Moonlite Monday Guest: Joi of Nuestra Vida Dulce

Hey guys! I'm Joi from Nuestra Vida Dulce and I am excited to be a part of Chic Modern Vintage's Moonlite Monday. I absolutely love reading, talking, and writing about decor and I consider decorating my home my biggest hobby! While I make my living as a high school teacher, I daydream of the possibilities of spending my time decorating, shopping, and/or working for a fabulous design company or magazine as my main income. A girl can dream, right? : )

I decided to share how I developed my own personal style with you all today. For years I was obsessed with making everything match. If I had dark chocolate wood furniture in one part of a room then the rest of the room's fixtures had to be the same. If I used silver frames in a specific area, then you guessed it...silver frames for the whole room was the obvious answer. I used to be the biggest fan of furniture sets and thought everything was better together if it matched. I bought mass produced "art" that didn't speak to me and I used color schemes that big box stores featured.

Eventually I turned into an avid blog reader and became completely enthralled with decorating and creating. I often wondered why my rooms never looked quite as polished as my numerous inspiration pictures. Then I had an Oprah "Ah Ha!" moment! All of my favorite inspiration pictures included furniture from different time periods, patterns that didn't match perfectly but rather complemented one another, and there were no rules for color! Basically nothing "matched" but everything worked! "So long" blue and brown color scheme, "adiós" to all one color wood, and "see you later" to Mr. Matchy-Matchy themed rooms!! I'll stop my babbling, let's get to the photos that showcase the evolution of my personal home style!

I started out with my living room looking like this...

And as of today, I am thrilled to share that it looks like this...

My kitchen evolved from this....

To this....

And my office went from this...

To this...

It's been a slow progression and one that has involved a lot of trial and error. You see, as two teachers, my husband and I aren't exactly rolling in the dough, so most of the items you see above are thrifted and/or DIY. My friends and family are constantly asking me, "How do you put things together and make your home look like it does?" And my answer..."I only buy things I love and MAKE them work--I throw all other design "rules" out the window!" Eclecticism is the spice of life and it's what makes the layers in our home reflect US. I hope you like what you see and hop on over and join me at Nuestra Vida Dulce and stay for awhile to catch up on "Our Sweet Life."  And, if you have any questions send them my way to: Nuestravidadulce {at} gmail {dot} com

Thanks for reading!