangements, gardens, and rooms. Sometimes I would just flip through the pages and let the collection feed something deep inside me—like a weird kind of therapy!
I think my infatuation with accumulating ideas began early, watching my very Southern mother rearrange rooms regularly (something my dad really did not like since he would run into things that hadn’t been there before), painting a single wall in the guest room a very dark navy blue (something Dad really could not understand), flower arranging, wallpapering, and giving extensive advice (not always requested) to others on their design choices whenever we visited them.
When my husband and I got the go-ahead to start dreaming up a house to build back in 2013, I spent about a year scouring Pinterest. I created boards for the overall look of the house, as well as for each room. I still have those boards, and I refer back to them pretty often. My builder was as accommodating as he could be, but I think I might have been asking too much of him at times. I’m sure he wanted to roll his eyes (but he didn’t) whenever I mentioned emailing him a Pinterest post. He was, after all, a very Southern gentleman.
The first thing we started with is the window over the kitchen sink. I had always dreamed of having a window facing east in the kitchen so that we might watch the sun rise at breakfast. The rest of the house would have to work with the window!
Here are the Pins that I captured my imagination:
I DO love those chandeliers! 
Here’s my kitchen:
Each morning, I fix myself a cup of coffee and look out the window over the sink. My favorite time of year is the fall when we get spectacular displays like this one, and I remember that the Lord has blessed this family so much!
Then I settle down at the kitchen table with my Bible and read and pray for a while. There’s no better way to start the day!
