If you’ve ever drawn house plans on graph paper, you might be a design nerd. And, if that’s the case, you’re in good company! There are a lot of us out there….we geek out on fabric swatches, furniture templates, wallpaper samples, paint decks, mood boards, symmetry, focal points, accents that pop, and statement pieces. If that’s you, this first giveaway to celebrate the launch of my new book, Feels Like Home, is for you! If you’re not a self-proclaimed design nerd, well, this book just might turn you into one.
I think there is this idea when it comes to design that you’re either good at it or you’re not. Those who would describe themselves as “not creative” wave the white flag and leave the design work to someone else. But, I believe down to my very bones that design and creativity are learned skills that are practiced and developed. Yes, there are some people who have natural inclinations and who were raised in an environment that fosters creativity, but everyone, no matter where they currently are, can improve their creativity and design abilities through study and practice.
Let me make a comparison.
I stink at basketball. I actually played on a team for a season when I was a kid and I still don’t fully understand the rules or the nuances of the game. But, I know that if I really wanted to play basketball, I could improve my skill through study and practice. I’m at a definite height disadvantage and I’ll never be great, but I could be better. I could arguably even become a decent basketball player. But, I don’t have any interest in playing basketball. As funny as it sounds, I dislike the sound of the squeaky shoes on the wood floor and sweaty people pushing into me to get a ball makes me just want to give it to them so they’ll leave me alone!
So, maybe you haven’t practiced design and decorating because you’re just not interested in it enough and that’s okay. There is a whole world of hobbies, activities, and pursuits to chase. Chase what excites you. But, if decorating does excite you and you do want to give some time to it, you can improve your skills through study and practice. No matter how good we are, there is always room to grow and get better.
I talk about this in several places in Feels Like Home and offer up some exercise to practice your decorating when there isn’t the pressure to finish a room. I did this for years without even realizing that’s what I was doing. When I collected household items like knitted potholders and lebkuchen tins to use in my dollhouse, I was fostering resourcefulness. When I’d arrange my collected fabric swatches and played with combinations, I was learning what patterns and palettes I liked. When I would collect paint chips even when I didn’t have a room that needed to be painted, I was developing my eye for color. When I rearranged furniture even though the arrangement we had was fine, I was honing my layout skills. When I was reading through decorating books, I was studying composition and exploring other styles to learn more about my own. It was all practice.
If you didn’t grow up doing those things, it can feel foreign to you and awkward. But that’s how all new endeavors start. We start as beginners and have to grow in skill and confidence. But, I believe you can and I hope Feels Like Home will help you in that journey.
So, let’s talk about the goodies in this first prize package giveaway!
A set of three of my favorite GraphGear 1000 pencils. These are my absolute favorite and I have caused many people to become mechanical pencil snobs right along with me. The weight of these is so nice and I use them for writing and sketching…
They also retract when you engage the clip, so the lead won’t break off from being bumped.
A pack of my favorite white Post-it flags. I use these for marking pages in the books I read, so I can go back to pages that were inspiring.
They are repositionable and won’t damage the paper, so I can move them around when I reread books if I’m inspired by something new.
One of my favorite notebooks by Leather Village. This one has a beautiful cover and the yummiest deckled-edged paper. It’s great for sketching, painting, mixed-media, and creating design plans.
Those pages!
I’m also giving away another favorite notebook – the Ranger notebook. I use this one in a few different sizes because it has great paper and a clever design. There is a pocket, a band to keep it closed, and it lays completely flat when open.
This is a smaller version that I customized, but I’m giving away the larger size.
The pages are nice and thick, so there isn’t bleed-through if you use glue, paint, or pen & ink.
Also in the box will be some candles from Old Field Society, which are my favorite! I’ve included two candles and two matchboxes, so you can light some candles and put on good music to create an environment that stimulates your creativity.
And, lastly, I’ll e-mail the winner a $100 gift card to Barnes & Noble, so you can purchase some decorating books to study and gather inspiration.
As a recap, here are all of the goodies in this giveaway package…
Feels Like Home Giveaway | For the Design Nerd
- 3 Graphgear 1000 Pencils
- White Post-it Flags
- Leather Village Notebook
- Ranger Notebook
- Old Field Society Candles & matchboxes
- $100 Barnes & Noble Gift Card
To enter, just leave a comment on this blog post telling me what you love most about your home. When you’re a design nerd or you take in a lot of inspirational images of homes on TV, in books and magazines, or online, it’s easy to forget the things we love about our home and express gratitude. So, let’s take a minute to do that.
The giveaway is only open to those over the age of 18 and in the continental US. (Some giveaways will be open to International winners, but this box would cost a fortune to ship!) The giveaway will close Thursday, August 19, 2021, at midnight PST and a winner will be chosen and announced by Monday, August 23, 2021.
Good Luck!
PS – I received a physical copy of my book this week and it is so gorgeous!! I am so pleased with the size as well as the quality and feel of the cover and pages. It’s a beautiful book and I’m so proud of it.
If you haven’t preordred it yet, you an order it HERE.
Can you tell I’m so excited?!
I’m so excited about this book and giveaway!! I find it SO hard to choose what I love most about my home- a quaint 100 year old tiny farmhouse on a couple acres of beautiful land. Probably the old quirky details, and that I’ve been re-building every inch of it over the last 8 years so it feels like mine in every sense of the word. I love home- having a place to learn and grow and make mistakes and change my mind and invite people in. Every time I finish something, I look back and think “Yes! I love that!!” Turns out, I really like my own taste, and seeing it evolve over time and improve home for me. .
All my vintage furniture, mirrors, pictures and Knick-Knacks!
Love your painting style
I am 77 years old and still trying to refresh my house with news ideas to bring a fresh look to to my home.
Congratulations on your book, Marian! So excited for you! Can’t wait to read it!
I love the wood beam and tongue and groove ceilings of my 1960s home.
What I love about our home is that it gives us options. It’s far bigger than we need…and while that can cause some issues it also gives us lots of opportunities! Most recently it gave me the option to have a dedicated work space where I could install ergonomic office equipment rather than working at the kitchen table during the pandemic. So that’s what I’m loving most about our home right now…the flexibility it allows our family to explore all kinds of options.
Hi Marian,
You are so kind.
I love my farm table and decorating it with my vintage tablecloth and transferware dishes.
My mother painted and my 17yo daughter is amazingly talented. My MIL quilts and I love painting furniture. So many beautiful handmade pieces are displayed throughout my home. This is what I love most about my home❣
What a great giveaway! I would love to win. My favorite thing about my home is my office. It is peaceful and quiet and has a nice big window.
I am so excited about your give away. I would so love to win. There are many things that I love about my house but I have to say what I mostly love is that over the years I have made it mine. I just feel at home in it. My husband and I usually do one big upgrade a year to just keep the house in good repair and currant. The last thing we did was to ditch the carpet in our bathroom. Can you believe that!! So gross and now so much easier to keep clean. Can’t wait to get my hands on your new book.
I love our gallery wall of my dad’s sketches from college!
What I love about my home is that it’s filled with the items that I have curated and still love. I was just thinking that yesterday as I was dusting. These are the objects that reflect me as an artist, a gardener, a reader and one who appreciates the beauty of nature.
I love my home with its mid century vibes and eclectic spirit. I love the neutral walls that lets me apply color with furniture and accent pieces ❤️
My curio cabinet with all my treasures from mission trips ! Look at them and have such special memories of people and places!
Love this give away box…..would love to win.
We live in a 100 year old farm house, what I love most is the layout.
What I love most about my home? We’ll, really it’s the people in it. As I decorate and or remodel I try to keep family in mind. As a result, I think we have a home that is comfortable and functional for the whole family and we love spending time here together!
So true, I love the baseboard molding and molding around the windows and doors. My husband worked so hard to make my ideas come true!
I ordered your book weeks and weeks ago and I’m very excited to receive it. I have a love/hate relationship with my home. I love it because it is old (1936) and has great character but I also hate it because it is old there is so. much. wood. ? But… I’ve raised my babies there and made it a home for them so I am incredibly grateful.
What I love most about my house is that it is MINE. I worked hard for it and own it free and clear.
The flexibility of decorating, drawing plans, moving things around on a whim is so satisfying and fun.
Your book looks w.o.n.d.e.r.f.u.l. Can’t wait for my copy. You done good Marian!!!
I love when a room finally finds its personality after the addition of an item. My dining room was plain until I found an oversized oil painting of sunflowers. Now, this room has a direction!
What an awesome giveaway box! ♡
My favorite thing about our home is the original hardwood floors… they creak when you walk through a room and have scratches and stains from years of being lived in.
I love the light our house gets because of all the huge windows. I also love that even though our home has a very open floor plan, it still feels so warm and inviting.
I love our home. I purchased it after driving by one Saturday on my way to Sonic. (I was single after a 20 year abusive marriage and an empty nester. In a brand new state and town) I never took that route and something pushed me that day to go this particular street. I passed a house with a for sale sign and I turned around immediately. The home was not large only 1007 sq feet and it was not a beautiful home but something drew me to it. I called the realtor made an appointment and applied online for a loan. The house was built in 1950, the bones were good but it was very dated, 1970’s dated but I saw so much potential when I finally saw it. It was perfect. I learned to paint, fix plumbing, electrical and all other jobs. I made it into a beautiful little home, then I met me husband and he made all my ideas/dreams come to life. We added on in 2018 and added over 600 sq feet. It’s a perfect home and absolutely beautiful in my eyes. Nothing fancy but it’s home with much tears, sweet and most of all LOVE that was put into making it home.
Your story moved me to tears.
Home. Where I recharge and creativity returns. Where I feel relaxed and energetic. Where I’m free to play with my most pleasing colors, and textures. Home. Love, learn, grow, share, rest.
I love our home and how it is us and not cookie cutter. I think the best compliment is that our grandchildren call it our cottage and tell us how much they just love our home-it’s their favorite place to come to!
My pieces passed down from my parents, grand-parents, and great-grandparents.
I really love that we have two distinct living areas. That has provided such a great quiet space for me and a place for my kids to play.
Your book looks fabulous; I love the cover! I look forward to looking through it!
I bought my English Tudor Revival 5 years ago after my husband passed away. We lived in a way too big, but beautiful French Colonial that I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up on my own. I sold it almost right away, and bought this quirky 100 year old house built with reclaimed materials, and I’ve never regretted it.
I hit send too soon, before mentioning that I love all the built-ins a nooks in my house.
I love that our home tells the story of us – what we love, the adventures we’ve had together and our unique style. As I write this, I see the buffet with a faded Union Jack painted on front that reflects my British-born husband’s heritage but also holds my treasured collection of china inherited from my mom. The delicate blue flowers around the edge of those plates inspired the blue walls of our dining room, where we ate the first Thanksgiving turkey I ever made, and which is now a funny family story because I cooked it upside down! I can’t wait for your new book, because the title speaks to me so much. Congrats!
Oh what a wonderful giveaway!! I love my 1950’s cape cod home because it has a very open floor plan and unlike most capes of that era, the staircase is at the far end of the living room so the first floor works more like a ranch style house. The doors are wide, lots of windows, and a very large eat-in kitchen/dining area with built in corner cabinets. I dream of tearing out carpet, painting kitchen cabinets, and replacing laminate with soapstone counters. Your blog and first book have been an inspiration to me, not to mention the more recent art classes. Thanks for your willingness to share what you’ve learned and inspiring the rest of us to be creative and move mountains in our own homes.
I love my home’s quietness. I live in the country, so I can sit inside or outside and listen to the sounds of the backyard fountain or the birds going about their day. It’s where things are peaceful and comfortable.
This is such a great give away! I’m very excited to get your book. I love the warm feeling my home gives me. I try different design ideas some work, some don’t, but it feels so good to have the courage to try and the freedom to try again. I love the warm muted neutral colors currently around my home and my 3 season porch that feels like a cabin.
I love that my home is filled with memories that I have collected over so many years! I’ve moved so many times and have lived in 5 States. Although I have sold or given away a lot of things with each move, I’ve kept the things that are closest to my heart. Things that my children made or bought for me, family photos, books, antiques and artwork are all treasures that make my house a cozy home. I don’t mind dusting all of these things (now that I’m older and have an empty nest) because all of them are sweet reminders of my life. ?
My favorite thing about our current home is that we have views of beautiful live oaks out every window. I’ve lived in different parts of TX many times throughout my life and so I do not take mature trees for granted any more! I also love our backyard and patio so much here.
I love that my home has changed as I have changed. When I needed calm and quiet I was able to reflect that. When I wanted light and bright, I made that change. I like most that my home is personal TO ME. It reflects my tastes and my likes. And, it’s never done!
I love that my house is an endless project. We are in the midst of remodeling and redecorating our living room and dining room and a small bath. We are having so much fun!
I love our home’s coziness and warmth! Have preordered your book and can’t wait to receive it!
I think the room I like the most is not really a room but it is my pantry. I convinced my husband to move our washer and dryer that was in a small room connected to our kitchen to make a pantry. I got to design this small pantry to house an antique cabinet from Europe to be put in the middle of the space and shelfs to hold our food items on one side and the other side holds some of my ironstone and copper items.
I love that the rooms in my house can be adapted and modified to fit the needs of a growing and changing family. Example: a nursery to child’s room to teen hangout to guest room/sewing room/
office.
What I love most about our home is that it is filled with light from the new windows we installed ourselves and that we can enjoy the view of our flower and vegetable gardens from these windows, too!
Can’t wait to read your book!
I’m excited for your book. Congratulations! I’m definitely a design nerd ?. We just moved into another house (military housing) that I’m restricted in regards to changes that can be made so I’m struggling, but I have a larger laundry room with a mop sink which I have never had and I’m grateful for that. ❤️
What I love best about my home is that as I look around I am reminded of people and places I love.
I love that my home is a place of respite for me and my family that can be altered according to our needs. It’s a place where we can build, create, rest, play, etc., and return to time and time again. Going home is the best!
After being a military child I longed for a home and a hometown. I did get just that opportunity after I had my first child!
It is the house I have lived in for twenty five years and raised my children in. It has gone through many changes through the years and I have enjoyed every change I have made. I am currently planning a refresh and I am very excited to get your new book! I think it will be the little extra push I need to get started!
I cannot wait to read your book. I love decorating and creating, and it’s something that can be done on any budget. We don’t have a lot of money, but I decorated my whole dining room and most of my home restoring and using thrift store finds (my favorite is white ironstone) it is so exciting to go into a thrift store and search for something that speaks to me and has a history. I love old vintage items. Your decor style is absolutely beautiful! And I am so excited about your new book!
Love all of this for you so much! And I love…that this home is really, actually evolving. No pressure to hurry up and make it over. And I love my black trim throughout. I feel like I walk in a gallery here. ?
I love the feeling in our home when everyone is home. The cozy buzz of love and life in one space brings me unlimited joy. ❤️
I love the fact that my husband and I live in my parents home. It was left to me at their deaths and is the only home my children remember them in. It holds a lot of memories for us all. I enjoy designing and making stained glass panels and have a piece in almost every window so your pencils and notebooks would come in handy for design ideas and of course the barnes and nobles gift certificate to tweek my craft. Love your home. God Bless.
One thing I love about my home is how we’ve changed pieces with paint to fit our style. I love that our family feels comfortable and can enjoy each other in our home.
I have followed you practically from the beginning! Love your style & talent & have loved watching it/you evolve!
I have pre-ordered your book & simply can not wait for its arrival!
The giveaway is awesome & here s hoping the winner is me ?.
What I love about our home is the feel of peacefulness & comfort with family peices handed down & other found antiques & vintage decor.
Thanks Marian!
I love that my home has wonderful views out all the windows & my small rooms are cozy!
I’ve preordered your book, Marian, and can’t wait. What I love about my home is that it has collections gathered over the years—cake stands, botanicals, bird prints, blue & white, a few antiques, thrift shop finds—and does not look like it has been accessorized by a decorator, I hope. ( I also love that it is only 1,900 sf and easy to clean. ?) Thank you for everything that you share with this community. ?
What I love about my home is the memories it holds and those yet to be made that it will hold. It’s been a part of my life since we trekked through the forest following surveyors’ marker to size up the lot. It went from floor plans in a builder’s brochure to a a foundation and then the promise of a maze of studs, wires and pipes. The empty white rooms we moved into so many years ago are now filled (perhaps too filled) with color and things I treasure, each with a story to tell. The rooms reminds me of all the people who crossed the threshold and times spent with them. After all the years passing, so many who shared good times here are gone or far away yet my house still holds them for me to remember.
