I was looking around my bedroom the other day and thinking “We should repaint this.” Our bedroom is currently a lovely light lavender-grey, a color picked not even two years ago. There isn’t anything wrong with it. In fact, it’s barely been up long enough for me to dislike it or grow sick of it. And yet, I’m incredibly ready for a change. In fact, in every room of my house, I’m longing for something new to look at. We don't want to move, but we need things to look different.

I call it COVID nesting – or re-nesting, perhaps. We looked at these walls a lot in 2020. Stuck in our house for almost an entire year, we have lived with these walls for an abnormally long time, all crammed together, weathering this pandemic. 

We remote schooled in our kitchen, in our bedroom and, finally, in our child’s room.  We had movie nights (so many movie nights) in our living room. Every single space in our house was used to capacity: the backyard, the porch, the garage even, where we howled at 8:00 pm and listened to each and every rainfall. We know this house, we used this house. So many footsteps on the stairs, so much laughter and, at times, so much fear. When I look around my house, I am thankful to her for protecting us and keeping us safe; and I’m also ready to change everything about her. 

Part of trauma is recovery, and this, for me and many others is what moving on looks like. I truly can’t help but wonder if moving your house away from what it was during COVID is part of this recovery. It's nesting…onto new things. Re-nesting.

If re-nresting is something you're also experiening, Anythink is a great place to find resources to help you reimagine your home. We have tons of books and online resources available about all things home decorating, DIY projects, backyard remodels, garage projects, gardening guides, crafting tutorials, hygge conversions, murals, indoor plants and more. Some of my recent favorites include:

The Home Edit: Life by Clea Shearer

Vintage Remix by Kishani Perera

The Nesting Place by Myquillin Smith

And speaking of nesting, there’s something very exciting happening at Anythink that has to do with nests: our backyard sculptures from artist Jayson Fann are up at Anythink Wright Farms and Anythink Perl Mack. Our customers are already filled with awe and wonder at these gorgeous pieces, which can be meant for either quiet contemplation or Instagrams a-plenty! We invite you to experience these adult-sized nests and creations this summer. 

So, in short, whether you are re-nesting in your own space or enjoying our “nests” at the library, your Anythink family is here while we encourage you to take a breath and dare to change everything.