Emily blogs at Remodeling This Life about living a simple and frugal life while chronicling her family's journey of downsizing to a smaller home that they're remodeling on a shoe string budget. Emily is a stay at home mom to two and enjoys writing and running when she finds free time.
I firmly believe that our lives reflect our homes and our homes reflect our lives. When I am feeling my best, my home shows it and when my home is looking disheveled, it shows in me and other areas of my life. Is caring about a well kept home frivolous? Is it unnecessary and does it mean I am focusing on unimportant things in my life? I don't think so. I think that caring about my home, the place my family shares love and laughter, needs to be a place that we're all comfortable and enjoy being in.
A home doesn't have to be big to be beautiful, or even as The Nester loves to tell us, it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful. You know what it does need to be? A reflection of you. The real, true, authentic you. You can gaze at photos on blogs and in magazines all day long and think about how nice it would all be, if only your house were bigger, you had more money, or time to do it all. Or you can look around you and realize that the most important thing isn't having a home that is ready for it's closeup in a magazine spread but is practical and beautiful to you.
Most of our homes won't ever win awards, be in a magazine or make us famous. But they're all beautiful in their unique ways - just like us. Home is where our families are. Where memories are made. Where kids play. Where tears are shed. Where meals are made. Those are the things that matter more than the size of a house or the things that are in it. We make our houses home by being there, living authentically and being warm and inviting to those who visit. We make our house a home by lighting candles at night, wrestling in the living room with our kids, and making messes in the kitchen.
A beautiful home inspires a beautiful life and that is why it's important to take the time and care to make it so. Remembering that beautiful doesn't mean perfect is also important though. Embrace the imperfections, soak in all the moments, and love and laugh often. You'll never look back and wish you'd bought that piece of furniture, but you'll be glad you made a home full of love.
All photos BHG
From the Nester: I. Love. This. Post. Why can't I write like that? Read more about Emily at Remodeling This Life . And read even more about Emily over at The Inspired Room where Emily did a guest post showing a quick room makeover. Speaking of quick makeovers, don't forget about our 10 minutes party tomorrow! Grab your buttons at the end of this post.
What happens in your house that makes it uniquely and wonderfully beautiful to you?
52 comments:
This was a wonderful guest post!
I agree whole heartedly about the way your home looks reflects on the way you look and vice versa!
When I am not organized...neither is my home.
Home is a much calmer place when everything is as it should be!
What a great post. Our home is a military apartment in Germany, and is much smaller than our house in the States, but I love it because we're here together. I'm slowly working on making it not perfect, but perfect for us.
My own special memories with our kids...that makes it special BUT making those memories on a great couch with lots of pillows makes it better...wink!
-sandy toe
What a great post, Emily! One of my favorite things to do in our home is to entertain high school students. We love it, our kids love them and hopefully they love us for it. It isn't perfect, but to us, its a beautiful thing.
Love this guest post!
What happens in my home is it is always changing -as in I move things around, just like life, yet it is comforting and it is always "home".
My home's decor is added to all the time. Slowly I run across unique items at an antique store, thrift store, garage sale, or my favorite place: Home Goods. My home is added to all the time. Yet it is always "home".
Everything is different, but it all goes together. Some things new, some things old, some things repurposed.
Karol :0)
These are such great points! I find that as I try to buy only second hand items that I am in love with as I find them, my home has taken on this really organic real quality that completely represents us, our values, and our place in life right now. It doesn't look like a catalog, but it is beautiful all the same.
Thank you for letting me babble on your blog, Nester! I love you and your readers and am thrilled to be here today!
So true. I also find that the perfect home is more of a journey. Mine is always changing with my moods and the seasons. The longer I live in my home the fewer things I have in it. I have found that a few wonderful loved things are much better than lots of beautiful things that you don't absolutely love. Only keep the things that truly inspire you, everything else is just stealing attention from what really matters.
I love the dog in the third photo, what better decor is there to a home that dog hair and unconditional love from your four-legged friend!
I couldn't have said it better. When I am rested, happy and all is right in my life, my home reflects it. When I am tired, stressed or not feeling well, it shows in my home. I feel so content when my home is in order, a satisfying meal is prepared, candles are lit and my family has all made it home from their day. Home is the best place to be!
What a lovely post!
This is a great post! I find myself looking at photos online or in magazines and wishing I had more money and time. Slowly, my home is becoming a home filled with more warmth and coziness. It has so much potential and I can't wait to bring out the beauty within it.