Congratulations on the release of your new book! So talented. My favorite thing about our home is our light filled family room and fireplace.
I can’t wait to see your new book. I love everything about your decorating style, paintings and cats ? Blues and greens are my favorite. What I’ve learned from living in 3 different houses so far – is being able to make each one feel lived in and like it belongs to us. I like using old and repurposed items to make a room feel more like home. You have accomplished making your home look like”your” home and you are my inspiration to do the same ?
This is my 24th home in 45 years (Air Force /Commercial Pilot’s Wife). And this one was bought in a 48-hour crunch because the deal on my absolute, gotta-have-it, historic home fell through the day of closing. So what do I love about my home? It sits on an acre of wooded land. Lots of trees, lots of wildlife and birds. It was a blank slate, and we’ve spent the last seven years making it uniquely ours. I love the very quirky kitchen we built with unfitted antiques (Hoosier cabinet, soapstone lab tables, English pine cupboards). But, mostly, I love that I am surrounded by the people I love; the things we’ve accumulated along the way; the memories of all those homes in all those different places. Home is where you tell your story…and share it with others!
I love my lovely old home?. It’s an 1846 old home with a wine cellar downstairs. This has been turned into a dining room/ living room. It’s so cozy and the best tv room you could ask for. We all love to gather there and be our silly selves?
Your book looks amazing and I can’t wait to receive it!!
If I had to choose one thing about our home that I consistently am thankful for, it would have to be our simple wood floors. I used tongue and groove 1 x 8 plain pine. I stained them with my favorite stain color and sealed them with Verithane. Every day I walk on these floors and rejoice. They lend themselves to Country French which is my love. But they would go with any vintage decor.
I love that my house doesn’t look like anyone else’s house! Unique art, lego creations, furniture that doesn’t match but goes. It’s very much a mess and very much us, with blue and green tying it all together.
What I love most about my home is that it is reflection of me. It has new, old, family pieces and thrifted treasures. Every piece has a story.
What a wonderful giveaway! The thing I love the most about my home is the memories we have made as a family while raising our children. I also love the vintage items we have collected along the way to make our home ours. Very much looking forward to receiving your book!
I love how my home expands to accommodate kids home to visit and still feels nice for two!
Congratulations on your book! What I love most about my home is that it’s cozy and welcoming. That it’s surrounded with warm furry blankets to cuddle with, pictures of family and friends, scents that remind you of certain times, hand me down family furniture, filled with music to dance to, and the special people making memories with me.
I love the dormer windows from the outside of our home, I love having a formal dinning room (I’ve always wanted one), I love how cozy and inviting our master bedroom is, I love our recently redone kitchen and I love the ones who live in it with me! I’m looking forward to the book.
I love the house its self. It sat vacant for 19 years and I have been able to create, design, tear up and out every inch. I am looking so forward to your book and being to get lost in the pages. Thanks for always being the inspiration, encouragement and honesty with your work and words
We have been fixing up our house slowly over the last 4 years. I especially love the living room. It is the room we are mostly finished with and your post this week about doing things little by little to make it your style, well, that’s how things happen here! I’m looking around and thinking I really like this room, I didn’t know at times how things would turn out, but now, although I still have a few things to work on, it’s home and where my family is, that’s what I love! <3
The book looks intriguing and inspiring! I hope to preorder one very soon.
I don’t have a home right now so I’ll tell you what I loved most about my previous home. I loved the screened in porch. Once the “shades” were removed it was so open and inviting. Last summer I painted everything from top to bottom and it made such a huge difference in wanting to not only use the space but to continue to make changes and additions. I didn’t get to but I’ll keep those ideas and hopefully be able to use them in the near future.
Every piece of art in my home speaks to me. They all have a story and bring me so much joy! Excited to read your book. Thanks for sharing your wisdom ?
This is an awesome giveaway! I like to layout of our home. It’s so functional for our family!
What do I love most about my home? In truth, it is just 1984 builder-grade, faux-Tudor. But with every completed project, it becomes more like the story book cottage of my childhood dreams.
My favorite book as a child was about a little home-loving squirrel named Miss Suzy who is forced out of her beloved house in a tree top. She is eventually restored to her home by a band of tin soldiers that she meets while taking shelter in a dollhouse stored away in a house attic. I still remember the little song she sang, “I love my house, oh yes siree. My own little house, in my own little tree.” In many ways, that book and little squirrel have inspired love for home and creative dreams.
We moved to central Pennsylvania about the time you moved away. How I would loved to have had the opportunity for coffee and conversation with you! What I love most about my house are the windows and the views. Farm fIelds in a variety of greens look like a patchwork quilt, red barns, hazy mountains, blue skies and white clouds brings joy and peace to my soul. When I’m frustrated with the slowness of the remodel or with my indecisiveness, one look outside and I’m calm.
What I love most about my home is that, after years of renting, it’s mine and I can do whatever I like.
What I love most about home is that it is entirely my heart-beat…..family, friends,food,memories (like where I found that favorite antique of the week).
I’d say I love the original pine floors in our house. We have remodeled many things but those floors feel like the soul, like they belong. I guess because they’ve been here since the beginning.
Your book is so awesome already just with the previews!
I live in a brick cape, much like your previous home….I love the yummy texture of the brick, the little nooks and crannies, the small scale layouts, the wood floors and mostly I love making it mine with colors and texture…but yet keeping the ol’ good stuff. The more I create and design…the more I fall in love with my home.
What I love about my home is our kitchen with a 8ft island. It is perfect for food prepping … or putting out a buffet !
Love my garden. I manage to have beautiful zinnia’s all summer that I bring in to enjoy.
I live in a log home in the country with views of the Alleghany Mountains outside a small college town. We have lived here for almost 20 years which is the longest I have ever lived in one place. I love the serenity and hearing the cows in the morning. The house has been updated and I had fun choosing all the materials and loved how it looked when I was finished. I think we will have to downsize soon as it is becoming too much to handle and I know I will miss this house so much…so my love for this house is bittersweet. I have always been a design nerd starting as a child with my dollhouse and I hope I never stop…that is just who I am.
We have been in a new home for a couple of years after 26 years in a cottagey ranch style home. Over the years, many remodels, every inch was a warm, cozy respite.
Now in a large more modern home, I am challenged to develop a different style while developing a cozy, relaxed warmth to welcome friends and many guests we have been blessed with!
I love the work in progress with all of the possibilities ahead. Your book is very much anticipated!
I love that I live in a part brick and part log cabin home. I get the best of both worlds. Enjoy your blog Marian. You are a very talented lady!
Hi Marion,
I am excited to receive your book from Amazon. I am counting the days! Until then I will cross my fingers and hope to win this giveaway!
I love everything about my home, especially the extra wide doorways and the handicapped accessible kitchen and handicapped accessible master bathroom for my husband. He is a quadriplegic. After his injury our old farm house limited him to 3 rooms and no use of the bathroom. I gave him bed baths and he used a potty chair. His hospital bed was set up in “the parlor” as his wheelchair couldn’t go through our bedroom door. I was attached to the farm house. It was my parents’ home. After my mother died we purchased the house from my Dad when he remarried. It was in the country, with many out buildings, beautiful landscaping, lots of shade trees (so no need for air conditioning), it had so much character and so many memories. I lived there for 6 years until I was married at 21. We raised our children there. I had all the family gatherings there for my siblings and their families.
It just didn’t work for my husband though.
Our house now doesn’t have as many memories, but we are making new memories. It’s not as far in the country as the old house, it doesn’t have any out buildings or many shade trees, but it makes things so much easier for my husband and that is the best part!
We purchased the house where my husband’s step father grew up. I love to imagine what it was like when he and his three (crazy) siblings were young. The house is 100+ years old (our town records were destroyed in a fire 100 years ago, so that’s all the information we have), and while it’s on the small side, it’s still keeping us safe, warm, and dry today. My favorite feature is the beautiful wood and leaded glass door that now resides in the kitchen, but was originally the front door. We don’t know how old it is, but my father in law remembers how he would watch the light stream through it on the living room floor. Now our cat plays with the sunbeams that shine in the kitchen.
Your book looks amazing! I will add it to my Christmas list!
I love that my home is like no one else’s. I don’t buy (much) mass produced home furnishings and so it all feels special!
my home is a repository for everything I love to have around me…stuff I have found at thrift stores, garage sales…estate sales… lots of vintage plates, knickknacks and such; books from amazon inspired by people such as yourselves!!! it is all inspiring…even my basement filled with furniture in various stages of being painted and cured. I can hardly wait to read your latest book; as always you are an incredible creative and I’m sure your book reflects that!!!
What I love most…our home feels comfortable. Not perfect in a design world, but for us, comfortable and perfect for us and where we are in this time of life. We can make little changes or not, and we still say we love our home.
Our home is a narrative of our love for traveling; from the early days of our marriage when we took my HS students abroad to the 2 weeks of staying in China picking up our little boy, inanimate objets d arte speak volumes. Original vintage oil paintings, florals and landscapes mainly, remind me of French brocantes & Mexican mercados. The Roman glassware purchased in Segovia, Spain still makes me giggle when I think of packing up urns, vases & vessels and asking my students “could you possibly put this vase inside your suitcase for me?”.
What I love most about my home: My drawing board. Along with its family members of pens, pencils, artist tools , papers and canvases and coffee mug or wine glass. I am a writer, musician , artist from childhood and everything I have ever done was given its birth wings on that drawing board. From having lived in abundant square footage real estate down to my current upstairs, tree house , the magic board has been my magic carpet transporting me to all the beauty I love, live in and embrace. It gifts me with color, textures, tones, set amidst sounds of wind and water, cattle lowing at evening and always, the early morning first pre-dawn peeps of the birds. My drawing board shows me where to find and recover my own versions of paradise. Speaking about his lover, Neruda said, “You do to me what the cherry trees do to the spring”. That describes my feelings about my drawing board. Its always what I love best about my home.
I love the cozy feel and love it best when it is full of friends and family.
My favorite thing about my house is my sewing room. It’s my quiet place where I can create. It’s my escape. And I love that I can leave it messy and walk away and close the door to come back to another day.
I retired from teaching and am now busier than ever with our grandkids. We finally got new carpet and redid the living room. I have been inspired by your love of blue and white – although I tend to gravitate toward indigo more often. I have recently collected and hung blue and white plates in the kitchen/dining and I am loving my new sectional for the look and comfort. I love your design style and I am excited to have already printed and framed your free download of Rochester, Minnesota. I am loving my artwork in the living room, which is nature and cloud inspired! Thank you for sharing – you are so talented.
My favorite part of my house is probably the woodwork. I love our hardwood floors and all the cabinetry, built-ins and doors.
I’ve been so excited for the release of your book! The sneak peeks you give look so beautiful! I think the thing I love most about my home is that it is filled with the people and things that I love the very most. That has, in turn, made it into a place where others can gather and feel “at home” as well.
The thing I love most about my home is that I have embraced color! I will just not have a grey and white home. Even if it is “all the rage”. I have begun weaving a theme color in all the rooms – and that is something I have learned from you. I love it!
I love the lay-out of my home and the covered patio. When my family of 27 is here, the patio gives me needed space to eat and talk. It also allowed some of us to get together during the pandemic.
I love my big comfy chair, my old doggie beside me, my round antique table holding my coffee, and my view out the large window of my three bird feeders, bird bath, and butterflies on the zinnias.
I love that my home is an expression of where we’ve been, what we love, and who we are.
I am with you with drawing “to-scale” floor plans and deciding where to place furniture, BUT, once I move into my new home, I do not move furniture around. Make my decision and stick with it.
My house is like an old friend. It wraps its arms around me and keeps me safe. I take care of it in every way that I can and it in turn, takes care of me. It’s not just a place to reside. It has heart & soul. It’s a place that nurtures family and friends. Thoughout the years, its walls have heard laughter and seen tears. It’s a confidante…never questioning, never judging, always there, quietly listening. I’m thankful every day for this special place, I call “Home”.
Congratulations on your newest book! How exciting. I am lookinf forward to reading. I love my kitchen, it is open and airy. I love to incorporate vintage and new pieces to make it unquiely mine. We just moved and am trying to figure out the rest of the house – hoping your new book helps me out with that! 🙂
I moved into an apartment six months after I signed the lease and had a sketch book set up with measurements, fabrics, photos, room layouts, etc. what fun to be able to know where everything was going and work on what colors, etc. I have a new project, setting up a beautiful studio coming up and these items will be perfect for my planning. The pencils look fabulous. Thanks so much for your generosity. The planning saved me time and money by deciding what had to be sold or left behind.
This give-away is awesome! What I love most about our house is the light — large windows that catch the sun in the morning and flood the kitchen and breakfast area. It is the best way to start the day. We also have large windows in our gathering room that keep it bright.
I like the way our home evolves over time with a comfortable feel. We live in 118 year old home and there is always a new project needed.
I love the memories within. We raised our five kids here, all grown and gone now, but have great stories and the grandkids love coming. I also love all the re-do’s and add ons we’ve done. Never had enough money, but my husband is creative and excellent in all he does. Yay for me!
I love my Victorian Queen Ann home. It’s been so much to work on! What I love most about it is my antique fireplace mantel. It’s in the room my family gathers in most often. It looks beautiful dressed up seasonally. The room is undergoing some design changes but the antique style
mantel will always remain.
What I love about my home is that there are so many opportunities to explore different styles, colors, fabrics, art, sculpture, etc. Sometimes an inspiration comes from HGTV, a magazine, or a book. I love it even more when an object is found in the most unlikely places that I can then adapt these inspirations to work for my family and I. A great example is a beat up small table with 4 drawers. A dog had chewed up the legs…i bought it for $10 on Facebook Marketplace. Sure, it sat in the garage for…a while… But two weeks ago I cleaned it up, patched the wood and applied some chalk paint and wax. Now it appears to be another valuable family heirloom nestled in the living room corner. Anything is possible with a little elbow grease!
We sure see that day-in and day-out with Marian’s vast talents!
Congrats on your new book.. I love all that you do and love your style. I love my house the most because sometimes it clean, cluttered, needs a few repairs, some things need updated, it has a big kitchen for a lot of family members, it’s a gathering place, but mostly it’s a well lived home with lots of memories to cherish.
WhT I love most are the little things I’ve saved from family members now gone. Antique bits and bobs from barns on my dad’s property, grandparents tools, and photos of ancestors I never knew. Most of all, art and photos of my kids and grandkids! Love this blog, it’s a treat everyday Marian and we are very blessed you share your talents with us!
I love that my husband and I have made our home are own! We have worked on it for 17 years and (maybe) in the next year or two will be done with everything I’ve ever dreamed up, of course maybe it will just be time to start from the beginning again!!!!!!!
I love that my home is only about things my husband and I love. We don’t need to impress anyone, just be comfortable and enjoy our home. I love my teeny tiny kitchen we just did a little update on including painting the cabinets green like yours! I bought burnished antique knobs and pulls and it turned out so pretty.
Looking forward to receiving the book, and so happy I could buy from a local bookstore!
Super excited to get your book! Love trying to make a home a home and
all your suggestions are sure helpful and inspiring! I love our homes kitchen because
it fits everyone and something is always being made, solved or enjoyed in it!
I am semi-retired and my husband is retired. We plan to move closer to our grandchildren in the next year or so. We’ve been in our “starter” home 43 years and have LOTS of great memories here. But during the pandemic “lock down” I began to plan for/dream about our “new” home (we are looking at a really old 1920s farmhouse). I spent many late nights perusing wallpaper and fabric websites. The result is I have 3 tubs of fabric and wallpaper! Not to worry, if I don’t move everything I have will work in the big remodel of our current home! I would love to have the things in the “Feels Like Home Giveaway” to help with my planning!
oh and there may be a tub or 2 of lighting fixtures that will go great with the new wallpaper and fabric!
Congrats on the book!
I love the small size of our current home (just not the location), and actually enjoyed the down-sizing process. Vaulted ceilings are the best feature because they create the illusion of more space.
I have recently been thinking I need to start planning for our next home and the best way to do that is with some simple sketches and a design notebook.
Can’t wait to read your book! I love that our home is full of furniture and objects passed down that bring back memories of loved ones, things created by our children who have moved on to their own lives, and my own creativity in choosing colors, fabrics, tile, sewing curtains and pillows, etc. Our home is us and tells our story.
