Have you ever walked into an exhibition house at a display village? They are often tastefully decorated but are impersonal. They have a certain bland sameness. The reason is they are decorated by decorating firms without any idea of a personality.
When a visitor walked into our home recently she said, ‘what a lovely home.’
The reason I believe, is not because of the floor plan of the house but because our house simply reflects our personalities and interests. Several things are evident from when you first walk in the door. One is that we love books. Two is that our favorite color is blue. Third I love owls and collect them. Fourth we love color and pretty pieces of pottery or boxes or accessories. Our furniture is comfortable but is not up to the minute as it had been around a few years and shows it has been used by a family. Our wedding wall also shows how important family is to us. There is usually a bible and magazines or books about Christian things lying around on the coffee table.
The last one is that it feels, comfortable and relaxed. People aren’t stressed that they will have to take their shoes of when they come through the door because of the carpet as I have seen in some places where they have shoe covers at the front door or signs saying ‘take off you r shoes here please.’
To me, a house is meant to be lived in not be a showpiece. If the carpet gets dirty, then you clean it or get it cleaned rather than make people feel uncomfortable.
Artwork is very personal. One wall in the family room has a print given us as a housewarming gift some years back by our son and daughter in law. It is a Monet print in blue and gold. Other walls have a lino cut and paintings done by our daughter. They are more abstract – the sort of paintings you can look at and see different things in them, the longer you look at them.
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