I love our home. It is a reflection of our family and our lives together. Sadly it is often hectic and unsettling because we are rushing around too much. That is what I want to work on, instilling a sense of calm within these walls.
Couldn't agree more, great post. Homes are supposed to be our sancuary, and when they messy...ugh, that's exactly how we'll feel. Being a home school mom, I know that to create a learning environment, doing chores before we start school is key.
Over the past year I've discovered the Goodwill and the idea of 'shopping the house' first. It's made a huge differnce in my decor and ability to decorate this big house that I'd otherwise have to wait on.
Emily, you have such a way with words! Great post. I like the pictures that went with it, too! :-)
I love Emily's writing style too, she's very talented, and I've been a fan of her blog for awhile. Great choice for a guest post, Nester!
I do want my home to be beautiful, but more than that, I want it to be a safe, comfortable haven for my family and for those who come in to visit us. The atmosphere is affected by the neatness and cleanliness to some degree, but it does not have to be like a magazine page or showcase. It is lived in and comfy. Thanks for sharing!
Love this post!
Suzanne
I haven't really followed Emily. Thanks for introducing her to us, and you do right like that. In your own beautiful, Nester way. :)
My youngest recently turned 5 and I feel like I'm just waking up from years of big plastic things in the living room and sippy cups all over the kitchen cabinets. It's a new day around here and I can have breakable things around again. And guess what? I have no idea what "a house I would love" would even look like because I've been so busy being practical for so many years. The last things I remember loving were the green transferware plates I collected b.c. (before children).
I gotta get my groove on. This place needs some work and I don't even know what I like anymore!
Super post!
And I definitely agree with the other comments about "shopping" in your home first, and garage sales, thrift and antique shops.
I love this! I have resisted going into "decor" type stores and just buying what looks "right", I take my time when decorating and wait until I see something that gives me Joy Butterflies...this has resulted in lots of flavors in my home but I'm surronded by things I love...
Robin
All Things Heart and Home
First of all I LOVE your blog. I am in love. I am so in love I broke out the chocolate paint I painted my kitchen cabinets in and started in on our bathroom. I am transforming our bath in to a spa bath. I can't tell you how many times I've painted this bathroom (I'm sure my husband can!)I'll try to get you pics of before and after. Little by little.
The greatest thing I love is a Saturday night while I'm in the kitchen cooking (right by the back door) and the kids are running in and out, laughing, gathering toys, digging in the dirt, getting grubby, while dad watches them. On these nights I have on Lawrence Welk and we spend time together as a family after dinner.....usually outside. In Austin you can do that almost 10 months out of the year.
New reader,
Shannon in Austin
This is a great post! I see so many things in magazines that I fall in love with, but I realize they aren't practical when you have a 3 year old boy, a 85 pound dog, and a disgruntled cat.
Everyone has been so much happier since I started doing a better job taking care of the house - making it beautiful and keeping it clean. DH has been coming home in a better mood, too, and I think it's because he knows he's going to come home to a calm, peaceful setting instead of a crazy, disorganized home.
Such a wonderful post and so true. Home is where all the memories are made and it doesn't have to be in a perfect house, just a welcoming one. Hugs, Marty
That is so true! When my house is cluttered, usually my life is too. When it's organized and looking good...I am too!!! Nice post!
I love this-it's so true that a comfortable home is most one beautiful home. Like emily commented, we fill our house with teenagers on a regular basis. They make a mess and it usually smells like a gym afterward but we love it-and so do our own kids. Home is beautiful to me on those days-crowded and full of noise and laughter.
What a fabulous post! Very much what I needed to read as we are downsizing from a 4 bdrm to a 2 bdrm in just 3 days. Thank you for the gentle reminder that our home will be our home regardless of where it is, so long as we are together and our new home reflects our family...
:)
Beautiful post! She is a wonderful job! Your home certainly does reflect on the way you look.
Nester, I am giving you a blog award. Please come over to get it!
AMEN SISTER, I struggled for many years in the homes I have lived in trying to decorate per my high end friends and family but not this time... we recently bought a 1950's farm home on 4 acres in September and I am finally going to decorate it in my families true roots.... Pies, Fresh Milk, Farm Fresh Eggs, growing a garden anything that speaks who we truly are....Course it finally helps for us too that we finally are owning our first real country home...