I love that I am content in my home. What I love most in my home is my antique dining room table that seats 12. And I absolutely love it when every chair is filled with family. Great giveaway!
What a wonderful giveaway box! I love my hardwood floors and the quilts I received as a wedding gift – displayed on a ladder.
What I love about my home is that it’s the newly remodeled home that I grew up in and my parents lived in for over 40 years. AND, I can vacuum it by switching plugs only three times! It’s just the right size for hubs and me.
Not every house is a home, but mine feels like home to me — filled with love and special family mementoes like my great-great-grandfather’s tool chest/bench and a painting made by my grandmother when she was young. And I’m always changing things up when I find new treasures or finally find a creative solution to a space challenge! Like me, it’s always a work in progress.
So anxious for your book to be here! The thing I like the most about my home is it’s rural setting. Not too crowded, and I can leave windows uncovered most of the time. The large windows let me help blur the lines between outside and inside!
What I love most about my home are the people I share it with and the items that remind me of them, particularly those that are no longer with us but are missed everyday.
Nun, ich denke wir machen das einfach so, wenn ich gewinne, dann schickst du das Päckchen zu meinem lieben Bruder nach Canada und der nimmt es ganz einfach bei seinem nächsten Besuch mit.
Und was mir gut gefällt in unserem Haus ist, dass ich es geschafft habe in unserem neuen Haus so viel Altes mit neuem zu kombinieren und zu einer perfekten Harmonie zusammen zufügen.
I love my kitchen and spend so much time in it.
Yes, I am a design nerd! What I love most about my home is that it is about to be dry walled! I am watching this new build come slowly to life! I can’t wait to turn it into a home! I am looking for lots of design inspiration!
I painted a mural in my front room last summer and it’s definitely my favorite part of my house! Thanks for all the design tips. I love learning from you!
I love that our home works for our empty-nest lifestyle, but can (and has) accommodate times when the kids need to live with us temporarily or my aging parents come for extended visits. It’s a home that feels like a big, secure hug to me.
Here I was taking a break from sketching a floor plan for a future forever house and read this blog post. I used to draw floor plans in the driveway as a kid…drew the furniture too and pretended to live there. Next day would bring a whole new layout. I loved those days. My favorite things about my current house is it’s over 125 years old AND has 12’ ceilings. Life is good.
I love that our home has no areas that are off limits to anyone of any age…not even furry pals! The “theme” is cozy and cheery and washable and timeless. I AM SO EXCITED TO GET YOUR BOOK!!!
Love my little farmhouse in the woods, though I am not sure how to treat our new open floor plan. Love this sweet giveaway.
I most love the cozy hug I feel when I walk through the door. Our home is not opulent but is a true reflection of the couple that have created it. When we bought it 20 years ago it was so ugly and overwhelmingly in need of much TLC. My husband and I have worked on it together to create our own little nest. The kitchen has recently had a complete remodel and I love it! It’s small yet welcoming. I look forward to your latest book! I know it will be amazing.
What a great give away! I am looking forward to receiving my preordered book. What I love most about my house are seeing the areas where family members have worked or created to make it a home.
What I love about my home is seeing potential come to life. With every little change, every small improvement or every addition of a small favorite little thing, I make my home more my own. It is my place of rest and my creative playground. It truly nourishes my soul!
I started going to estate sales a few years back & have acquired several pieces of furniture & some “chotchkys” that seem to make my house seem more like home. I just like how cozy my house feels because of me trying to make it comfortable.
I think what I love most about my house is that when I entertain I want it to be a comfortable experience for my family/friends/guests. I want them to feel loved, happy and free of worries for whatever time they are here. Can’t wait for your book!
Congratulations on your new book, looks gorgeous!! It is hard for me to pick what I love most about my home. Its not fancy or a huge, it is still a work in progress, but it is where I raised my family, have had large family gatherings on our land, everyone loves parties at my house, because we are out in the country with a beautiful private large back yard. So I guess I love the property and the home that I am still creating.
I love my art/quilting/craft studio the best.
Thanks for the give away, you are such an inspiration in so many ways. Thank you!!!
Congrats on your new book! What I love most about our home is that it’s on a lake and our decor is casual and calm (blues, greens, tans and grays). We feel like we’re on vacation every day!
Fellow design nerd here! I love that we were able to create our home specifically for our family. It is our happy place and we spent many hours on designing it and seeing it built.
I can’t wait to see your book!
I really love our 26 year old home’s front porch. We had no idea How much we’d use and love it when we bought the house. We sit there most evenings with our after dinner coffee watching the dog walkers and families out and about. And since it’s a covered porch, it’s such a cozy feeling there in a rainstorm.
Now I need to get some wonderful ideas from your book to make the inside as inviting as our porch!
What I love about my home is the big windows that whoosh the outdoors in! It creates a lovely cross ventilation. I also love the trees in this neighborhood and my cuckoo clock I bought in Bavaria.
Your book looks SO good! Can’t wait to read it. The giveaway looks amazing too!
The location and potential as we contemplate a complete rebuild after 7 years of aligning on what we want out of our forever home.
I love everything about our home. We remodeled this 100+ house over 23 years ago. I love the laundry room off the master bathroom and can be entered also from the back porch. I can hardly wait to receive my copy of your new book.
Happy Friday 🙂 I have preordered your new book and am excited for it to be released. My home is an ongoing project and has been for years.
I enjoy following your blog as well as others to get inspiration and ideas. I love filling my home with antiques and cherished items from my Parents and Grandparents, as well as from my husbands family. They aren’t always things of great value, but are priceless to us, and bring back warm memories. That’s home to me. Things that invoke memories that we can share with others and bring a warmness to the rooms they inhabit. I love it when strangers come over and comment on how relaxed and at home they feel. We’ve had a few fall asleep after a good meal and that warms my heart.
Besides the people and animals who share my home, I most love seeing all the antiques that originally came from my grandparents homes. I love all the vintage items and how they remind me of my family and I love mixing in my “hunted” items that I simply like to collect. Since I’ve been in this house for 21 years, I move things around often and love to see the constant evolution. Marion, you’ve been inspiring me for many years and I can’t wait to add your book to my collection.
I just moved into my first owned home of my own! I have some antiques from the late 1890’s to the early 1900’s along with new furniture that I blended for the antique/vintage look. I have a tiffany lamp and some mosaic pieces that I adore. I have pieces of crystal and decor from Poland along with china passed down from family. Now it is time to decorate the walls and add some drapery and try some DIY on my kitchen and bathroom cabinets. That is where this giveaway would help me put it all together! This is a very generous giveaway, Marian. Following your blog for all these years has given me the confidence and the know-how to work these projects myself! Thank you.
What I love most about my home is that we own it. It’s not a rental, so we can change things if we want to. We don’t have to just live with something because it’s not ours! We have done a lot to make it ours, and there is still more that we want to do. It’s definitely a work in progress!
Hi Marian,
What a lovely gift to encourage everyone’s hopes and dreams!
We have been in our current home since 1992. It is quite a scenic property and is a cape cod style home. I fell in love with it the moment we saw it. But, as the years pass and we age, I would like to design a master bath that would be more convenient to potential handicapped conditions. Fortunately everything we need is on the first floor but it might have to include a bump out with a bank of windows facing the east. Can you see my thoughts are starting to race with the possibilities!! I’m just so grateful that theses changes are possible because of the original design! It will be gorgeous!
I can’t wait to hold and gaze at your book and all it holds!
Carol
Can’t wait to read your book! What I love about my home is that it is all mine! It tells my story, vacations, grandchildren, thrifting, furniture refinishing and hard work. It is definitely my happy space. After 25 years of marriage and raising two children, I became an empty nester out on my own. I have survived heartbreak and rebuilt my life and home. I had to sell my beautiful, large custom built home for a townhouse half the size. But after 11 years I have truly made this my home.
I love that my home has lots of windows that look out over our backyard full of trees. My home is a blank slate ready for me to start decorating.
Your color pallette gives me life! Blue and green were my mom’s favorite colors. I’ve always resisted those colors, for whatever reason, until now. At 57 I’m excited about decorating in those beautiful colors and textures.
PS
Ordered your book, can’t wait until it arrives.
When we built our home 12 years ago, I knew immediately which colors I needed! The inspiration came from our beautiful tortoiseshell kitty; browns, oranges, ambers, and gold, outlined in black and white, then of course her stunning celadon green eyes! It was so much fun gathering fabric samples, paint chips, stain colors, etc.
The walls are warm oat.
The trim, flooring and cabinetry are natural cherry. The kitchen island is distressed black, some of the trim accents and hardware are black. A few accessories are celadon green. This green reflects the Spring and Summer greens, and yet blends with the holiday greens.
So, the favorite part of my home are the warm colors which works well to help keep us cozy in the cold Minnesota seasons.
Now, though, we need to finish the lower level, and I’m searching for inspiration to start that process. One of the reasons we haven’t begun is I don’t have a plan, yet. I want to be as excited about this next phase as I was with the main level.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on how you develop your ideas. I’m listening.
I’ve lived in my home for the past 3 years; 1 1/2 of those years by myself, after my husband passed away. I enjoy the light in this house. Part of that light comes from a sun room that I need to fix up, but it has wonderful windows all the way around it, and the covered deck is attached to it. It has a back yard that looks out onto a field full of tall grass. The house has been a healing place for me in this new season.
I’ve lived in my home for 28 years and just went through a kitchen reno that I have been planning for like 20 years ? I am so happy every morning to enjoy a cup of coffee in my new space. I feel so blessed!
I love the two things about my home. First is the flow making the kitchen/dining area almost completely open to the living room. The second is the large windows which provide a good amount of light and look out over our back yard. It’s like looking out over a picture. But, even with all the good bones I’ve yet to put my own stamp on it. I admire your talent and your ability to make home design so “user friendly”. Already pre-order ordered your book and can’t wait to get it.
I love that we designed (and contracted) our adobe home ourselves.
We designed and built our home 25 years ago and it is still evolving. You taught me how to make slipcovers along the way. Pre-ordered your new book on day one, can’t wait to get my hands on it.
I love the warm memories of gatherings in our home… parents no longer with us are remembered by photographs and memories of times together around our dining room table. Celebrations past and future with dear friends… the conversation and laughter around the fireplace. Relaxing by the Christmas tree with my guy with wine after our guests have gone.
I love your feed on Instagram so much and I’m thoroughly looking forward to your book! You’ve inspired me to continue my own artistic journey that got lost recently.
My favorite place in my home is my dining room! It has a great bump out in the window area that allows my plants to thrive ?? in the morning light! It’s a great place to let the light stream in and enjoy a cup of coffee while watching my daughter color or practice her letters! Such a great spot!
What I love about my home is its old charm. It is almost 100 years old and still has almost all of its original character–squeaky floors, crystal door knobs, and hex-tile in the bathroom. I’m excited about getting my copy of Feels Like Home so I can make this house even more delightful. Thank you for the chance to win this amazing give-away!
Last November we sold our house of 20 years. Since then we have been in an apartment, searching for a new place. However I have come to really love my apartment. The high ceilings, open floor plan, large windows have made it so comfortable and inviting. My favorite thing though is the vintage cast-iron/enamel sink in the kitchen. I’ve always wanted one!
I am reminded of how much I love my home from the words of Thomas Jefferson: “That which we surround ourselves with becomes the museum of our soul and the archives of our experiences”.
My home is filled with things that I love and have collected for years! It makes me happy to be surrounded by art and color and things that make me smile! Comfortable furniture, lots of books, vintage and antique items, my knitting and the puppies – life is good!
I love that my home is our safe haven. It’s our place of comfort & rest. It’s our family’s gathering place. How it looks changes as we change.
I love my family the most in our home. It’s not my favorite style of home but it’s solidly built and we thank God daily for this home which suits our needs perfectly for our time of life.
What I love most about my home is the setting. We have a bit of wooded area around a portion of the perimeter surrounding the house and then my perennial beds meander around the remainder. It is always the thing that causes the most physical labor in the spring with all the mulching, but I love my flowers and the birds that make their homes nearby.
First of all…I love your blog! Your home is beautiful and it’s you all the way!
We love our New Mexican home! It’s not over-the-top Southwest but a light and airy home with those beautiful Santa Fe style touches. You know when you enter that you’re not back east! It evolves but doesn’t stray far from the local style. Just not full on “hey, you’re in New Mexico and where the cow skull and the coyote art etc.?”. Haha! We just love it!
I love how comfortable our house is. Even strangers that stop by for deliveries or drop offs frequently comment on how cozy and comfortable our house feels. It’s not a huge house and it’s not trendy but it is filled with warm neutrals and traditional area rugs and family pictures all over the walls. My kids probably couldn’t put into words what they love about our house but I know it’s the coziness of a home filled with things we love and and reminders of who we are as a family.
That being said, all of that coziness comes from my love of classic design and I move furniture and tweak rooms all the time!
Even as a small child, I drew out my room arrangement on graph paper, and I cut out my furniture on separate graph paper so that I could move the pieces around. My husband loves to complain about the many re-arrangements I accomplish while he’s at work! (Did you know that a cheap vinyl tablecloth is ideal for moving heavy oak bookshelves from one side of the house to the opposite side?)
I love my house; I was blessed to be able to design it. It has more kitchen than I had ever hoped to have, limestone walls in the center hall to remind me of my Texas roots, a designated drink area outside the kitchen, a screened porch, a glorious pool, and a fabulous cabana. I vowed to use the blessing to bless others, and in the six years that I’ve lived here, I’ve been able to host many special occasions for my family and friends.
There’s no place like home, no matter the size or condition though!
Oh my…this is the best giveaway yet! I love my home. We have raised three children now ages 46, 43, and 40. We have also raised (since birth) three grandchildren, ages 21, 19, and 15. What I love most about our home is the remodel of my 15-year-old granddaughter’s room. She worked with me in selecting shiplap on one wall, new paint, a rug, new floor to ceiling curtains, and a cedar lined closet. She also picked out painted dresser on Etsy.. It is perfect- an oasis for her to study, relax, and dream of designing her future home.
I love the wooded view from our sunroom. Being able to be at peace anytime by watching nature in our own backyard is such a blessing!
I love my home – mainly because it’s filled with the people I love the most! But, I also love the floor plan because it’s really the right amount of space for us & it’s centrally located to many of the things we enjoy. This is important to me because no matter how many projects I want to get done – this is something that I can’t change or adjust. There are, of course, many projects our To Do list. And we enjoy doing them together!! I’ll call it a win!
Happy weekend! I can’t wait to see your new book – it looks divine!!
What I love most about my home is that everything in it, from wall color, to floor coverings to furniture and accessories, came together out of my imagination. It pleases my eye, and welcomes me home every time I walk in my house. Except for the kitchen, lol, but I’m working on it!
Love my gallery wall and trim and big windows. But the best thing about my home is the people who live in it.??
Wow that is a very generous giveaway! I love the deckled pages of the journal.
I am a design nerd. Drawing is not one of my talents; I’m more of a hands on kind of gal! Even with having no official drawing/drafting experience and no talent naturally, it doesn’t stop me from grabbing a journal or graph paper and attempting to capture my idea on paper. You seem to have plenty of natural talent in those directions! I am in awe of your paintings; they look just how I imagine I would love to paint!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful talents with us!
I designed my house on graph paper! And, I preordered your book . I’m excited to get it in a few weeks. My favorite thing about my house is the large wrap around porch that goes around 3 sides of my house and it has the best porch swing for bird watching.
Our home was built in the 1940s. I love that it’s small. I love that it has a history. I love that it’s the first place I’ve ever felt truly at home. The first time I saw it, I made a wish to myself, “please let me live here one day.” Wishes do come true!!
I recently turned 60. I waited a very long time to find my dream house. When I saw her on Zillow, I just knew. My husband was able to go see her and make an offer. It would be a month before I would experience the heady volume of her rooms, all the sunlight from her big windows on wood floors. We moved in 6 months before the beginning of the pandemic. I thank God every morning for this house. I love her and she loves me!
A thunderstorm just rolled through and my husband and I watched it from the front porch of our home that dates back to William Penn! I love that together we raised our 6 kids in this house and have done so many projects including a total remodel to make it our home.
Contratulations on completing your book and getting so much satisfaction from it!
WhatI love about my home is that it’s always a work in progress. I have remodeled every inch of my home and I am working on phase two.
