This week I started the search for a house. When I moved to this area, I gave myself a year to get familiar with the housing market and the various towns and neighborhoods in which to live before buying. It has now been a year and a half and, although I like the house I’m renting and I love the neighborhood, I am anxious to find my own home and make it mine.
What does house hunting have to do with creativity, you ask? Why, everything! Looking for a house opens your mind to possibilities. I could live almost anywhere, within reason. I have a budget, of course. But within that budget there may be dozens or even hundreds neighborhoods in which to choose my new home and almost as many houses on the market that I could make mine. You wonder why television series such as “House Hunters” are so popular? People love to imagine themselves in a fabulous home. It is one of our most basic needs and is one of our most endearing dreams: to live in a place that is ours and fits our lifestyle.
Close your eyes and think of yourself in your dream house. It is nothing but potential at this point. The house has walls and floors and rooms full of nooks and crannies. It is big and open or small and cozy. Rooms are painted, floors carpeted or tiled or woodened. Windows are clad in whatever coverings you choose….or even left bare to let in the view. There is furniture and appliances and accessories of all kinds. And then there is a yard or other outside space. It may be a tropical paradise or a cityscape or a garden of eden.
Take those dreams (the possibilities) and turn them into a list of needs and wants and then start looking within your budget. Your dreams will point you in the right direction. Searching for your own home may be one of the hardest things you may do except for selecting a life partner. Nothing is ever as perfect as you would hope for given your desires (and budget). Making choices is difficult. There may be hidden pitfalls that you won’t know of before you choose. But the hunt itself is exciting, freeing. And once you have made your choice, your home will be an endless font of creation as you fix it up to suit you: the individual, the couple, the family.
As for me, just thinking of paint colors can make me feel happy for days.
Ain't No Ninny 