The Light That Waits for Us

There’s a lamp in my office that I never turn off. The light spills out of the office windows at the front of our home here in Virginia just as it did in our old home in Houston.

It's just a cheap little lamp — nothing special — but somewhere along the way it turned into a kind of beacon. My family can see it when they pull up to the house at night, like a quiet way of saying you’re home. A bit of warmth, whether I’m here or not.

The Glow That Says “You’re Home”

In the move to Virginia, the shade didn’t survive. It’s a little mangled now, sitting there patiently while I decide what to do with it. When I sit at my computer, it whispers, fix me.

It stirs the urge to create — to make a beautiful mess — but the rational part of me says, maybe unpack another box first. You probably know that tug-of-war: the part of you that wants to dive into a new idea versus the part that just wants the house in order.

Choosing Joy Over Matching

The best part of this project is that my office is still in chaos, which means nothing has to match. The lamp can be whatever I want it to be.

So instead of worrying about colors or style, I’m picking a decoupage paper that brings me joy. Sometimes it’s nice to create something purely because it makes you smile.

Here are the decoupage papers I’m leaning toward:

A Little Light in the Window

One of these days, I’ll fix the shade. For now, the lamp still burns — welcoming, warming, waiting.

Maybe you have something in your own space that reminds you to keep the light on, even when life’s still half-unpacked.

If you’d like to see all of the decoupage paper choices I have, you can browse them here. Let me know what your favorite is.