I love our home. It’s the perfect backdrop to our very blessed ordinary life. It’s the perfect mix of old and new.
Congratulations!!!! Pre-ordered my book last night! What a blessing of inspiration you are to all of us and what incredible encouragement for our homes & those we love! So very thankful for you to help us stretch our decorating wings
Preordered now!
I love my sunroom. It is the first room my husband and I fixed up together as a couple. It was such a rewarding project and makes me appreciate the room even more. Plus, it’s so fun sitting in there when a good storm rolls through.
What I love about my home is how the memories and love still fill the rooms after all of the kids left for college one by one… the neutral pallet.. oversized windows bringing in all the natural light.. love sketching furniture redos sitting on my back porch in a hanging swing.
I’m currently in house transition but I’m looking forward to my new houses’ windows and daylight…
I too am excited to receive your new book. What I love about my home is that it’s warm and inviting. People seemed to feel very welcome and comfortable here. The rooms are not fancy, but to me they are lovely. Lots of amazing memories have been made here.
Preordered your book last night. Can’t wait! What I love best about my home are the comments friends & family make that it is so cozy & welcoming.
What I love most about our home is who I share it with, my husband of 40 years as of last Sunday. We just remodeled our kitchen so now have personalized every square inch. And we have great natural light with six skylights so my plants go crazy!
At the top of the stairs, there’s this strange little nook I call “My Perch”. Most inconvenient, it’s there right where the stairs, hallway, and door to my bedroom sit. Inside the nook, my husband made me a makeshift desk, deep and the wood is raw still, even though I swear I will paint it, one day. I’m an artist so this desk was made just for me. Its depth lets me put all my paint, brushes, doodads, and trinkets towards the back. Underneath are all the little drawers I have that hold different types of papers, stamps, inks, that sort of stuff. Right near “My Perch” is a Romeo/Juliet style overlook into the dining room and to the other side is the two-story staircase with a crescent-shaped window at the top. From my perch, I can hear everything going on in the house, gaze outside of the window, and yell down at someone if I need to answer a question. And yet I’m hidden away enough for it to feel cozy and to be swaddled up inside of it. There’s lots of love in this quirky weird little space.
I love my home because it contains all the love my lives, my family. Thank you for sharing your lovely talents.
I love the comfort of my home, how it feels like a hug.
Lots of changes in my life in the last few years, and a quiet beautiful space is calming and good for the soul.
I look forward to getting your new book as you’re an inspiration.❤️
What do I love about my home? It’s a mixture of old and new, much loved and gently worn fabrics and things which all give a sense of comfort to me and my family.
We have lived in our house about 20 years. It’s sits on a beautiful farm but the house was bad. It’s about 130 yrs old and not in a good way. We moved from a big new house and I could never feel satisfied with the old small house. When our kids were younger and had their friends over, I heard one of the boys say, “your house feels like a home.” He didn’t have that. At that moment, I saw my old small house for the cozy home it could be. I have kept that in mind with every renovation we’ve made
Awesome giveaway! I love my 1927 stucco bungalow in Mpls with the arches between the living room and dining room and the kitchen nook. Love the wide woodwork and hardwood floors. Oh and the squeaky shoes with basketball I can not tolerate!
What I love most about my home is that even though my husband of three years owned it for almost two decades before we married and my children and I moved in, he has encouraged me to truly make it our home – a previously blank slate where now color, warmth, vibrancy, music, and love flow in abundance! He delights in my every choice, even those that initially shock him – painting the formerly beige fireplace tile matte black caught him off guard but he still regularly compliments me on it over a year later lol. Together we have built a home filled with love and laughter and happy family memories. What’s not to love?
My favorite part of my home is my turret. It makes my new little cottage feel like the castle I dreamed of as a child. My turret is tiny, but it has a 20 foot tall domed ceiling that we painted sky blue and decorated with gold stars like a cathedral. Every time I step inside my cottage I look up and feel like I’m inside a fairy tale!
Congrats – so excited for your new book! What I love about my home is that when I walk by the windows at night and look in I see my home from a different perspective and fall in love with it all over again! Thanks for the chance at the giveaway!
Love your style and joi de vivre! What I love best about my home is that my parents designed and built it. My mother’s design skills from Parson’s served her well. She made every curtain and arranged every room with furnishings and lighting she designed and my father made. When I walk in the door they feel present with me. It’s a tremendous comfort and inspiration to live there.
I love that our home has been in our family for over 60 years, but what is even more special is that our son and daughter and their families love spending time here as much as we love living here.
My favorite thing about our house is the front porch. 40’ by 8’, two porch swings and I lovely view.
I love my (new) home because it is the first home I have ever bought (and I’m 61!) I finally have a chance to put things away and hang up art in a permanent space and find a place for everything! I feel very fortunate to design and decorate my home exactly how I want!
I love the bookcase in our living room my husband and I designed out of some old cabinets. It added so much dimension to a very straight space. I love changing the decor out every season and bringing a fresh new look to the area! I’m so happy for you and so very much excited to get my hands on this book! Congratulations!
I love opening our front door and being welcomed by our old stairs that slightly curve to the left.
When we first moved into this farmhouse, it had a runner covering it that had definitely seen better days:)
One day I came home and my husband had surprised me by taking the runner off. What was suddenly exposed was this beautiful wood and it made me so happy to see all of this potential! I spent the next few days sanding each step with my husbands hand sander, dust and debri everywhere but loving the outcome. I have left the steps natural and painted the risers a charcoal grey.
Still makes me happy every time I enter our home!
When I was growing up I would create floor plans and rearrange my own bedroom pretty frequently-my mom thought I was crazy! I shared a dollhouse with my sister and I would set everything up and ‘decorate’ and then she would play with it because setting it up was what I liked best. I didn’t grow up in a house that fostered creativity so I left all that behind when I grew up. But I have now been inspired by you and a few others to resume that creative outlet. I have been following you for awhile and have been very inspired to finally make my house a home that I love. Thank you so much for always sharing your creative pursuits. I have already preordered your book and signed up for painting classes with you. I can’t wait!
I love the fact that my home represents me more and more each day. It holds my favorite treasures and entertains my favorite people!!
I love almost everything (except tiny closets) of our 100+ year old forever home and the claw foot tub we stored through two rentals before being able to install it here. I can soak and look through the low windows that face our private outside view. CANNOT wait for your book to arrive.
We downsized to a much smaller home 5 years ago and I love the cozier size and the fact that it requires much less to maintain. It is a cape cod style and I also love the fact that I have the entire second floor that we haven’t touched that is wide open to possibility. We are slowly and thoughtfully renovating room by room and I see this as a project home that will be our forever place as well,
Congratulations on the book! It’s absolutely gorgeous and I can’t wait to receive my copy. What I love most about my home is the way the sunlight streams through the windows throughout the day.
Oh so excited for your BOOK (congratulations!) and this fabulous giveaway!
I’ve always been a design nerd and have a ton of old notebooks filled with magazine clippings. Then there is my design book collection ? My Pinterest boards are also a gathering spot for me. We just sold our home and have moved into an apartment while we build our new home. So excited! Can’t wait to get my hands on your book next!
I feel so blessed to live in this home on the side of a very small mountain. The minute we pulled into the driveway on our start of looking at homes, we KNEW this was the one. The September air was scented with the sweet aroma of ripe apples…there are 9 of them on our 2 acres! While the home was built in 1992, almost everyone askes when the house was built because it has the feel of an old home. There’s 4 different gabled roof lines, lots of light from the oversized windows, and while we are treed all the way around the property and can’t see the neighbors houses (other than winter when the leaves have fallen) the land around the house is cleared to ensure sun and privacy at the same time!
We have a farmer’s porch and also a screened porch in the front of the house, a big mudroom and best of all a big dedicated studio above the oversized garage that my husband and I share…my portion for art and his portion for all of his musical equipment. Yes, I often get serenaded while making art! We have 2 extra wide staircases and angles on the ceilings on on the second floor. Slowly but surely I have been putting my signature on some of the spaces, but until I retired 3 years ago, I hadn’t had much time to focus.
I’m so ready to receive my preordered copy of the book so that I can have some guidance in how to tackle this lovely home that I still, after 7 years, wake up and feel blessed to be able to live in this precious place. It is also the very first home I have ever been able to call my own! Its a special and blessed home.
I love that our home sits on a wooded, private acre. The back yard faces a horse pasture. Inside we have a gutted & remodeled kitchen & laundry room that I dreamed about for many years! When I was young, I would cut out pictures from magazines of rooms that I loved and put them in a binder. Looking forward to your new book!
What I love most about our home are our big porches! I have never had a home before with an outdoor living space, and to feel the breeze, hear the birds chirping, and just relax in a rocking chair or share a meal together outdoors is something I didn’t realize I would enjoy so much! Can’t wait for your book to come out!
What do do I love most about my home? I love that it is a reflection of me. My Aunt told me that she would have known if was my house the moment she walked in. It has well curated collections of family heirlooms that make me happy when I see them. While I like to make things “pretty,” I am far enough in my life to want comfort, ease, and functionality in every room. I’ve lived in this house for 12 years and it is constantly evolving. I recently changed the smallest bedroom into a craft and sewing room that also has a comfy chair with a good floor lamp, a tv, and my collection of decorating books (many that you recommended.) I am organized and know where everything is but I also have a lot of stuff! I’m not a minimalist and enjoy having my beloved items around me. I DO LOVE MY HOME. 🙂
I love my sliding glass doors that open onto my patio and woodsy backyard. The birds love to flit around my patio and entertain me year round.
I love my first floor which is a completely open kitchen and living area with a huge island. We love to cook and entertain so it’s perfect!
Hi! I love that my home reflects me. Not trends, but what I truly love. Wood, antiques, family heirlooms, rosemaling, my own art, Scandinavian old design. Your voice is in my head when I think about adding/subtracting to my home and now that only includes what makes my heart sing. Congrats on your book. Can’t wait to get it!
Congratulations and I look forward to seeing you book! And what a nice giveaway package! As an amateur designer and journal-er this would be such a nice new way to same ideas, designs and clippings. Sure do love the opportunity.
What do I love about my home? Where it sits you can see the mountains here in East Tennessee. I love that my husband’s grandfather built it. I love that it has LOTS of potential. Some realized…and some not yet! I love the look on your face when you show your book cover. So much excitement! Have a great day!
Can’t wait for your book! My favorite thing about my home is that we were able to build a completely new home for the first time! So at least for a few years, everything has been clean and shiny and new! Now looking to downsize so looking for something I can redo into my style…..
What I love about my home is that it’s been the site of many game nights, family dinners, cooking Thanksgiving for the first time, baking desserts for family and friends. The laughter, the quiet moments… something that I didn’t have growing up- not a lot of it at least. And the fact that it IS my home. What’s funny is Ive had a design binder for the last fifteen years where I saved old magazines of things I liked and Ive always thought I wasn’t fussy and didn’t like floral pieces. Guess what’s in there? A lot of florals. ?
I’m a 72 y/o empty nester and what I love about my 175 y/o house is the way it has transitioned so beautifully from a home for a family with young children, to the home from college stop for 3 young adults, to an empty nest for two and now into the sweet little cottage it has become for just me.
The color palette is almost the same it has always been; I knew what worked and the colors that made us feel comfortable. While there has been the occasional tweak, that palette is still right and still so comfortable to live in. There has been some shift in purpose in a few rooms but those shifts have accommodated whatever has been the current functional need. There is lots more white ironstone and so many more quilts, as well as more antique pieces but the new additions have all blended in so beautifully. I love my house and love that I feel like I’m home.
I love my home because it is my place to express my creative abilities. I don’t have to follow anyone’s design rules. I just do what I love.
I love my home for the space that it is, but mostly for the sanctuary it has provided my family over the years. All three of my children grew up to adulthood in our home. It has been a place to make memories, heal wounds, comfort us and keep us safe. I love decorating my home (and I am a BIG design nerd), but mostly I love it because I call it HOME.
What I love most about my home (besides my family in it!) Is my large kitchen! It needs updating and this “prize package” would surely aid me in the designing!!
I love that my home has some of my mother’s treasured items. She inspired my design style with her classic style. I have a French chair that I bought when shopping with her. Such fond memories.
What a spot-on collection of goodies for a design nerd like me! I could relate to every word of this post, as I too was always drawing and dreaming and rearranging. I used to “build houses” from cardboard, and endlessly rearrange the rooms themselves, as well as the cardboard “furniture”. Graph paper and templates are still the way I do it — I guess I am too old-fashioned for CAD! All the best with your new book.
I love my home because it has become my secret retreat that I can come home and be thankful I have a home. Its small, but after the past two years of this world, it has become my sanctuary. I can come here and just feel the worlds sorrow just flow away for a little bit of time. I am so thankful I have my home to come to. A lot if people don’t have a home and I pray they get to have this feeling. Love and prayers to you and your family in your beautiful home.
My favorite thing about my 1926 home is the designated spaces, esp the dining room with space for a buffet, built in corner cabinets and an oval table with room for leaves for holidays. It was fun reading other comments. It is also fun to have a home where things change, collections can be added or subtracted & moved around the home. I am not so sure I would have thought to “shop my house” if it were not for blogs. Thanks for the inspiration.
Great giveaway. I love the homeyness of my home. how everyone is so comfortable when they visit.
I love to change things around in my home often! Fortunately, I’m able to just “shop my house” and whatever I’m moving around looks new and fresh in a different area…being able to do that is heaven!
I’m looking forward to your book arriving in my mailbox very soon.
I love our study. It has white custom built bookcases and a bay window that lets in lots of light. It’s painted a lovely shade of gray. We just got rid of the awful builder grade carpet and installed a gray wood look LVT. It’s a calming relaxing space.
I live in a home that is about 46 years old. I have been here 23 years. I love its history! All the land around me was once owned by one family. When i moved here the original owner’s daughter still lived next to me. And we bought our home from her niece. We have loved on it, repaired it, updated it, painted it, – all through the years. Everytime I think about selling, I think of all the projects inside and out that we have accomplished. And I ran a landscaping company from my gardens! And still today, sell our plants from here. Old homes are a heritage.
What I LOVE about my home is that it reflects who I am! Every item in my home has been selected by me and placed where I have put it and it all tells my story! I love every thing in my home, other wise I would have it here! You can have 4 walls for a home, but its what’s inside those four walls that speak to me every time I come home. Thanks writing the book about your home, I have it pre ordered and I can’t wait to read it. Thank you also for having such a great prize, my fingers cross that I win!
My home is my sanctuary…the place where I can express my creativity without having to think about anyone’s design rules. It’s comfortable. It’s home. It’s inviting. A place of rest and peace.
What I love about my home, even though it’s a rental, is that it’s mine. My space, my home.
I love many things about our home. It’s in Florida with an open floor plan and our family room has sliding doors that open on to a large L-shaped lanai where we can entertain. Under cover from the weather there is room for a love seat with chairs, as well as dining table that expands to seat 10. Exposed to the weather we have a round table that seats four and has an umbrella to protect us from direct sun and we have a spa that seats four. On the narrow part of the L we have a summer kitchen that includes a grill, sink and counter top. I love entertaining guests outdoors and it also a marvelous area to use for sketching and painting. It’s my piece of heaven.
I love everything about my home! I knew the moment I stepped through the front door it was our forever home. It’s where we raised our children, celebrated life with family and friends and now the place our grandchildren call “Grandma’s House”. The walls are a soft maize color that change with the sunlight, always wrapping us in a golden warmth. I’m so very thankful for this home.
I love the age of my home. The imperfections, wear, and all the little projects we’ve done to maintain it. The walls aren’t all square but they sure hold a lot of memories.
What I love the most about my home is the exterior. When we purchased the house it was in desperate need of new landscaping. I worked with a garden designer to add a garden with picket fence and brick walkway leading to our little side porch. The gardens are filled with hydrangea, cone flower, lavender, daisy and more. It’s my favorite place to spend time relaxing and de-stressing!
I’m still in the process of creating the home I love. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever be “finished”! I do love that I’m surrounded by artwork that I love, pictures of family, and lots of plants!
I love my home because it contains the things that are me. I have many things that belonged to my grandparents and my parents as well. when I see these things it connects me to all of my family that are no longer with me. Also, my home palette contains reds and blues and yellows. Happy colors. No grays and neutrals fo this girl. When I really realize how much I love my home is when I’ve been away from it for a few days and when I come back into the house I see it with new eyes and I love what I see.
