I’m baaaaack!!! And so is my decorating mojo.

The last six months have been quite a wild ride. In September, my husband was laid-off and began a two and a half month intense job search that necessitated another move; this time to Nashville, Tennessee. We arrived here on November 21, literally 5 days before Thanksgiving. With holidays coming up, and an unplanned trip back to Texas to take care of our oldest child who became very sick around Christmas time, I had to put my Decor Pixie business on the back burner. But now that we are getting settled in and are making decorating decisions, it is time to get this up and running again. So let’s dig into where we are now, shall we?

When Jim Bob was first laid-off, my heart sank. I had just gotten this business off the ground, had really settled back into Texas living, and I simply didn’t have the heart to tell my children that we might possibly need to move again. But when he told me that he was having serious talks with a company in the Nashville area, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders. I love Nashville. I have always loved it since the first time we visited here. My immediate response to Jim Bob was, “You could move me to Nashville. Love that place!” Three weeks later, Jim Bob and I were on a plane to visit Nashville to get him started in his new position and do some house hunting. We had two and a half days to make decisions. Then we went back to Austin, packed everything up and moved only five days later. It was crazy to say the least.

We looked at 6 or 7 houses in one day, all within 25 minutes of his new office. The very last place we looked at was in Franklin, and it was also the smallest—like, half the size of our place in Texas. However, it was very close to the town square, and the closest to his office of all the houses we had seen. We prayed and talked about which place was right for us, and really, it wasn’t too hard of a decision.

With our oldest staying in Austin (he’s now an adult), we didn’t need quite as much space between our boys, nor the rarely-used dining room and gigantic loft area our Texas house had. This place also has three full bathrooms, and the layout—though much smaller—works extremely well for how we do life.

Then we began thinking about the utility costs as well as commuting costs/time. The house in Franklin came out the clear winner. It was about 800 square feet smaller than the other homes we looked at further out (and about 1200 square feet smaller than our Texas house), had a much shorter commute, was closer to all the decor excitement that Franklin and Nashville have to offer, the utilities would be far less than the average home, and the rent was only $75 more per month than the larger homes further away. Also, because the place we chose is a townhome, the yard maintenance was taken care of by the owner of the property. For our busy family, it just made sense. All-in-all, it looks like we are saving anywhere from $200-$300 (or more) per month. That’s a pretty great deal.

Plus, I kinda have this love of smaller homes and cottages. Always have. I have so much to say about this topic of smaller homes, downsizing, cleaning and organizing smaller spaces, decorating frugally (but with quality and taste), paring down to only the items that serve us well and bring us joy, etc.

All of this is slated for upcoming posts, so stay tuned.

I am energized by this smaller space and all the paring down and de-owning of unnecessary things. I am finally getting down to what I truly use, love, and serves my family well, all while making it more beautiful than any home we’ve ever had. This is incredibly freeing!

I can’t wait to show you more pics of our home and give you a tour of the Franklin/Nashville area. For an artist and decor person, this place is a dream and I love it. For a family that likes to travel and see new places, this area is fabulous as it is within 300 miles of a bunch of great places, including some of the prettiest beaches in Destin, Florida (6.5 hours due south by car). Seriously, if you pinpoint Nashville on a map, and then draw a circle going 300 miles out from the city in all directions, you will see what I mean. Increase it to 400 miles, and you get even more. After having moved 17 times now, we find that we get the “itch” to take short trips to see other places quite often. Being here allows us to satisfy this wanderlust, so we are thrilled.

Thanks for joining me on my adventures. I have so much planned to write about, teach, and show you through pictures (decor tutorials and how-to’s, small space living, organization, the freedom of de-owning/decluttering, painting, sewing, and simply how to love the home you are in and make it yours as frugally and beautifully as possible).

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Blessings,

Amy (the Decor Pixie)

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