A Beautiful Life Doesn't Wait for the "Someday" House

Tammy Renée | Creating the Beautiful Life

5 min read

Cozy living room interior featuring a beige armchair, dark wood bookshelf, and bright window with sheer curtains.

With a website named Creating the Beautiful Life, you might expect to see my sun-drenched kitchen, my rose garden in the backyard, or a charming fireplace mantel that changes with the seasons.

Someday, I hope those things are part of my story again; but right now, they aren’t.

Right now, I live in an 860-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment. I don't have a garden. I don't have a dining room large enough to gather my whole family around the table. And things I love are packed away in storage because there simply isn't room for them here.

And yet, this is very much where I'm creating my beautiful life.

I've been thinking about the word creating that I chose for my website. Creating means that something is still underway. It isn't the finished product. It's the life we're living while we're figuring things out, making plans, and doing the best we can with what we have in this moment.

And I realized that I couldn't talk about a warm, lovely home without also showing you the home I'm living in.

My Current Home

My downsizing began after my 24-year marriage ended and our family home was sold. Over time, as my four children grew up, married, and created homes of their own, I continued letting things go.

Now, in my late 50s, I live in a very different kind of home than I once did. Some belongings went to my children. Some were donated. Others—the pieces I couldn't part with but don't currently have room for—went into storage.

Today, I live in a recently built apartment with high ceilings, lots of natural light, pale floors, new appliances, and more storage than you might expect from a one-bedroom. It's comfortable, easy to care for, and in many ways exactly what I've needed for this season of my life.

But the apartment itself is fairly modern, and I'm really not. So little by little, I've softened it, and now it feels much more like me.

Elegant open concept living and dining area with light wood floors, round table, white curtains, and warm interior lighting.

What Beautiful Looks Like in This Season

Because my home is small, I've kept the larger pieces fairly light and neutral. White slipcovers, soft linens, simple curtains, and pale upholstery give me a backdrop I can easily change with the seasons.

So, in this home, beautiful elements have meant...

fresh flowers in my home that I purchase from Trader Joe’s.

an embroidered pillow on the chair where I sit and read.

stacks of my favorite books always within reach.

soft throw blankets in my sitting area.

candles burning in the evenings.

my favorite music piped in through my vintage-inspired Marshall speaker.

a small gallery wall I created in the kitchen simply because I enjoy looking at it while I'm making dinner.

My living room is large enough for a few friends or family members to sit comfortably, and I've found ways to make the apartment work when someone comes to stay. There's a queen-sized air mattress tucked inside the trunk I use as a coffee table. Most of the time, though, I travel to see my children and grandchildren since they're scattered among different cities.

Do I miss having more room? Absolutely.

I miss my rose bushes. I miss stepping onto my porch and being surrounded by flowers. And I especially miss having a home large enough to gather my family under one roof.

However, in the meantime…

Beauty Doesn't Require Ideal Circumstances

There are so many ways we postpone things without realizing we're doing it.

We'll entertain when we have a bigger dining room.

We'll hang the art when we own the house.

We'll use the beautiful dishes someday.

We'll make the bedroom lovely when we finally have the bedroom we really want.

I understand that impulse because there are things I'm waiting for too.

But I don't want to spend these years treating my present life like a waiting room for the life I hope to have later.

Although this home may be temporary, the life I'm living inside it isn’t.

So I put fresh flowers on the table.

I hang art on the walls.

I light the candles.

I keep books out where I can see them.

I use what I have.

And perhaps that's one of the things this little apartment has taught me: we don't need ideal circumstances to begin creating a home that feels like ours.

A bouquet of fresh pink roses in a crystal glass vase on a white table in a brightly lit room.

Elegant embroidered floral pillow on a tufted beige armchair with a cozy cream-colored knit throw blanket.

Vintage gallery wall in a modern kitchen featuring floral oil paintings and decorative ceramic plates above a grey cabinet.

The Home I'm Still Hoping For

I often think about the home I’ll have someday — a place of my own again with enough room to bring my things out of storage and give them a proper place. And I'd love a guest room where my grandchildren could come stay.

I can picture that house.

But wanting something different for the future doesn't mean I have to hold back on creating a beautiful life now.

I can be grateful for this home and enjoy what I've created here while continuing to build toward something else.

And perhaps most importantly, I don't have to become a different person while I'm waiting. The woman who loves flowers, books, old paintings, beautiful rooms, family gatherings, music playing in the background, and a home that feels warm and lived-in is already here.

She just happens to be living in 860 square feet right now.

For Now, This Is Home

I'll share more of this apartment with you as I continue making it my own — the things I bring out of storage when I find a place for them, the seasonal shifts, and the ordinary ways I keep these rooms feeling like home.

Not because I think this apartment is my forever home, but because a beautiful life doesn't begin when the right house finally arrives. It happens here, in this present moment.

And I think that's reason enough to make it lovely.