I love the light that floods through my home. My home is tall with all 3 floors above ground which allows for views of the surrounding trees. My hope is that on reading “feels like home” that the book will help give me the confidence to trust my intuition to decorate my home so it truly does feel like my home rather than being a representative of an at the moment trend.
I love my house because it is the perfect size for me. I use every inch of it!
I love about my home that it is home. Cozy, playful and imperfect. Sometimes chaotic and sometimes very neat and organized. I love the people who live here and the dog hair covered everything I it.
What I love most ? about my home is the memories made in those four walls… although I love me a great floor plan, sketched and plotted designs, gallery walls, and paint samples… the memories made ~ make my home. ? [ looking forward to coffee and Feels like Home on the porch ]
I love the potential to change in my home. As my tastes change my home can change. My home reflects who I was, who I am and who I’ll be!
I love my home because it’s a beach cottage! It was built in the 1920’s and has a porch across the front with tall windows with charming panes. Inside we have built-in bookcases with craftsman architectural details. Each room is wrapped with a picture hanging molding about a foot from the ceiling. There is a built-in china cabinet in the dining room with leaded windows on the doors. Outside we have a beautiful garden where I love to show off my green thumb with lots of fragrant and tropical plants such as plumeria’s, gardenia’s, birds of paradise, morning glory’s, and star jasmine. It’s a little piece of heaven on earth.
One of the things I love most about my home is our large windows. About nine months after buying our home we completely gutted it and started from scratch. Not our original plan but once the Sheetrock started coming down, the problems just kept coming. The “bright” side was our decision to use egress sized widows throughout the house. We now have so much wonderful light! They allow our beautiful wooded backyard to feel like part of our living space. Always look for the silver lining!
My favorite thing about my home is that it is over 100 years old and, even tho it has had many owners and there have been some upgrades for comfort, it still retains much of its original charm such as sliding parlor doors, high baseboards, crown moldings, wood floors, etc. I am definitely a design nerd and always looking toward the next project. Currently, I am replacing all my brass door knobs with antique glass knobs as I find them. Can’t wait to receive your lovely book. It is a birthday gift to myself. ?
I love how it’s a cozy nest for my family with things collected for almost 40 years of marriage.
We’ve only owned our current home for a year, but the minute I saw it online and walked through the doors I knew it was perfect for us. It’s open, bright and sunny and flows to the outside. There’s not a part of it that we don’t use, pups included! I call our style “casual elegance, it’s warm and inviting and yet has a smidge of formality. Yes I’m a design nerd, I’ve drawn floor plans and placed furniture for every home we’ve lived in-rental or owned.
I love my home’s location. It’s a perfect place for my family.
I love our 1883 farmhouse! It feels like home because love and memories are packed into every nook and cranny. I can’t help but think that our home is happy to have us back when we go away. She is ready to make new memories and she welcomes us home with warm and comforting feelings. ❤️
I am a design nerd ~ designed our home.
Love that I have plenty of room for my painting, spinning wheels & fiber and did I mention the sunroom ~ plants! We are really enjoying our comfy home in the forest Can’t wait to read your book!
I love the colours in my home and how the sun in the summer highlights the sheen but in the winter the blue velvet and golden walls are comforting and cosy .
Also the long cherry wood table is always welcoming with flowers and candles . Many memories of family and friends are centred there and always ready to make more!
Love your work , Marion , how you encourage us to make our homes places of beauty and comfort for families, friends and our creative selves ! Looking forward to savouring your book in my cosy home .
Five years ago we sold our dream home of 23 years and moved to an older home on a small lake. What I like best about my house is that even after fifty years of marriage, my husband will do anything he can to make this a beautiful (to me), warm, inviting home. While there are limitations due to the 1960 size, the house is up to date and well maintained. But he has always been this way, from our very first apartment and each house along the way. Our small yard is filled with flowers and plants of all kinds. We both take pride and pleasure from feathering our nest and hope that we get to enjoy years of retirement here.
I love decorating and love books not to mention a very odd attraction to paper, pads and writing instruments. I’m looking forward to your book being delivered and feeling that I know the author well.
I love my house because it’s a 1902 Farmhouse that is liveable, but not perfect, so there’s plenty of fun projects to do. We’re currently turning the attic into our master bedroom and dressing room. It’s been months in the making, and possibly years, since we have two young children and I’m in graduate school. But even though it’s moving slowly, I love that the vision in my head is coming to life. We sanded the floors (with a hand sander!). We painted the floors a creamy white. We put in new windows, built trim that I designed and are caulking and painting all of the things. The texture of all the different types of wood are beautiful and we are painting it white with white and blue accents in the decor. I drew house plans all growing up and never realized how that was preparing me for my future life as an home decor enthusiast and lover of design. But here we are! <3
My favorite room in our house is the great room. It is full of light, bursting with texture from large brick wall and toasty in the winter when the wood stove is burning wood. We spend most of our time in this welcoming room and love to entertain our guests there.
I love the comfy furniture, calming paint colors and imperfectness of it all. Since we remodeled three years ago, we have really enjoyed it….it makes me happy!
I love our home because that’s where my favorite people are! Thank you Marion for sharing with us so we can help them feel welcomed and cozy.
I love my home because of all the possibilities! We just moved in a month ago and seeing the changes you’ve made has given me so much inspiration that we can make this home a reflection of us. Thank you!
My home is my palette for creativity! I started a folder of ideas over the years of kitchen ideas and finally after many years am enjoying my new space. Our home truly is our sanctuary and it shows as being so loved and appreciated. We are always being asked to sell to those who come to visit.
There truly is, no place like home♥️
I love my home because it has the things I love in it, the cats I love are in it, and especially the people I love the most are in it.
I love my vintage pieces made in England. Treasure hunt finds from yard sales and thrift stores! I love looking around and remembering where I got special pieces… Whether it was from shopping with my daughter or shopping with my mom and sister. Everything tells a story! I’m blessed and thankful to God for my home.
I love the beautiful view of the lake that we have in our home. I also love the open layout of the living spaces and the HUGE amount of light from all of these windows. I can’t wait to get your new book. I decorate with blue and white with pops of green and lots of wood tones, so your designs always resonate with me. We’ve done some renovating and have made good progress, but now it’s time to put finishing touches on the spaces we’ve done and to work on the downstairs. So I’m looking forward to inspiration and some good design guidance. Your books looks gorgeous!
I love my patio. We designed it to mimic the streets of the Old City in Jerusalem or old European streets. I’ve never been sorry for even one day!
We are moving in two weeks to a home that will become a new labor of love. An older home in the country to update and care for in the absence of those who built it. Here’s to new beginnings!
There are a few things that I love about out home! First on the list are the windows on the back that let in lots of light and overlook our deck and the dry lake bed behind the house. The sunny light that shines in cheers me up! Secondly, I love the high ceilings in the entry and living room. My small desk is in a corner of the living room. From that desk I can see a painting (large scale wall stencil that I painted) and my thrifted hanging chandelier and it makes me happy.
Thanks for reminding us to think about what we’re grateful for 🙂
Proud design nerd here- studied landscape design and love to play with color and texture, esp foliage. Since losing our home to wildfire, my mediums have turned to indoor things. We have recurrated with all used & antique items which to my relief, I have truly grown to love. Natural materials are a recurrent theme. I love the way the “golden hour” cuts across the wool rug, the antique patina to the wood pieces, the fresh flowers and, ever-changing collected things on top. I have my first paint fandeck! I have my inspo board in a golden frame in my main living space so I can constantly see it and evolve it. I want to try wallpaper and am obsessed with vintage lighting! Your book sounds like a must-have! Congrats! Ps love reading all these!
What I love most about my home is the family room: cozy couches facing the fireplace, which we light as soon as it’s cool enough outside. But most of all: my hubby at my side and dog at my feet. That “feels like home” to me!
I love many things my home, because we completely remodeled it. My favorite thing is when my husband textured the walls he put our tiny granddaughter’s hand prints and foot prints somewhere in the texture mud in each room. It spans three years and you have to know where they are to notice them. When we leave this house , he has promised to cut them out and patch the wall so I can frame them and take them to our next home.
I love my home because it is filled with memories, inherited and past. It is made to give to joy to my grandchildren and others who are guest in my home. I’m most happy with it when others say, “your home is so comfortable.”
It’s so hard to narrow down something when most of the work on our home was done by my husband, kids and me! But I will choose our fireplace. We switched it to gas because relining the chimney so it could be used with wood was too expensive. Now, we push a button and pow…we have beautiful ambiance! Plus, I designed the entire wall/tile/mantel and it’s timeless and elegant!
Congratulations on your book! I cannot wait to see it.
My favorite part of my home… Well, I guess it’s where I was raised and now I’m here with my own family. It’s home.
I was raised in this house that was built in the early 1900s. My grandfather was friends with the owner, and so my parents were able to rent the house for $200 a month for my entire childhood.
The owner passed away and had no next of kin when I was in college. The estate was sold and the house changed hands a number of times.
Then, on a whim, my family and I decided to move away from the city and return to my hometown. As luck would have it, the house came on the market and here we are: stewards of rt1box1245.
There is some sherbet orange paint dripped on one of the glass knobs, reminding me that the TV room was once my nursery.
I love my guest bedroom. It’s always clean, has a nice view and is full of some of my favorite things.
What I love about my home is it’s so peaceful. When I walk into the house I feel a peace come over me. I also love the yard, there is a field besides us, it’s so beautiful and full of wild life. I love all my flower beds. It is home and I’m always ready to come home.
A house is not a “home” until it’s been “personalized” for the people whom live there. I’m trying to personalize our home to make is a place we can share with our family and friends whether young or old! My husband has his man cave; I have my studio where everything creative occurs; we share our lifetime collection of books and have them available to everyone in our library/slash living room. I love our family size kitchen…it’s the perfect place for cooking with the grandkids or serving up a casual homemade dinner for guests! I love all the light that comes through the south facing windows and the light that reflects off the soft green and blue walls which brings the outside in! My home brings peace to my soul!
I love your concept of using what you have, i love finding new ways to enjoy our 100 year old home. She is like her owners, a few cracks and wrinkles, but still open for change and improvement. This past year, I have loved our front porch, big enough to share safely and a spot for early morning coffee, or late night laughter.
What I love most about my home is the memories of times spent here with family, some grown and some now gone. I love the way our home is coming together as we make changes that make it even more cozy and light. Congratulations on your new book. You are an inspiration to me and you have helped me be comfortable with the style I love – vintage-y and put together.
what I love most about my home are the views of the Tennessee Hills from every room…what I need the most help with is the inside…it’s new to us, and basically a blank slate. That is because I am so hesitant to ‘make a mistake’…I am so drawn to your blog because i love blues, as you do. My most major design dilemma is my husband(love him to death) but he’s like aground of 10 year old boys! So all the palest of colors are out of the question…how DO you people all accomplish this??? I am in awe…so, being realistic, my neutrals, at this point area grey blue area rub, 2 gray chairs, blue grey curtains and a cream couch with blue grey pillows…but I never know how to then tie these things together to give it that ‘complete’ look…I am definitely preordering this book!
Congratulations on your new book! We miss seeing you at Luckett’s.
Forgot to say that what I love most about my home is the many, many groups that it has hosted over all these years. From children’s birthday parties, small dinner parties and huge open houses it is at is such a fun place when filled with people.
I live in a “beyond my wildest dreams” house that I bought by using part of my inheritance as a down payment. My mother would have loved this house; my dad would have thought it was frivolous! But each and every time I enter her doors, there is a calmness that envelopes me and spaces that inspire me. And those are intangibles that are not frivolous in the least.
It’s my “age in place” slab house (no stairs!) that I’m turning into my very own color filled cottage. Chintz fabric that I’ve hoarded for decades (since it was LAST in style and thanks to Grandmillenials, now back in style) in blues, corals and buttery yellows will become my floor to twelve foot ceiling drapes and those colors flow throughout the rest of the house.
Sharon, I’m so happy for you. You are following your dreams. I love chintz, too!
What I love about my home is the way we use it. Our master bedroom is our creativity space – my paper and my wife’s fabric. It’s the largest bedroom, so I made sense to share this space where we could spend time together and doing our own thing. Our dining room is the library. The bookshelves go practically to the ceiling is some places and are lower in others. The walls are covered with things we believe to be beautiful, like architectural elements, pictures and other objects that bring us joy.
We will be redoing the kitchen soon, so we will start collecting paint chips, cabinet samples and flooring bits (for the whole house). It will be an exciting time for us, but it will also be nerve wracking for us and our four kitties. We look forward to having a kitchen that we will create.
Thank you for the opportunity to win!
We were able to build our home…I love the location, the layout and mostly that it’s truly a home that we can live in and enjoy! It’s perfect for making year round memories with friends and family.
I live on the marsh in Savannah, Georgia. I love the view of the marsh that goes for miles. It is stunning watching the tide rise and fall. The wild life is beautiful. I LOVE my home and feel blessed to live here!
Change one letter in the word “home” and you get “hope”. I love my home because home is hopeful.
I love my house for the view! The main living space is on the second floor and the view of the Skidaway River is breathtaking. Our house was built in 1948. It was totally renovated in 2008 before we purchased it. It was very well done renovation. But because of windows across the front, to maximize the view, the spaces are difficult for me to decorate.
When I was a young girl, all I did was play house. In art class all I drew were houses. I love houses and when we drive through a neighborhood, I mentally redesign the houses I see. When we decided to downsize to our small lake home, I designed the addition and changes that needed to be made. I still can’t believe I was able to do it, but after years of collecting magazine articles and design books, I knew what we needed and what I love. But what I love most about our home is that we belong here. I camped on this lake when I was 7 years old. My parents built a cottage and we spent every summer here. My husband told me he loved me here and a year later proposed to me here. Now I am 68. I have a history here and this is home. I am so blessed.
I love the charm in my 1938 era beach colonial. It boasts the original hardwood floors, large baseboard molding and beautiful cased openings and window trim. The wall are plastered with the old lathe material. We downsized to 1700 square feet two years ago because two of our four children have their own places. We call this our project home and we love it. We remodeled the kitchen, added shiplap to the foyer and of course repainted walls, trim and ceilings, just to name a few. I stenciled numbers 1-15 going up the stair risers. It fit perfectly in our coastal, French with a little eclectic, style. All our children and two grandsons gather here often. It feels like home:)
The thing I love most about my home is that every place I look I see something my husband and I have worked on together. Every room, every floor, every corner, every wall, every ceiling, every idea is a project we’ve both had participation in at some point. Usually I’ve dreamed up a project or design and he’s provided most of the sweat and skill and I’ve helped as much as I could. When I see torn out trim or flooring or striped out wallpaper, I see love. He would be happy if our house was the same as the day we moved in but he makes changes to please me. It’s his way of showing his love for me.
The is the house we’ve brought 5 babies home to. This is the house we cared for dying parents in. This is the house we’ve had weddings in. This is the house we’ve schooled in. This is the house all of our grown children and their families gather in once a week for a meal together. This is the house we will live in until we leave this world. This isn’t a house at all. This is a home.
What I love most about my home are the memories collected over the past 36 years of raising our 3 daughters, and the memories being added by our 8 grandchildren!!
Seeing my home is like seeing what lies under my skin. It is a reflection of my soul. Is it silly to have vintage toys all around? No. What about my collections of amateur art? Wonderful. It’s my safe harbor, the inside of my mind, the cocoon I need to survive.
What I love about my home the most is that it has a front porch with rockers and plants, and a screened back porch where I can watch wildlife in the woods and paint.
My Mediterranean style home has beautiful beamed high ceilings and tons of character. The original 1949 oak floors have been refinished a few times and have a soft, worn feel that I love. Of course there are things I want to change, but in spite of those things I love this house more than any house I’ve ever lived in and feel so lucky to be here!
Oh Marian! I cannot wait to get my hands on your new book. I am so excited! The thing I LOVE most about my home is that it is the place where I have created and continue to create incredible memories with my friends and my family. It is where I cook delicious meals, try my hand at various DIY projects, love on my pets, kids and husband and the place where I can feel most at peace!
I love everything about my home!!! I feel so very lucky to live in it. A true from prayer. It is cozy, warm and welcoming. It is filled with many antiques and thrifted treasures. I have fantastic front and back gardens that I designed and tend to myself. It is the perfect cottage for me where I can come in and shut out all the crazy of the world outside.
oops…..I should have said….”a true answer from prayer.”
