Today I wanted to share the evolution of our dining room and how it currently looks. Over the years my journey to minimalism has reached an extreme level, if I’m being honest. I feel like that can tend to happen when you’re having success with eliminating the stressors of your life (for me it was “things” and clutter). However, what I started noticing was with my extreme minimalism came a pretty empty home. Please read uninviting in place of empty. When I walked into my friends homes, they were organized, yet they were decorated. That’s where I think I’ve missed the mark all these years.

In my deep desire to live a minimalistic life, I may or may not have let it overrule my ultimate goal, which was to have what I previously mentioned, an organized yet decorated home. A place that felt cozy on a cold winter evening. Relaxing ambiance and a family game around the table. While we haven’t experienced that over the past couple years, I’m excited to share today that I’ve slowly, and successfully, been adding “things” like decor into our home and I’m never turning back.

Prior to our dining room evolving into what it is today, it was a white empty space with a table plopped down right in the middle of it. We had transformed our original brick fireplace into a concrete fireplace and we called it a day. It was immaculate, easy to manage/clean, however I convinced myself that adding things like a mantle, or thrifted framed artwork was going to make me spiral into a maximalist mindset. This just proves that when we turn goals into extreme goals, like minimalism, sometimes we lose track of why we even started on this journey to begin with.

I’m here today to tell you that you can in fact live a minimal lifestyle while obtaining a decorated and organized home. Add the mantle if you don’t have one, and gosh proudly put your thrifted treasures on display for your little heart to enjoy! Buy the flameless candles that you can turn on in the evening while you’re enjoying quiet time as a family. You won’t regret it.

OK! Thanks for sticking around this long, now I would love to share some updated dining room photos of what our space currently looks like. There are obviously a few more things I’ll be adding in the near future, but this is a good place to start! Enjoy! :)

I hope this post encourages you if you’re new to your minimalist journey. Our journeys are ever evolving. I’ve been a minimalist since 2014 and it has truly given me the peace and joy I needed, especially in early motherhood. Now I’m in a different season of life and am embracing the positive changes I’m making in our home! If you’re not following along on Instagram, I want to encourage you to hop over there and see more behind the scenes!