I love it when we're hanging out in the gathering room together. We laugh, talk and eat. It's great to be in a family that generally likes each other.
Wow!! That really was an amazing post. And so inspiring.
What's special and "me" about my home? I think that's what you asked. Well, it reflects us.
There are pretty milk glass containers, and decorations, and lots of lovelies, but there are also a few toys on the floor, and papers lying about with lovely coloring on them. There are shoes on the floor at times, which lets me know that there are people here who feel comfortable enough to just kick off their shoes.
Oh ya, and I dance around and sing all the time. :)
Uniquely wonderful and beautiful? Hmmm.... the 6 pairs of socks that accumulate in my living room after school, the toothbrushes sprawled all over the bathroom... and the toothpaste smeared on the countertop with handprints of toothpaste on the mirror and a footprint on the counter... all evidences of the little people who make this house buzz. Mostly it's the multiple love notes plastered on my fridge, the shelves of "treasures" in each kids room, and the book piled in bookcases that signify love and learning and how important my time is with my kids.
Great post! It's so easy to get caught up in the pursuit of perfection and forget that the memories we make are in the now and we need to enjoy the fleeting moments of today:)
Pretty Organizer
This is a great post. One of the things that irks me about most magazine pictures (beautiful as they are), is that I rarely see people enjoying the home. Pictures are nice for inspiration, but it's the people in the home that make for the warm fuzzies.
Nice post, but I like the Nester's writing just fine. I specially like that your photos are your own.
I've been married almost 4 years, and I'm just now realizing how important a clean and relaxing environment is to my husband. He doesn't expect brand new furniture or the latest style, etc. He just like things orderly and comfortable. I'm finally getting there! I can tell he's much more relaxed when he comes home from work b/c the house isn't a mess. I LOVE keeping my home now, and posts like these are what help keep me inspired!
-Kari
My house is pretty, but functional and practical. Last night we had 6 teenagers (not to mention my 3) spend the night and I was not afraid for them to touch walls or sit on the furniture. I keep it cozy but elegant at the same time. Oh, and I have enough distressed furniture and wall treatments that it stays low maintenance! That helps too.
~Misti
Thanks for sharing these ideas :)
Thank you, this was truly inspiring!
I love this post!! Baking... that is what goes on in my home. My teenager, two toddlers and I baking lots of treats. The I sit down to a cup of coffee. Perfect!
Our home is always filled with music. Whether I'm learning new music for Sundays, or we have KLOVE blaring on the radio, or Kiddo is practicing piano, there is always music floating around our home. It just wouldn't be home without it!
What a great post.... It is all so true, our home is about the love of our family, not being perfect.
Thanks for a great post Emily & Nester! I feel the same way.
I like to have an eclectic style which includes lots of hand-me-downs to make our home special.
I recently found your site and am enjoying it very much. In reading through some of the posts, you used the term "mistreatments" to describe window treatments in your kitchen. I have never heard the term, what are you saying exactly. Is it a mistreatment because it is a silk panel in a kitchen, unexpected, etc?
Thank you
What a great post. I have to agree that the daily interactions with my kids are the things that happen in my home that make it special. Also the fact that my daughter was born in this house(totally not intentionally) will make it harder to leave (we won't stay here forever!).
I'm a huge fan of Emily and this is exactly why. I needed the reminder that a home is more than the way it looks, and also that making a house into home is not a wasted endeavor.
Yeah Emily!! Good to see you here:-)
Housekeeping here is done by 12 and 13 year old home-educated boys, while their mother tries to work. I'll tell you that makes it "special"! Very special indeed. It's a whole new way to look at "mistreatment," I'll tell you!
This is such a inspirational post!!! I've already shared the link to it with others!
(btw, I found you via Lady Dorothy at Daffodil Dreams!)
Thank you all for the warm welcome and kind words!
Great post Emily, and so true! I love this collection of pictures... especially that amazing kitchen island in the second pic.
Beautiful post! It is so reassuring to remember it is about the memories and moments in a home, not where you bought your collectibles! Collecting memories has a much higher value! Thank you for this great guest post!
Nester, you do a fabulous job writing inspiration, encouragement and reality every day! You also have the gift of writing "like that"! :)
Lovely.
I agree with this post yet I see people who spend too much time and money on their home and neglect other (more important) areas of their lives. They also spend money they don't have in the name of home improvement/beautification and I think that's wrong. Everything needs to be in moderation and life needs to be balanced.
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