What I love most about my home is the person I share it with! I love lots of things about our current house; the carriage-style garage doors, the painted shake siding on the gables, the flowerbeds and window boxes in June. I love the lovely brick around the fireplace and the sunroom in October. But it’s my husband that makes this house a home for me, and I love that for thirty-six years we’ve been turning houses into homes, room by room.
We just retired and moved into our forever home after pastoring and living in parsonages for many years and raising nine kids in all sorts of houses. I’m so blessed to be in this house. Since I didn’t get to ever make many choices in decor or furniture, it has been fun AND scary. I don’t want to make an expensive mistake, like buying the wrong color couch or a terrible rug. I’m trying to read a lot about decorating and go slow and I’m trying to just enjoy it and not feel peer or IG pressure to have a home like everyone else. Thank you for the giveaway! I’ve read your blog for a long time and I love your style!
I love the size of my home. We are home bodies and we have plenty of room and I have been learning all about how to make it pretty and inviting…the last 15 years! I haven’t ‘arrived’ but I love decorating it. I have learned a lot about what I like and my favorite colors and style as I have poured over decorating blogs, magazines, and sit shows.
TV shows, not sit show! Ha!
One of my favorite things about my home is the size! It is big enough for our family but small enough to be cozy!!
The thing I love most about my home is the flow of the rooms. It’s a great home to entertain in. But, of course, that hasn’t happened in a long, long time. So, I’d love to be inspired by your newest book, Marian, to revamp my home and then have a big blow out party once we’re finally on the back side of this pandemic. You’ve always been an inspiration to me. I’m so happy that I met you several years ago at a book signing at Signature Finishes in Grafton MA. All my best ~ Margie
I love so many things about my home. It’s not the largest or fanciest house we’ve ever lived in but it’s really home. It has original hardwood floors and beautiful board and batten added recently by my husband. We’ve only been here 3 years but we are decorating it in our own unusual style, one room at a time.
On the aesthetic side, what I love most is my screened porch. On a more practical side, what I love most is my central vac. With a white cat and a German Shepherd mix, I vacuum daily. Congratulations on your book!
Besides the people and animals in it I like the old church pew in my dining room that sits at a family heirloom dining room table along with family chairs. It’s my week morning tea spot.
Oh my, what don’t I love about our home. A beautiful palette of mostly whites, blues and lately a lot more green is warm and refreshing. It just makes me sigh. Especially when we go out of town and come HOME (that’s the key word). I try to make our home beautiful and relaxing for myself, husband and family and friends. I want all who come to our home to feel like they are home also. So many ideas from you, Miss Mustard Seed! Excellent.
I love my kitchen! I have double islands and a 5 burner stove for lots of cooking!
We have a formal front door, but friends and family all know to come in by the mud room door that brings you right into our kitchen. Our house was tired when we bought it, but that gave us the freedom to make this our home. Our kitchen was one of many projects and we combined a sunroom and too-small kitchen into what is now the heart of our home – a warm and inviting kitchen with two walls of windows overlooking a big flower garden little pond and room enough for all our family and friends to gather – ‘there’s always room for one more’ at our table.
I love my home because it is the perfect size for my husband and me. Now my girls are grown and out of the house. It is a two-bedroom with a small attic that I dream of converting to a “she attic” for my granddaughter and me to spend quality time; my granddaughter loves her “Abuela,” and she loves to spend time with me since she was a baby. My dream is to become a “design nerd. I love your blog. I will love to be the winner of this package. Congrats on your new book. I can wait to have a read it. .”
I love my master bedroom the best. It’s peaceful, calming and oh so quiet. The rest of the house is still a work in process . A slow process but moving forward. Looking for new family room furniture is so difficult with all the choices that are out there.
What I love about my home are the memories in it. My daddy’s baby shoes (under glass) on my coffee table. My mother’s handwritten recipes in the kitchen. The hand carved heavy oak bed that was my grandparents. All of the things my daughters have given me over the years and the little notes from my granddaughters. All the special gifts my husband has gifted me. And I have worked them all into the design of our rooms which makes our home cozy and welcoming for our family.
What I love most about my home is the storage space in it. I have a home for nearly everything!! It is so much easier to keep my current home clean compared to the other 2 homes my husband and I have lived in. When there is a place for everything, then everything stays in its place! And of course, at nearly 50 years old, I now know exactly what my style is so I have decorated my home to reflect what I love and feel comfortable in. Blues and creams and golds and soft, soft textures.
My current home is with my son-in-law. I moved in 2 years ago to help care for my daughter who passed last July. I love the memories here of our last year together however it is now time for me to move on. I’m actively looking for a new home and dreaming about where that will be and how I will decorate it. I’m excited to turn the page to a new chapter.
I may be the only person who will respond this way but I love my home because it is not yet finished. We have built the house ourselves as being mortgage-free was a primary goal. Two years ago, we worked like crazy to get the house finished enough to get our certificate of occupancy and we moved in. We were just so happy to be on our 30 acres in the mountains that we didn’t care about the boxes everywhere and things piled on the floor. Slowly but surely, with a husband who has a full time job at home and me home educating our children and caring for our animals and gardens, we have created a home we love. We are now in the throws of finishing the interior trim and then we will get to have the oh-so-fun job of painting. I actually do not mind painting and find it pretty meditative. The best part is that our children have been an integral part of this journey and have learned valuable skills – related to home building and family dynamics! The other thing I love about my home is that is really is a curated, tangible expression of our lives. Everything in my home has a story and is more than likely a family piece I have been given or an estate sale find I bought when I was first out on my own and collecting my own treasures. It is a map of our lives and I love being surrounded by such personal things I see and use every day. I love that people tell me that my home could never be confused for someone else’s. I think all homes should be like that – a completely unique expression of the people it houses and comforts. Thanks for the opportunity of the giveaway. It would be lovely to win.
Hi Marian: You were the first blog I started reading years and years ago. We are kindred spirits in so many ways and I am a designer so it has been fun watching your talent grow along with my own. I too have a house of favorites, collect transfer ware, love blue and white, thrilled with a new find and treasure my antiques.
I love my current home because it is one story with an open floor plan. In the main part of my home each area flows into the next and the hallway leads to the bedrooms. The view into the shaded backyard makes me smile
My favorite thing about my house is the back porch. Love taking a nap there.
I love my craft room where many crazy ideas start just from the textiles patterns and colours that can evolve and it gives me thinking space and time to relax.
What I love most about my home is the security it provides to my family and friends. No, not from Covid, but the security of being surrounded by loved ones, home cooked meals, and restful sleep. My home is filled with laughter, prayer, hard work, and peace.
I love that my home is close to my kids and grandkids. The house and yard are big enough for everyone to get together or be apart. My grandsons have their own room when they spend the night. I have a huge sunroom full of plants. It’s a very comfortable home and we’re making lots of memories in it.
I love that our home is “us”. We’ll mostly me. But my husband loves his one little corner that he won’t let me change. But I’m constantly wanting to. ?
We have only been in this house for one year and having moved during the pandemic, decor options were very limited. I like being able to live in it and see where I want to go with color and furniture. I’ve learned I can take it slowly and I love that.
Congratulations on your new book.
I love my home because my husband and I collaborated on all our decorating decisions.
Oh, I love this! Your posts always inspire, and I often languish over the cool blues and Springy greens in your paintings and fabric choices.
I am definitely a design nerd. I am in the middle of building and decorating a teeny guest house in my property outside of Round Top. It is slow going, but the “doing” is at least half the fun.
One of your little index card landscapes is among the art choices for the shelving in the kitchen area. ?
Technically, I have only been hired once to design someone else’s guest room… but I spent hours dreaming, designing in my head. Including most times I visit friends. Shhhh! Don’t tell. Sometimes it’s just a tweak.
I look forward to the book.
I love my hall from the garage, laundry and guest back. They all have this rustic French tile on the floor that has actual chicken feet and dog paws in it from drying in the sun. It was a huge splurge but I just love the floor!
I have an entire wall of windows – floor/ceiling and wall/wall – in my living room and beautiful older hardwood floors. And a super updated/modern kitchen. I love the light, the view and the mix of old/new.
What do I love most about my home? We just downsized – lost 800 square feet and 6.66 acres. Our “new” house is 130 years old, completely fenced in, and is in town so I can walk almost everywhere I need to go. It needs a lot of improvement, but we have the time to make it exactly the way we want it and we brought with us only our favorite things. I’m having such fun designing a new bathroom, closets and the kitchen as well as a vegetable garden while clearing out years of overgrowth.
I appreciate my home,even though it is a rental, that it provides comfort and gives me rest when I come home after working long hours. As I have gotten older I choose the “things” I put into it more wisely. To surround myself with objects that speak to me instead of cluttering up spaces. My favorite space must be my couch where I rest my tired body(even if the leg is broken) ?
Love my home because it is a place of love and laughter… it is a refuge in sad times and houses all the footfalls of those who have entered and keeps alive for us ALL the treasured memories of the best of times…..forever ….with all those we hold dear ..family …friends …neighbors …it comforts us through all the ups and downs of life…all the fun we’ve had in “this little house we cannot measure ….because
This little house id our greatest treasure” !?
What I love most about my home is that it is in my hometown. I was away for almost 20 years and was blessed to be able to come home last year.
I love the view out my windows! It’s really why I bought the house, and I hope to bring that feel inside.
I gave up my dream home to move to our current home 16 years ago in May. My husband and I were married the following August. I have never regretted a day since. Our current home is half the size of my last home. It has never been a problem for us because we each have our own space. My husband has his music room where he plays beautiful jazz music. Also he has a work shop out in the garage. I have my own room where I have created some very beautiful quilts. Our home is not fancy, but full of much love. We have both of our families over often. Since our home is almost 18 years old now, we plan on repainting the walls and putting new carpet and some wood floors in this fall. We put all new windows in several years ago and we both love that our home has a lot of light. I have loved reading your blog and wish that I could drop in for some much needed advice.
My favorite things about my house are the windows. We have a lot of large windows that let in so much natural light and I love the view of the forest out my kitchen window as I wash dishes.
I love my home for so many reasons! Mostly because my grown children love to be here. They say its home because that is where I am, always. I am a design nerd 100%. Always in the midst of a project large or small, and usually more than one. I love to create for my home. Slipcovers, pillows, design boards…and I love my garden. I enjoy magazines filled with photos of beautiful spaces. I was so thrilled to be able to preorder your book, I can’t wait for its arrival because I love your style. Simple, elegant and your beautiful color schemes. I currently keep my ideas (dreams) catagorized in a file cabinet. I would just love to use a sketchbook like you do. Thank you for all the beauty and creativity you bring to the world.
I am surrounded by the people and things that I love in my home. Home is where I get to play, create, and work. Home is my happy place 🙂
When my husband and I bought our very first house, 45 years ago, I was thrilled to begin decorating it. The house was 1100 sq feet and cost $32,000. ( We won’t ever see numbers like that again!). I carried around a brown accordion folder filled with paint chips, fabric samples and magazine pictures for more than two years, gradually creating the home that we had worked so hard for. We are on our third house and I’m still constantly changing things. Now my pictures are on Pinterest and my photos are on my camera. But I’m still carrying around my accordion file!
I love my house because of the….hmm there is a lot I love about my house- everything but the kitchen (basically a hallway)
Amazing location, great yard, character, big windows, wood floors…I can’t wait to get your book! I debating between ordering it for myself or asking for it for my birthday- ?
I love our home because it is a light-filled, colorful haven for us. We bought a sheet metal shop that made air conditioning ducts and over the last 39 years slowly, thoughtfully, tenderly created our home. We sketched out our own floorplan, built walls, put in plumbing and with Dad’s help electric, put in insulation (that was hard!) and painted. I have made curtains and pillow covers, hung wallpaper and painted pre-loved furniture from the antique malls and over the years new curtains and pillows have been made and new colors painted on the walls and wallpapers removed or replaced! It’s been a fun journey. We used a few sub-contractors over the years for some of the jobs we couldn’t do ourselves, and as we got older and had some additions put on our original 1100 square feet, but it has been a labor of love. We brought our two boys home from the hospital to this house and hosted many family holidays and birthdays, I can’t imagine ever living anywhere else!
I love that our home is a reflection of who we are…imperfect, welcoming, and a tad quirky. LOL I do make it a point to welcome everyone who comes into our home whether they are friends and family or someone we’ve hired to work on a project. I have tried to collect beautiful, interesting, and meaningful things to have around us. It’s been fun and a bit chaotic as we are updating our upstairs (then moving downstairs) since our youngest son of 3 is in his Senior year of college. We have lived in every inch of our home, and it was way overdue for some love.
I love that my home is almost 200 years old. There is so much history on this property, and always something new that I’m finding. We have an old tobacco drying shed. It is now just walls, but works as a perfect windbreak for our bees! We have a nice creek that can have the smallest of a trickle or a thundering torrent depending on the rain. Old floors that squeak, brick walls that make hanging anything a challenge, and even some original wavy windows! What I love most about my home are all the flaws and imperfections that make it unique!
I love that even though our home was new construction 8 years ago, I have added so much trim, wainscot, paint, molding, built ins and landscaping that it is perfect for us, even as it changes and evolves as we live here. As beautiful as it looks, the most important thing to me is that I did it all. We have the best evening light in a couple rooms on the second floor and I built a window seat in one window that just today my youngest and I were curled up together playing the game Simon. I feel at peace in my home.
Home is my favorite place in the world; I absolutely adore it. It has a French country/cottage feel and sits nestled on a park-like half acre in a secluded section of a bustling suburban neighborhood. I love the multitude of almost floor to ceiling windows, the windy brick pathways and the little shed that looks like a cottage. I also love the French doors that open from the livingroom and our bedroom onto decks that lead to the pool. It is a blissful place. But one of the things I love the most is the five old bookcases—removed from office buildings in our state capital and found on Craigslist—that became a “built-in” bookcase wall in the livingroom. It spans almost 10 feet and holds pictures of loved ones, family treasures and books. Guests and family alike are drawn to it, and I can’t help but smile every time I see it. It holds our heart. ❤️
I fell in love with our bungalow the moment we walked through the front door. We scanned the room, then I tugged in my husband’s arm- look at the kitchen!! It had never been painted. And other than some bathroom updates its all original 1920– still! Easily the best house for comfort and livability. Three cheers for old houses!
You’re always so generous Marian…thanks!
I luv my 9.5’ ceilings @ the beach!
I love my home. It’s a small cottage with huge windows overlooking the green beauty outside. It is filled with my collection of blues, a little sage green, and a tiny peek of pink here and there. I have antiques from my grandmother and my Mom, and a collection of prints that I have collected forever. I even have a Miss Mustard Seed print that I adore. The colors you love live within me too and I have never grown tired of them. I can’t wait to see your new book and I know it will be loved.
I am so excited because I pre-ordered your book and want to see your designs in your bedroom, sewing room, etc. What I love about my home is that it has potential. It was built in the early 1980s and I have only lived in it for eight years. It’s got that weird lay-out but there is hope in bringing some design to make it look more up to date.
I have a log home, and I’d say my favorite thing is how cozy and welcoming it feels when we walk through the door.
My home is my haven. It is filled with all my favorite finds collected over the last 30 some years. Everywhere I look I am reminded of a time, an event, a trip, a memory of our life together, of raising our children and that rush of happiness fills my soul. I studied Art History and I incorporate my love of composition into the design of my home. I am an avid gardener and between drawing my gardens and interiors I am often drawing birds and buildings as well. I am so inspired by your work and how you layer all your interest to make such depth of beauty in your home design. Thank you for sharing all your interests and talents via your blog, your social media accounts and now through your beautiful book. It is a wealth of information for all.
We sold our home of many years and are currently building our new home while renting nearby. The features I love about the home that we are building are endless! I designed the house myself and it sits on 50 beautiful, private acres on a dirt road. The house is just large enough for my family of nine but not too huge or with wasted space. The large south facing windows look over our pasture of sheep and a few cows and my vegetable garden. My kitchen has similar windows and has the dining table in it. I love the wood cook stove we’re putting in, the huge pantry, and that I will have a real painting studio!
I can hardly believe that we will soon get to live there.
Our home … A big old farmhouse, with the classic front porch. There are a few unique features. The livingroom ceiling is exposed wood. There’s a galley kitchen and a secret garden off the dinning room … The floors creek when walked on or the weather changes. The small waterfall in the garden is magical and my most loved spot.
