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So, yes, I know that I've spoken about my divorce quite a bit over the last three years - but what I haven't really told you all about is how difficult it has been for Angeline and I to really feel AT HOME here since our lives have changed so much. When Chris first moved out in 2015, I basically...well, I went on a rampage. It's like...How to Make Your House a Home Again After a Divorce?

How to Make Your House a Home Again After a Divorce

These are OLD photos with bad lighting, but you can see how boring and drab the house was back then - this is YEARS prior to the divorce, but it was basically the same when we split in 2015.

BORING. I needed not only for the house to feel different so that Angeline and I could continue to live there and be happy, but I wanted to come home and be happy about where I lived. I wanted the house to reflect my own personal style, which was never really possible while sharing it with a husband.

SO I made a decision to redecorate. I removed everything that we'd bought together while traveling, all of our decor - hell, I even threw out our beloved sectional sofa and left it on the curb. Don't get me wrong, my ex husband and I made joint decisions and he wasn't awful about decorating. I liked our old house, but I needed something cheerful and more ME.

I stocked up on paint to repaint the entire house - but somehow only ended up painting the living room area. I began with painting the color I'd always wanted. Buying a super light-colored couch (which turned out to be a huge mistake), I turned a photo I'd take during Angeline's 16th birthday cruise into our centerpiece of art...

Then I kinda stopped. Sure, I bought new curtains for the living room and dining room. I replaced all of those photos of Chris and I with brick a brack...all of those annoying little things that he never cared to see spread about the house? Well, it was MY house now. Well, Angeline's too, but you get my point.

It's hard to redecorate AN ENTIRE THREE BEDROOM HOUSE that you'd already spent 14 years decorating together.

We needed a new feel. We needed a new living space. But it takes time, creativity and money.

Time began to be an issue. I was not home a lot, as I was always traveling...I traveled A LOT right after the divorce. Well, for about 1.5 years following the divorce.

Suddenly painting my bedroom and buying a new headboard (I'd immediately purchased a new bed as soon as he moved out because EW, who wants to sleep in their old marital bed?) didn't seem like it mattered. I was never there anyway. I bought new sheets, and a comforter set, of course - something I wouldn't have put on the bed when I shared it with a man.

But then, as life would have it...Angeline moved out. I decided to sell the house and move...so the redecorating came to a complete halt.

Then, of course, life changed again, and Angeline moved back home. At this same time, I realized that I had actually fallen back in love with Miami, and my home. It was time to start making this a real home again, not just a place where she and I stopped in between wherever else we were going.

How to Make Your House a Home Again After a Divorce

So I started again. By then, it looked like no one lived here. I'd thrown out the new couch because as it turns out, we aren't suited for a white couch - not with three dogs and three cats!

So I got a new couch from Rooms to Go, on finance, as I wasn't exactly doing well financially at the time.

I really love personalized artwork, so the good people at Canvas on the Cheap allowed me to order this amazing canvas of Angeline and I in Montreal to help us with the redecorating process. Their prices are great and I LOVE the quality of the work! It's not the first time I've had custom made canvases to hang from photos I've taken during trips, and it won't certainly be the last!

Canvas on the Cheap has all kinds of sizes and prices start at just $7.95! You can get plain "wrapped" canvas prints or even have them framed, though I personally like the wrapped version so that I don't have to worry about coordinating matching frames. Definitely check them out, as the quality of the canvas print is fantastic and I received mine REALLY fast - I'm talking with a week!

As you can see, the lighting isn't so great in my house. As part of the redecorating process, I found this amazing shelf floor lamp with USB ports from Brightech, and they even signed me up to be an affiliate! (That means that if you purchase a lamp through my link, I'll get a small commission!)

Brightech lamps come with assembly required, but it was a piece of cake, even for me. I usually hate assembling things. Ha!

There is so much more light now with this new Bightech Maxwell USB Floor Lamp, and I really love that I have a little extra shelf space to store my brick a brack! The white coloring really adds a bit of brightness to the room as well, breaking up the monotony of the wood tones and brown furniture.

I began working on really setting up the living room first, as it's the first space anyone walks into when they enter their home. Plus, I wanted Angeline to get home from work and feel that sense of ahhhhhh....

I also just received this new Febreze Air Purifier, which let me tell you - it's necessary with all of these pets! Febreze Air Purifiers have a powerful, replaceable dual-action filter that traps up to 99% of airborne particles such as dust, pollen, and pet dander while simultaneously releasing the fresh scent of Febreze! Equipped with three air-cleaning levels and a freshness dial for the scent cartridge, this air purifier can take on the smelliest of rooms while also eliminating those pesky dust bunnies.

Febreze Air Purifier Key Features:

HEPA-Type filter removes up to 99% of air pollutants
3 air-cleaning levels
Freshness scent control dial
Automatic filter and scent replacement reminders ENERGY STAR® qualified
Available in 3 sizes: Tabletop, Mini Tower and Tower
Available nationwide at the suggested retail prices of $59.99-$89.99

It has this nifty little Febreze packet you stick in and DONE!

My house definitely gave that ahhhhh feeling when Angeline walked in from work last night. I also highly recommend getting a Himalayan Salt Lamp in your home - at least one. You can get them on Amazon or at a lot of local shops. They are supposed to help purify the air and remove negative ions...and I'd like to think that they help remove negativity, PERIOD!

So that is what we've done so far, and I am loving the way my living room works. My mom even gave me a pretty little ocean-themed throw pillow for the sofa to help with the whole Beach theme of our living room.

I still have a ton of work to do around the house...our bathroom medicine cabinet is broken and I need to replace it, Angeline broke the door knob on the back door so now we can't even get in that way (but at least no one else can either!) and I bought a new kitchen table that I haven't assembled yet, as I would like to find a home for the old one first.

But look guys! It can be done.