Last weekend I drove up to Davenport, FL to help my friend Fernando get started on decorating his brand new house. I LOVE to decorate, so of course I was down, but it ended up being so much more fun than I imagined. Why? You ask. Well, let me explain…

First of all, Fernando’s house is brand new, so other than some furniture, it was a blank slate. And Fern was very open to my ideas, as well as offered his thoughts and takes on my suggestions. It was a breeze to collaborate. 

Secondly, we were super efficient with our shopping. The first place we hit up was Home Goods, and found the perfect mirror for above his dining table, as well as some key pieces to decorate the table (see the image below). Basically I’d say, “I like this this and this,” and Fern would make his selection. 

Of all the great things we got at Home Goods, by far what blew Fern’s mind the most was the basket. He has a small space between the couch and kitchen counter and didn’t know what to do with it. We wandered into the basket section and it occurred to me, “A great way to add warmth to a living room is to have a large basket filled with blankets, to get cozy while watching TV.” Mind. Blown. I saw Fern’s eyes light up with joy, and we picked the perfect basket (it’s peeking out the side of the couch below).

Thirdly, we found amazing deals all weekend, which is always energizing! Michael’s had a sale on frames (pictured above), buy 1 get 2 free. So for the price of 2 frames, we were able to make this entire gallery wall (pictures TBD). And, we got the same exact deal on canvases. I’m about to get to that…

The fourth and final best thing about this weekend of decorating is that we got super creative and DIY! The house has a long hallway right at the entrance with what was a large blank wall. Fern wanted either mirrors or large panel paintings, so I suggested, “Let’s make our own paintings!” Much to my delight, he was totally down.

We got the canvases from Michael’s and inexpensive sample wall paint from Home Depot, set-up shop in the backyard, and got down to painting. We went for abstract expressionism, and couldn’t be more delighted with the outcome. There was a point in the process where Fern had his doubts about one of the pieces, but we collaborated on a solution, and turned that ship around. The end result is a wall with 3 beautiful unique images created with love and joy. What a great way to bless a new home!

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After this weekend, I was reminded that fun is not just consuming, experiencing, or relaxing. It’s also problem solving, creating, and accomplishing.

Fern and I were on a mission, and working together on the solutions, getting playful and creative, and seeing it through to the end, resulted in one of the most fun weekends I’ve had in a long while (and I have fun most weekends!). 

Thank you Fern for trusting me with your space!

I’m curious to know, have you had a similar experience of collaborating on a project with someone and having incredible amounts of fun in the process? If so, share in the comments!

Love, 
Sash