A Lot of Patience And A Bit Of Perserverance

“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience.”

                                                                                  ~Saint Augustine

Overall, I'm a pretty patient person.  As a former teacher, patience was truly a quality I'm glad I acquired.  I was talking with a friend many years ago and she was telling me how she admired that I could patiently wait to find just the right piece of furniture or accessory and to go months or years without vs buying anything.  She told me that whenever she decorated, her rooms and house had to be completed right away.  For me, it was getting what I really wanted and the search and hunt was half the fun. 

For years I've been attracted to older furniture.  When it was time to find a coffee table for our family room, I wanted something big and comfy that we wouldn't mind putting our feet on.  I search high and low and remember finding a coffee table in an antique store that I liked, but wasn't sure about.  I kept looking and months later I decided to go back to the antique store and look at that table again.  It wasn't there!  Someone asked to help me and I was telling them about this particular table when they told me that they rotate furniture and that the coffee table was currently in their barn.  Long story short, this great old Mission-style coffee table is now in our family room...

I love the simple style, the wood and all it's nicks and scratches...

It even has a drawer that I can keep papers, scissors and other items that I sometimes need in a handy location...

Then there was the end table I tried finding for literally several years.  Mr. Cottage and I even went into town and looked in antique stores when we camped to find the right table.  Most of them were  golden oak and very grainy, which I didn't want.  But my perseverance finally paid off after many searches...

The last major hunt I was on was to find a simple chest of drawers for our guest room.  We have a simple shaker-style pencil post bed and I wanted something that would look right in this room.  Again, I looked for years and on one of our camping trips, I found this in Ludington, MI at one of the antique stores.  I paid for it, but we didn't have room to bring it home with us, so I ended up driving back a few days later with one of our sons to bring it back to it's new home...

Sometimes patience is necessary, along with the perseverance to find whatever you're after.