Reflections on "What Makes a House a Home?"

Hello Lovelies!

 image source via

There are many ways to make a house feel more lived-in and cozy. I love this advice: "Surround yourself with happy memories", found here at the Whole Living website, and illustrated by the above picture. I also like this advice: "Get cuddly accents", found here, as illustrated below:

Today, I'll publish another (!) excellent excerpt from the May 18th 2013 GON newsletter, because YES, it is that good and I highly recommend you subscribe to it! This short article deals exactly with the important question of "What Makes a House a Home?"

Excerpt:

***

"My friend's 7 year-old son, Jack, is a very outspoken and fun child. His new thing is to point at beautiful and big houses and declare that's the kind of house he wants to live in.

The other day, his mom reminded him that the size of a house doesn't necessarily make it a loving home. That it's the people living inside a house that make it special.

While he may be too young yet to understand the message of her statement, I wasn't...it was a GREAT mind jogger for me.

I love organizing and decorating homes. I enjoy watching HGTV, reading home improvement magazines, and scanning the latest ideas on Pinterest.

BUT a home doesn't mean spending lots of money on redesigning a space or buying the most expensive furniture. A home is a place we and our children can go to for comfort and security.

Fortunately, we can create that space by investing our time and energy with the people that matter to us the most.

I hope you have a wonderful week and make sure to enjoy the individuals that comprise your life!"

***

 

image source: Fi & Livvy's Cozy Home


Newsletter excerpt: (c) Copyright 2013 by Maria Gracia, Get Organized Now!

* Copyright, contact and reprint information:
http://www.getorganizednow.com/contact.html

* To subscribe, visit:
http://www.getorganizednow.com/free-ezine.html  


In closing:

photo source: World of Interios, via

You can find a lot of visual inspiration through commented slideshows about lovely, cozy and lived-in homes here:
at AT (cozification article)
at RS (5 ways to create a cozy home)
at Whole Living (13 ways to a cozy up at home)  
I also love the home inspiration posts by Jane, at her lovely "Ill seen, Ill Said" blog.


Enjoy your home!

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

Why Not? A Personal Journey in Amateur Design

Hello Lovelies,

image: this is Muriel Cibot's living-room, as of 2011 - as published here, among other photos of her place.

I recently bought a French home decor magazine called "Le journal de la maison" and stumbled upon what I believe is the perfect inspiration for me: a house tour of a Paris apartment the same size as mine, 60m2.

I couldn't help but think: "If Muriel Cibot, owner of said apartment, can do it, why shouldn't I at least try?" Muriel Cibot is a trained interior decorator and you can see some pictures of her home here, while I am just an amateur and design-enthusiast, but... WHY NOT?

The pictures of Muriel Cibot's place you can see here were taken back in 2011, while the photos in my home decor magazine, published April 2013, showed an updated version of the apartment. I then realized that the right use of textiles such as an area rug, a throw and a pillow on the sofa, drapes on the windows, a lamp with an actual lampshade on it, etc... could add incredible warmth to an otherwise very bare and cold interior.

Keeping simplicity in mind, I started using pinterest to gather eye-pleasing, beautiful but realistic and affordable ideas.

I must admit that I started with myself, since tackling a home decorating project can be a huge task. First, I researched (and found) the perfect Spring/summer fragrance for me. It is going to be "Orange blossom" by Jo Malone. "Après l'ondée" by Guerlain was also a favorite option, but not an affordable one.

Then I bought two dresses, one for spring, and one sleeveless for hotter summer days. The first dress is from Taillissime.fr - as pictured below:

The second dress is from laredoute.fr :

Yes, i have a classical taste in clothes and I love navy. ;-)

That done, I started a pinterest board with random want/need stuff for my rental, in no particular order. Again, I *do* intend to eventually pair this stuff down to the essentials.

One of the first projects I want to tackle is organizing and decorating the living-room. I want to hang my artwork (and as an artist, I have quite a few oil paintings I want to show off) and I want it *so bad* because I firmly believe it gives a room a "grownup" look and I'm tired of the "forever adulescent" look. Hey! i'm not a kid anymore, and I like it that way. I want to see that fact reflected in my interior.

My inspiration is gathered here. This board helps me define my style, a little "industriel", a little "wunderkammer" with a "masculine flair" twist, but is not realistic nor affordable. It's about dreaming (which a necessary function, too).

Now, let's have a look at the bones of my living-room, which are quite good. It is a classic French living-room. high ceilings (hooray!), high French windows, a grey marble chimney, parquet flooring, nice proportions and one built-in storage cabinet. The walls are painted a nice medium grey, and the mouldings are painted white. So far, so good.

I got a new (very cheap) couch at a thrift store, because my previous cat had scratched my old couch beyong recognition, alas. I got a new kitty, with less fierce claws. Here is my new friend, Kachimo:

 Here she is, asleep in a cardboard box.

I also bought flowers on a weekly basis for my place. Just an example:

The vases pictured here, all my own, are displayed on the mantel of my grey marble chimney.

And when Spring arrived (at long last!) I bought a pair of chartreuse silk accent pillows to add a punch of color, and one geometric patterned pillow grey/white with a hint of chartreuse in it). As seen on this image from the laredoute.fr catalog:

Since the room has high ceilings, I think a nice chandelier is in order. I found at least four nice and affordable options online, and I gathered them here. I love this option from Habitat:

The genaral layout of the couch area in my living-room will be as pictured below:

 image: design by Mark Tuckey, via green design blog.

A medium-sized couch against a wall, a big statement artwork above couch, like my painting below:

 oil painting by Naomi Lipson. all rights reserved.

A chandelier hanging from the ceiling (to be bought soon). And two small coffee tables (I actually have three vintage IKEA esting tables with a glass top).

So the chandelier is my next buy. Any ideas? Suggestions?

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

P.S. This post was so fun to write, I hope you enjoyed it. but I still need to take some time off the internet and this blog. Please understand. Will be back in a month or so.