My home evolves with me. It has been home to my children and then the calm of empty nesters. Then Grandma’s home and now where I spend my retirement. It’s rooms have changed with each phase and continue to change as I do.
My home is a old farmhouse, over 100 years old. I love how we have been able to renew and refresh it through the years we have lived here. We have truly made it our place.
We moved unexpectedly four years ago. We thought—and had planned—to retire where we were living in NH but the job took us to PA. We bought a brand new “cookie cutter” house and are slowly making it our own. Hands down the best thing about our home is that it has become a stop for our many friends as they travel up and down the east coast. The running joke is that “our rates haven’t changed since 1986”—the year my husband and I married.
What I la la love most about my home is the humble simplicity and small size. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s clean, I lovingly keep it in good shape and spend lots of time enjoying the yard and garden with my two cats. I’m a registered nurse and the past two years have been extremely trying, both physically and mentally and my home has given me a renewed appreciation and gratefulness to have a space of my own, a retreat, and I am so beyond grateful.
Our home was a labor of love that my husband and I worked on together. We contracted work we couldn’t do ourselves, but with the help of friends, we did much of it ourselves, including hardwood floors, trim work, HVAC, painting, concrete, paving, and more. So we know where all the flaws are but love it anyway. The furnishings are a combination of antiques, thrift store finds, repurposed furniture projects, and a collection of sentimental books, pictures, and nostalgia. We love our home and it is perfect for us.
We bought our.home about 3 years ago and are slowly making it ours. Changing out carpet for hardwood, paint colors, etc. I don’t think I could love it anymore than I do, then we change something…and that feeling comes all over again.
We just built our new home and I love that it has lovely big windows that are set low enough for the dogs to look out in all directions. Love our new home! This is a great give-away and I would feel like I’ve won the lottery to win it! Congratulations on your new book.
Congratulations on another book, Marian! I pre-ordered mine and can hardly wait to bring more of your inspiration into my projects. What struck me the first time I walked into my current home is the light. I love the way it filters through the trees and changes with the seasons.
Awesome giveaway-thank you so much for offering it! What I love most about our home is that we had tremendous input into the design-even though we were reluctant home builders! We lost our previous (greatly loved) home to eminent domain for a road project and thought we would never love another home as much. We were wrong.
My home, mmm for me it is my comfort! I feel safe and secure. It’s my oasis. My favorite thing about our home is when it rains, I love the hum, of our home as it rains outside.
Thank you for this giveaway! It is so generous. What I love most about my home is well, that I have one! Right now it’s a home on wheels while we are building a home. This cozy camper is becoming a place of great memories and while it has taken a lot of adjusting, I’m so, so grateful to be on this journey with the people I love most.
I adore my home because it has great light and good architecture. I helped design it 27 years ago and to this day all the spaces are still perfect
congratulations on the book. so exciting. I love some aspects of my home – Some rooms need improvement. My favorite room is the guest room. I treasure the pieces as they remind me of my Mom.
Love my home and each little special item I’ve chosen to make it special. Some of my favorite items are blue and white pots and plates, the little teapot lamp, botanical prints, my sewing room and my music room.
Always a design nerd! Love that my home decor can be updated when my taste changes. There are many personal collections from family members of the past, so it’s always nice to share their stories with house guests. Love that you encourage others to fill their homes with creativity and things that bring them peace.
I love the small community my house is in and that my daughter will be living right across the road!
I love my view of the creek beyond my sloping back yard. The view is beautiful during all seasons and I love to see it change. I love that it’s quiet here with the trees, flowers, my rock garden on a hill and the natural life all around. The birds are a constant joy to hear and the deer venture onto my property daily. I never grow tired of my chosen colors of rust, tan, green and brown in my furniture and also the stone elements inside and on the exterior of my house. My home is an expression of my love of color and design. What a joy to live here!
I love my sunroom most of all. It’s currently doubling as my office too. That should be a cue that light is very important to me. I have lots of windows, high ceilings, especially in the living room and have chosen a light wall color. I am not the greatest decorator but my house is bight and homey. That makes me happy.
I loved my home from the moment we bought it. I was drawing room layouts before I actually had measurements and collecting pictures of examples of the “feeling” I wanted rather than the things in the picture. I love that we have cozy spaces to be together and larger spaces to gather family and friends. I love that everyone has a space to display what they love and a place to create. Your book looks amazing and congratulations!
I love I was able to finally buy a house! It was such a long journey!
I love our home because it was my grand parents’. We bought it from them, 5 years ago. It was 1250 square feet. We gutted, refined and added on. Now, it is 3300 square feet. We have used brick from outside walls, that were torn done, as 1/2 flooring (herringbone pattern) and kitchen backsplash. Old singer sewing machine cabinet for that bathroom counter. Other dresser pieces for other bathrooms. Finally have the bones right and now, working at using things I love to make it our home.
I love my little Cape Cod house. I moved into it nearly 40 years ago on my 27th birthday. I brought all my babies home to this house and now welcome them back often with our 10 grandchildren. Along the way we added a sunroom. My son installed radiant heated floors for us and we enjoy it almost year round even in the cold winters of Northern Illinois. Can’t wait to receive your new book!! ?
Two and a half years ago, we moved into my in-laws’ Virginia home of thirty years. They opted for warmer temperatures in Florida. We renovated the center of the house as phase one and have seven more phases to go. (I wonder if we’ll live long enough to do it all! haha) The thing we love most about our home is probably outside it. We have a five acre pond sitting on our thirty-eight acres. We love watching the wildlife from the large windows in our living room. On rare occasions, we have seen bald eagles at the far end of the pond doing a little fishing. We stop whatever we’re doing and just watch for almost as long as they will stay. Does anyone else get that excited about bald eagles? Thank you for offering such a lovely package. What a treat it will be for the winner!
What I love most about my home is that it is still evolving. It was new when we purchased 4 years ago–we actually moved within the neighborhood so that we could have trees behind and a pond in front. It’s not perfect but it’s comfy and welcoming. I still have so many things I would like to do, but it will happen over time!
I love the location of our home in the woods. I love that it has a wrap around porch. While we were building, I fell off an area of the porch and it left me a paraplegic. I haven’t been able to decorate it like I would have before, but I still love it.
I didn’t even know that an 11×14 pad of graph paper and architectual stencils were a thing until recently. When I learned of this I immediately bought myself these items and can’t wait to sketch out our house. I’m definitely a design nerd. It pretty much consumes most of my spare time. I’m always designing in my head trying to convert our new construction into a more elevated and comfortable home. I’m so excited about you book! Congratulations! I can’t wait to own it!
My favorite room in our home is currently our master bedroom. I went with mostly neutral color for the furniture and carpet so I could change out fabric seasonaly without limitation. The navy, rust, cream, and teal panels that hang on our windows now make me smile everytime I walk in….that pop of color just lifts my spirits!
What I love most about my home is my daughter’s room. She is a true artist and she has expressed herself all of her space. On the walls, doors, u name it! It truly warms my heart everytime I walk in there.
Congratulations on your new book! I can’t wait to get my copy. I have always loved looking at drawings of floor plans…and drawing my own ideas. The thing I love most about my home is that it is big enough for all of our children and grandchildren to stay with us. Our house is big for just my husband and myself, but when all our family comes home to visit, it is the perfect size. I love having room for everyone!
I love everything you do and can’t wait to get your new book!
We downsized three years ago into a Craftsman cottage. It looks 100 years old but is only 12 years old. I love the charm of it all and the exterior is a beautiful green and we painted the front door navy blue. We have repainted all walls, laid new floors, my husband has built in new cabinetry and storage and I have sewn new curtains, pillows, etc…for every room. We are 90% there and are really enjoying the cozy feel and comfort of every room. It’s A LOT of color for most people- but makes us happy! We hope to be here for many years!
I love that it’s new, but has old time characteristics! I’m always asked if it’s new or old. I love that.
My favorite room in our house is our family room. We updated several years ago, removing paneling and painted a light shade of gray. The wall that has our fireplace is completely covered in brick. My brother in law painted and distressed our mantle and it makes me happy every time I come into the room! Thank you for all of your inspiration. Pre-ordered your book and can’t wait to read ?
I love the way our home embodies who we are and what has been important to us the thirty plus years we have lived there. I have always as the saying goes “had champagne taste on a beer budget” so have found treasures that needed love and taught myself to do all sorts of repairs and/or repurposing. Her walls are covered with prints, pictures and art that remind me of the people and places that are important in our life. We have been fortunate to be able spend time in Europe and I always seem to bring back a few cooking or eating related souvenirs. It is wonderful on a daily basis to use things that have memories attached to them. It is all these little things that are around me everyday that make the house cozy and comforting
What I love about my home is that it is my sanctuary….and it feels like that because I have surrounded myself and my family with things we love and that make us feel comfortable and loved…..soft and cozy with a warm color palette……
I love that my current home is the fulfillment of a dream. As a young wife and mother, I kept a binder filled with magazine pages of things I would love to have or do to decorate my home one day. I had big dreams, but if I’m honest, I wasn’t sure they would ever come true. As I said, I was young and finances were tight. I have been through so much in the 25 years since I started that binder: births of children , moves away from family, the loss of a spouse, entering the workforce after staying home with children for 15 years….the list goes on. I found that binder recently and as I flipped through the forgotten pages, I realized my dream as a young 22 year old, SAHM has been fulfilled in the very home I live in now. I was amazed at how this home, filled with beautiful things inherited or collected over the years, looks so much like the pages I tore so many years ago. A dream fulfilled. A blessing realized. My home. ❤️
I like be the sitting area on my staircase? Thank you so much for the chance to win! So very excited for you and your beautiful new book!!?
My favorite thing in our home is sitting at the dining room table and looking out of the only front facing windows to my small garden area out front. A close second is a wall in the living room covered with landscape paintings found in thrift shop or painted by a family member.
Although there are many things that I dream of changing in our home, I love the layout of it. If I am in the kitchen, I can see into the family room, and there is an open space between the dining room and family room, which makes all three rooms feel very connected. Another feature that I like is that the stove is located in a peninsula with bar stools on the other side of the counter, which is great for my daughters helping me or watching me cook without crowding me on both sides.
I love that my home is a palette for my creativity and I’m so grateful to have been able to choose all the design elements when we renovated our 1968 cottage 4 years ago. I love the built in bookcases I always dreamed of having, the stone fireplace we added, and the views of the woods and nature from everywhere in our house. Definitely grateful.
We love our home of 28 years. My husband designed it and with one other person built it when we retired. It has great open spaces and we planned for handicapped possibilities, which we greatly enjoy now. I fits our life style perfectly and we would not change a thing. Our children and grandchildren have created memories here even though they live a distance away. It is comforting to use furnishings that have been with us for years/generations and know that other family members want them next. We are just the current caretakers. I have preordered the book and can’t wait to do some of the exciting things projected to be in it. I am inspired by the blog.
There are many things I love about my home, but I think the best thing (to me) is all of the light that spills in through the windows. After moving from a dark cape cod on a wooded lot, I just so enjoy getting up in the morning to bright, sunny rooms! Congrats on your book – it looks amazing and I cannot wait to see it!
We have lived here almost 50 years! I love the memories we have made with our 3 children. They learned to swim in the bayou in our backyard. Fishing, boating, lots of water activities. Then in blink of an eye we had 5 grandchildren and they made memories. Not only do they remember the bayou but the house. The year I stenciled something in almost every room. Painted furniture. Pillows I sewed. And they were usually involved. An old house has become home for all of us.
Just bought a new house. I love the maple trim and cabinetry throughout it. It gives a lot of warmth and character to the house. I’m excited to make it ours over time.
We are almost empty nesters in the house my siblings and I grew up in. My favorite thing is the location in a quiet neighborhood with a creek in the backyard to canoe in and lots of beautiful old oak trees. And now I get to decorate the whole house and not just the bedroom I shared with my sister growing up!
When we first moved into this small, 1960’s ranch back in the mid-1980’s I didn’t really like it at all. I had always wanted to live in an old, stately Victorian or other “vintage” home with real architectural uniqueness. But, here I have stayed for the last 30-some years! And I have come to love my house partly because I love the small, family-friendly neighborhood that it is in. I also like that my rear-facing living room has a large bay window over-looking a good-sized backyard that borders a wild nature area. (The deer come right into my backyard sometimes and sample my hostas!) I have many trees in my back and front yards and a large garage to store treasures in.
The decor inside my house is pretty eclectic but includes some favorite family pieces and the colors I use are similar to Miss Mustard Seed’s favorites. I like furniture and items with an antique or vintage feel and I admit my house is a bit cluttered with all my pieces. I love my photos of family that are displayed on top of the old upright piano that belonged to my maternal grandparents, especially the ones of my four sweet grandsons. And I also love my display of African Violets that remind me of my maternal grandmother who always had them in her house. I love, too, my collection of books that fill the bookshelves in nearly every room in the house.
To most observers my house would probably not inspire much interest but I love it because it holds not only the objects I love but thirty-odd years of memories of family and friends who’ve lived and visited it.
Our home was built in 1917.
Big brick farm house. It has transformed and grown with our family through the years. Quiet country living overlooking the corn and soybean fields of the Midwest. We’ve always kept the integrity of its mission style in our up dates. The most beautiful oak woodwork compliments every room!
Honestly, what I like most about my house is that it’s paid for (wink)! Really, though, when my husband and I designed and built this home, we built it for us and the way we live. We didn’t go with trends or fads, but a more timeless style. We also had the foresight to make it such that we can “age in place”. My house is truly my happy place.
We are a military family and have called many places home. Our current home may not be filled with the ones we love but it is filled with reminders…. the plaster of Paris handprint of our middle son signing “I love you”, the clay ant with the wonky legs made by our youngest, and the gargantuan vase made by our eldest in his attempt to use as much clay as possible. Each piece a simple reminder.
I love my yard! It’s a great gathering place for family and friends. I have a great garden and outdoor kitchen and feel so blessed.
I love my home because she is exactly that! My husband and I were looking for a place to live as we were just about to be married. She was built in 1896, and the minute we walked into it 6 years ago, we knew she was the one…she totally embraced us and said you are home!! She is a work in progress, but she is so cozy and welcoming to everyone who visits.
I love a lot about my home. The layout, the large kitchen island, and a terraced patio in the backyard. I can’t wait to read your book!!!
I’ve owned my little bungalow for almost 30 years now, and raised 2 children here in a loving 750 sq ft! I literally had to find endless creative solutions to it’s limitations, did most work myself and scavenged, removed and reimagined things to meet our needs and created a warm,and charming home from found things and imagination and some sweat equity. My cmmhildren are on their own, and I am once again remaining my nest for my needs this time. I admit I am stuck and overwhelmed by many aspects. This book and you sharing design advice I is awesome!
The favorite thing I love about our home is watching everyone relax and enjoy being there, whether gathered around the big old, but newish to us, dark wood dining table with the painted off white distressed chairs from our first anniversary. Oh and they’re on their 5th or so reupholstery life, in a textured damask pattern in cream and gold.
Or it could be hanging out in our kitchen that has great work space but crying for a new light fixture over the island, if only I can pick one from the 100’s of magazine tear outs or even more on my Pinterest page under kitchen light fixture. So specific, lol.
So my favorite part of designing and decorating is blending old and sentimental with newer, repurposed and reupholstered pieces in the colors I like which are shades of cream, gold, gray and a steel navy.
Thank you Miss Mustard Seed, aka Marian, for all your inspiration in leading a life of creativity and play and fun shopping trips to encourage me to try new things but keep what we love whether it’s ‘in’ or not.
Love that our home is filled with (very novice) art I’ve made, antiques we’ve collected on our many road trips together, and each other
My home has evolved over time and that is what I love about it! I have acquired some cool old pieces since I have gotten into auctions and estate sales.
My husband and I comment over and over how much we love our lanai as we sit there talking, relaxing and enjoying each other’s company. It’s screened and shaded, overlooking our beautiful landscaped backyard. Plus he drinks his coffee there in the morning and I have my tea there in the afternoon.
My husband built our home 20 years ago. We raised our 5 children here. I love my kitchen. It’s pretty small, but it speaks to me like no other room in this home. I’m sure it has nothing to do with how much I love baking cookies and how my adult children look in the cookie jar every time they come home.
We are closing Monday on our “new” home since moving from California to Oregon and I am so excited to design a new house. I was very flattered when we sold our 1908 home in Pasadena that the buyer wanted as many pieces as I would sell them. Many pieces were family heirlooms and I am looking forward to incorporating my old favorites in New ways in a new space for us. Transforming a house to a home is so much fun! Paint decks are ready, vintage light fixtures are ready to install and we are off to the races….
