Turning House Into Home

After almost two weeks in our new home, this was the extent of my decor. :-)

And it was up because we really needed a safe place for the keys, wallet, etc., in the chaos of unpacking. I don't know about you, but for me decorating is purposeful. And sometimes it's downright confusing.

When we remodeled our first home, it had a very country flavor, and I purchased new decor and curtains for almost every room of the house. I never was crazy about how the master bedroom turned out (it never felt finished), but the rest of the house fit together so well. Then we moved from the cape cod back to a ranch. Knowing that most of the window treatments wouldn't work in the ranch, we sold them with the house. The ranch didn't have the country feel of the cape cod, so I leaned a little more with my primitive preference, and after 6 years it felt comfortable. I wasn't crazy about every detail, but the family liked it.

Now here we are again: back to the cape cod feel, which I love. Our family agrees that this house is so much more cozy than the ranch, and it's my job to accent and enhance its coziness and beauty with minimal expense. Fortunately, the decor from the ranch will work much better in this style of house, but proper placement is important. Many of the walls are plaster, meaning there isn't much room for trial and error. I really want to get this done so that I can feel more confident when having guests, but I know that staring at the walls won't give them the motivation to dress themselves.  :-)

Sometimes I just have to clear my head and bring myself back to the basics of decorating our home.  And there are a few key things that I have to remember:

• From the blog of a friend, decorate for us, not for others.  Unless my decor would be offensive or uncomfortable for guests, I should go for what we like.  In these days of blogs and Pinterest, it can be so easy to decorate to impress others when our real goal should be to provide an environment that feels comfortable to our family.
• Avoid clutter.  I'm not big on knick-knacks (which often end up looking like clutter), but I have to be careful because primitive decorators love to sell them, and although they are very enticing to me in the boutiques, I don't have time to dust and arrange stuff.  And our family prefers the look of less.  Sort of helps one to breathe better.  :-)
• Functionality is key.  How many times have I arranged and rearranged in my mind, simply because I want the spaces in my home to be functional.  After living in a place for just a few days, one can see placements that make things more difficult.  So we move them, and then we spend another week getting used to where things are now.  :-)  Balancing visual appeal with functionality isn't always easy, but it's worth the effort.
• Incorporate sentimental pieces into decor.  This is something I have done minimally, but would like to do more.  When we remodeled the first house, we had the windows replaced.  I kept one of the old windows to use as decor, and whenever I see it I'm reminded of not only the work that we accomplished together, but of the really great times that we had when we lived in that home.  I have several keepsakes that I would like to weave into displays, and I'm anxious to see how that turns out. 

The atmosphere in our homes is created by a combination of aesthetics and values, but overall, there are several characteristics that I want my home to generate:

• Wholesome purity
• Calm
• Warmth
• Welcome

image