By: Friendly Accountant for Fiber Queen
A month ago I finished wrapping up another year's journey through the tax code. YIKES. Though I am getting better at navigating the world of taxes I generally find the whole thing to be an arduous pain in the neck. I read just the other day the tax code is nearly 75,000 pages long! Even though Turbo Tax is amazing, give me a progressive flat tax. Perhaps tax reform may be something both parties could agree on this year.
Where to spend my refund???
Well, on the positive side of things, the last few years have been more fruitful and I am pleased to say my credit cards are in check and I have my refund in hand thanks to electronic filing. Prior to beginning the annual tax return I had been thinking about things to beautify my home with my refund. I'm not a homebody but when I come home from a long day of work and activities with the kids, I want my home to be a refuge from chaos!
There was a great article on the web called '15 Ways to make your Home a Personal Sanctuary' - tips and advice from the writers at Cooking Light. I saved this story in my favorites as an incentive 'post-refund' to begin creating a couple of special places in my home.
The article had some great ideas, some of which I thought would prove useful when accessorizing my home in the future. Included in the list of suggestions were some basic themes:
- Finding an Object that means something to you
- Create Coziness
- The Right Accents
- Smart Layout
- Fresh Air aka have plants...
- Set a Mood
- Mix it Up - the ability to use the same piece in multiple ways
- Color Choice
- Lighting
- Texturize
- No Rules
The complete listing of concepts and design images are below but many of these ideas seemed easy, affordable and flexible enough for my style and tastes.
15 Ways to Make Your Home a Personal Sanctuary
Turn your home into a personal sanctuary with tips and advice from the experts at Cooking Light
The Spend!!!
I found some of the home accessories I'd been wanting on the websites of Crate and Barrel and Room and Board, particularly some lighting and a set of comfortable chairs for my guests.
Still while looking around the web further I wandered to www.fibrebyauskin.com - a site I had previously added to my favorites as well. On this website I found a range of home accessories that would further create the sanctuary I was looking for.
The fibrebyauskin.com site has items that create coziness, are smartly designed, set a mood and have texture. Best of all the PRODUCTS have NO RULES.
There are beanbags and cubed seating which are un-conventional yet stylish. There are products the kids will enjoy while playing video games (with headphones of course!). There are also textures of many sorts including traditional sheepskin products, Tibetan lamb and luxurious ALPACA throws.
I enjoy quietly reading when I want to get away from a noisy world. I have now decided I want to do this activity in style and comfort. Last week, I purchased the Ivory Bean Bag Chair and a luxurious Teal Alpaca Throw with the dots pattern. I definitely felt I was ticking off a few bullet points on my 'personal oasis' hit list. The products arrived yesterday. The bean bag instantly created coziness, texture and set the mood. Spring where I live has been a bit delayed and the Alpaca throw has been the perfect accent in my 'oasis room' with its vivid color... but that being said I seem a bit like Linus in a Peanuts cartoon carrying my blanket/throw to every room in the house.
I suppose the best thing about these products is the fact they are unique and therefore it will feel nice to create a different sort of sanctuary for myself and in a way break a few RULES. Hey, it's small comfort to spend my tax refund wisely after dealing with 'The Man' aka the Tax Man.