One thing I love about this little 1970’s ranch in which we live, is that this past spring, I finally found the perfect creme paint color and it has transformed this space. After eight sample pots and boards, Benjamin Moore’s Mountain Peak White was the winner. We love how it brings a cozy warmth and also brightens the space; and when the door is open in the late afternoon, the walls almost glow in the sunlight. Will definitely use this color in future houses also! ?
After living in many apartments, I’m thrilled to finally be a homeowner and have a big kitchen. I finally have counter space! I also love that the open-plan design allows me to keep an eye on my son while I’m in there.
This is such a massively awesome, and thoughtful giveaway.
My favorite thing about my house? It’s tiny (1000 sq ft) and houses 5 of us, plus our dog (though up until last year we had 2 big dogs, we lost one suddenly to cancer)…but despite its size, there’s just enough room for all of us. And even though it’s small and can sometimes feel too cramped, I’m a huge believer in how much closer we all grow because of that lack of space to distance ourselves from each other. I also love how easy it is to change up when I’m feeling the itch to. Paint doesnt cost me an arm and a leg because I’m working with such limited space. Furniture gets to be dual purpose and intentional, but since there’s so little of it I can buy QUALITY pieces. And it’s a cape cod style, so no real definitive quirks about it that make any specific styles feel out of touch for this house. If I wanted to do rustic farmhouse, or cottage, or beachy, or boho, or artsy…I could do anything of those things, because im not limited by a build style/trim style/woodwork/etc. as much as I love homes with those characteristics, I love that mine becomes a clean slate whenever I need it too!
What I love most about this house is makng it ours.
I guess I started dreaming of designing my home when I was about 9 years old and my friend Betty and I would rake and sweep pine straw underneath the tall Georgia pines to create the walls of our pretend houses. If there was a pine tree in the middle of your house, you would hang an imaginary tv on it or call it a column. We would spend an entire day designing our layouts. I have been hooked ever since. Anxiously awaiting your beautiful book!
My favorite room in my house is my twin bedded guestroom, which has two antique walnut 4-poster beds and a mathcing vanity. I have blue/yellow/white quilts on the beds during the summer, and for winter, lovely cranberry/cream toile comforters. The walls are a light gold, and I have about a dozen samplers which I embroidered on the walls. I also have a black vinyl Cricut-cut bird, branch, and tree cut-outs adorning the walls around the door to inside the room, as well as the closet, and it is SO cool! I also like to draw up plans for various rooms in my house which I am planning on redoing; the kitchen is the next room to receive that treatment!
My favorite thing about my home is the gallery wall above the living room sofa. It’s made of framed photos from my travels along with masks and wood carvings and other fun pieces I’ve collected from around the world.
I love the original pine hardwood floors of our 1960’s home. It gives the whole home a warm, cozy feeling. I never tire of looking at them. I also love the vintage chandeliers I’ve collected. They gave the bedrooms an elegant look and feel and cast such pretty shadows. I never tire of looking at them either!
I love my farmhouse home, I know some day it’s overrated but when you live in an actual 1905 farmhouse there is the need for farmhouse decor, and I love it, I love mixing in vintage pieces, old quilts and all my favorite things because it’s my house and I’m the one who has to love it
I love all of the vintage things that I’ve added to our home. They make it feel more like us.
I love that I have a special room in which to create, filled with materials and inspiration. Now granted that only happened after my kids grew up and moved away so it is bittersweet but my daughter willed me many of her art supplies so that every time I take them out I think of her.
We sold our last home just before covid hit. We downsized to a ranch in an old neighborhood with most homes from the 1920s. We have the most peaceful quirky wonderful house with a great walking neighborhood. It’s been a haven from the chaos in the world right now and it’s been the best decision we ever made.
It’s a traditional well built home with great windows, beautiful patio and private wooded lot. Working on filling it with treasures.
My husband died Dec 2019. After selling our house and living in a dark apartment with just two large windows for a year, I bought my house January 29, 2021.
I had planned on looking at everything available in 55+ communities in the area and comparing them throughly. My realtor and I met at the first house about 10 in the morning. We walked in and down the hallway, and we came into the main living area with windows all down the east side of the house! In the middle of winter with the snow piled 3 foot high outside, the sun shining in was a sight to behold. I could almost hear my husband whispering “You’re home.” So much for comparing! My offer was accepted that day.
I love that my home is a rambler with 4 bedrooms each with its own bathroom. The privacy is great! The house has potential with just a few changes that I hope to make soon. It is in a cul de sac in a quiet neighborhood with great neighbors!
I love the bookcases and cabinets built by my husband in our living room and dining room. Despite the fact that they take up square footage, they make the rooms feel bigger and warmer. In a small Vspe storage is a plus!
I love the people and the contents of our home! It’s an odd, drab rental (ranch style), but we have filled it with beautiful second hand items, and good conversations! My neutral couches, black iron birdcage, painted and wood furniture make me happy inside.
I love that I was able to create a home in my house in which I was able to raise my two beautiful daughters. It was our first and only home purchase and after 23 years, the renovations are still not complete, but there are hopes for the future. Life just seems to get in the way and now my husband is gone and I need to finish alone what we started together.
What I love about my home is my kitchen. We just started a minor remodel of it and the only thing we have done so far is our new countertops. I’ve been falling in love with, researching, studying pictures of and dreaming about having Soapstone countertops for at least 10 years and I finally have them. We kept the base of our island as is but were able to expand the width and length to make it large enough to fit several barstools around three sides (the stove is in the island so no overhang on one long side). And we finally have a real (beautiful) hood vent instead of the stupid, useless bathroom vent in the ceiling. So it has become functional, fits the kitchen better and is a pleasure to sit at. The soapstone is beautiful, and feels wonderful and is everything I’d hoped for!
What I love about our home, is first and for-most… my human and fur family. Our home shows our personalities. It is filled with family antiques, my handmade quilts, and lots of books.
The thing I love most about my home, echoed by many guests, is the feeling of warmth, comfort, and relaxation it exudes. It’s not fancy or pretentious. My daughter calls our home the autumn house and it does seem to feel that autumn is when it is at its best. So I guess that isn’t any one thing but the culmination of many little things.
Cheers to your exciting new book! What I love best about my home is how many times it has allowed me to change it in the last 27 years… It has been my playground for figuring (& refiguring) my style.
What I love about my home is the way it feels when it’s full of the people I love. I dreamed about my home for years before it became reality. And now that it’s full of love and laughter I am so grateful.
We knocked a wall out and have a great room next to the kitchen, dinning area, and our quiet location.
I love to read floor plans and designer blogs and be all things creative.
I loved my home from the moment we stepped into it 2 years ago, I remember telling my husband and friend, “There is nothing needed to be done because it is perfectly finished”. Well, that didn’t last long because we are caught in a list of projects. I’ve been decorating and playing house since I was a young girl. It was nothing to draw out a room layout on the carport floor and then bring my room of small furniture out to arrange and keep house for the day. Ending the day in my newly created carport home always brought both the sadness of ending something and the inspiration of doing it differently the next time. Thanks for your inspiration.
I just redid my kitchen and it is so pretty! That room is definitely my favorite, specifically the backsplash!
I love the warmth and personality of my home. It’s as welcoming to the people who live here as it is to our guests.
My home is very comfortable and is situated on a parcel of my husband’s family farm. My father, father-in-law, brother and husband were.key parts.of.the construction. We have long windows to overlook the Juniata River. I love that we can host the family Thanksgiving here on the farm! I am crazy about blue and I added a bit of sage green to my kitchen before Miss Mustard Seed did! I felt so good when I discovered it! I desperately need design help!
Hi Marion, I’ve been following you for about 8 months now. I live in a small town in South Africa and run an Art Studio from my converted garage! I do get lots of inspiration from your posts and blogs and would LOVE to order your book but at the moment the exchange rate makes it a little out of reach..
I am also trying to source some sketch/note books here like the ones you use.
My home is filled with items that I’ve collected over the years, many pieces that I’ve covered, painted, or upcycled in some way.
Something that I feel I have in common with you is that I also enjoy and get excited about a variety of things – home decor, painting and sketching , collecting old items, converting and refreshing rooms etc
I’ve always felt as if I should be concentrating on one thing or another but my interests are too varied. Seeing how you fit in all your interests has really inspired me to be happy doing the same!
Thank you,
Tinks
We love the location of our home. We’re walkable to downtown and to work, plus right next to the firehouse for my hubby the firefighter. But, with a 115 year old house there’s always a project going!
I have two homes. The 1980s center hall colonial on a large piece of land that where we raised our grown sons. This home holds all our memories and all the things we collected over the years. We made some good changes over the years to keep it fresh and updated while still looking collected and familiar. Our second home is a new build on the beach that we recently purchased. The thought of owning a second home challenges my desire to live more simply, but I have to say it feels nice! In this house I kept the decor simple and beachy…blues, whites, sand with black accents and a few collected decor items from our home and my mother-in-laws collection. I absolutely love the simplicity in this house and all the new memories we are making. I love both homes because they both “Feel Like Home”. Love everything you create!
I love my home. I built it in the country and it has a very relaxed feel to it. It is a polebarn house and I do not feel any reservations when I want to remodel something. I just do it! I used a lot of my grandmothers furniture to decorate which takes me back to my childhood and these pieces were in her house!
When my husband and I began looking for a larger home for our family, the house we are in now is the first house we looked at. I walked in the front door and my first thought was, “This is my home!” We spent nearly 7 months working through the seller’s financial issues (the home was a short sale) and bringing our real estate agent to tears multiple times. She begged me to pick a different one but we persisted and finally purchased the home. This was during the housing market crash so for the first 6 months we lived here, we paid double mortgages and finally sold our previous home. I love EVERYTHING about this home. It needed tons of work and it’s perfectly imperfect. 13 years later, my favorite thing about this home is the covered porch we built shortly after we moved in. It is my favorite room! Outdoor curtains allowed me to use it as my office during more than a year of working at home due to the pandemic. It becomes a stage for my grandchildren and their impromptu performances. It’s the perfect spot for morning coffee with my sister. Dear friends gather here for conversation and wine. Summer dinners taste better at the table there. Life is beautiful on the porch 🙂
I love the soaring ceilings in my living room and the fireplace that gets a lot of use during our cold winters. I love that I have space for all of my children and grandchildren have room to sit in our dining room for the many meals we have together. I love my antiques, many that have been passed down. And I also love our very quiet and secluded lot surrounded with so many trees. Thank you so much for this opportunity to win such a wonderful gift!
I preordered your book and am so excited for its release. Can’t wait to cozy up with a cup of coffee and begin reading!! I recently sold my home and am now renting until I find a new home. Even though I know I’ll be in it for a short time, I wall papered the entry way with stick and peel wallpaper. I added an antique mirror and hooks. It puts a smile on my face every time I walk in. It’ll be easy enough to remove and didn’t cost a lot. I think its the little touches that make a place special. Thanks for the chance to participate in the giveaway. I love how intentional you are in selecting each item. Fingers crossed I win ?
What I love most about our home are the improvements we’ve made that added a little more character- the faux beams in the living room, swapping out the light fixtures and mirrors and putting in antiques to replace them. These little changes made our house feel more like home. Thanks for all the inspiration!
My home is my happy place- a place where I feel safe- a place where I can enjoy my hobbies- but most importantly a place where family and friends can gather and share life!
I am so happy with my living room, and owe you a big thanks, Marian, for the help from your Home Design Doodle Book. I had never heard of a mood board before your blog and you are so right- these are skills to practice & learn.
P.S. I’m right there with you about basketball!
I’m just renting but I love that I have room to plant hydrangeas and roses. Every home looks better with flowers, even if I won’t be there permanently!
Three years ago I saw my dream of a fireplace realized. I designed it myself and sacrificed a window. The builder didn’t see my vision, but when it was complete he even said it looked great. Lol. Now I cherish decorating the mantel and the cool nights by the fire.
Love our family room addition that we designed, down to the window placement and electric outlets. I wanted outlets right above the mantle which the contractor though was silly but I have never regretted my decision
I will enjoy your books so much::: just like your other books! So excited!
I like the many windows and light that my house has and most of all, I like that I don’t have to move to make it work. Of course there are cons but I like the pros so much more and can work around the cons. Don’t need a new house, everything functions and you make it work to the best of your ability. Can’t wait for your book to come available! Congrats!
I love my 1850’s home’s hardwood floors, heavy wooden doors and generous molding. I love all things old! And I love pretty much everything you do, MMS!
My home is a reflection of our family as it evolved. It’s a mix of the old and the new. I find the changes exciting. We have raised our 3 children here and grandparented 6 of their 8 youngins as well. The grandkids toy room is now the train room. The garden bedroom is an indoor/outdoor haven. My craft room is my heaven!
I love so many things about my home… the windows that allow us to enjoy the seasons, the wood floors that look better with age, the layout that brings us together, and even the dual focal point living room that challenges me (I just haven’t gotten it right yet- but I will keep trying). Thank you for the reminder to focus on what we appreciate rather than the things we are wanting to improve/change.
The home my husband and I own is a place of love and security. When we purchased the land to build our home, we stood on the front lawn and prayed that God would bless our home and that it would be a blessing to others. Little did we know that’s exactly what it is. We’ve always hosted family gatherings, holidays, birthdays and such, but In 2017 Tropical Storm Harvey hit our town. So many homes were flooded. Thankfully our home was spared any damage. We opened our home to a single lady we knew whose home was flooded. She stayed with us until her home could be repaired. Then in 2019 we opened our home again to a family member that needed some direction and guidance in his life. Everyone tells us our home is beautifully decorated. I’m not a professional, just someone who loves to decorate. Even as a child I would rearrange my bedroom and dream of how to decorate the house. While I appreciate the compliments I receive, the beauty of a home starts with the love that’s in it. We love our home, but we love the people who can share it with us.
When my husband and I decided to downsize we knew it would be close to one of our daughters. We were just beginning to look about and our daughter called to tell us she had found the perfect home. It began a whirlwind exchange between the sellers, also moving to be near a daughter and quickly putting our home on the market. It has been a bit of a rocky re-decorating road as we change the house to our style. The greatest advantage is that we are 1 block from her family and our grandchildren can walk here. Absolutely perfect! Thank you for the chance to win a wonderful giveaway.
Hi Marian,
Our home is modest and something always needs updating or repairing. I often find my self drooling over other people’s homes. So practicing gratitude is a good exercise! What I love most about our home is it has given us a safe place to raise our family. We cherish the happy memories. It is quiet here. We back up to a state forest ,so we often have deer and wild turkeys walking through our yard. I love to decorate and create a warm and inviting space. I to get inspiration from blogs like yours, magazines, and instagram. …And yes I have done many a floor plan.:)
My grown children tell me that my house isn’t perfect but it is comfortable and reflects my style. I love that they feel comfortable in my house and my friends will tell me that also. I consistently try to change things up with DIY projects and rearranging just to see what works. I have been told that I am creative and I just want to keep working on that aspect in my home and personal style. Looking forward to seeing your book in person .
I live in the home I do because it’s next door to my mom’s. It’s not a house I would have chosen otherwise – a very basic 1960’s ranch – but I’ve worked hard to give it soul with antiques, architectural salvaged pieces, lots of textures and art. What I love about it most is that people always say it feels like me.
Dear Miss Mustard Seed.
I started to “design” with my first antique purchase as a newlywed in Pennsylvania. It was a large carpenters tool chest, painted red. II did not know anything about milk paint & decided to strip this paint off. It did not go well so I resorted to using bleach & the sun. Now I had a chest that I could stain a beautiful walnut color. Then I learned about leaving some items in their original state.{ BTI, before the internet}. 57 years later I am still learning & evolving. Had a website from 1996- 2001. Found you in 2009. I think our home is not a building , but a feeling, a love. a desire to remake or refresh our surroundings. Now I am with my daughter & her family in the Midwest, retired but not stopping with my ideas & love of making things. Your enthusiasm when you try something new is endearing.
My favorite thing about my home is that It has a good layout. Wall colors and furnishings I can change out fairly easily but a layout is much more difficult. I like the way my rooms flow and the space in each. Congratulations on your new book!
I love our family room – three floor to ceiling windows that look our into our backyard. Shelves with my favorite books and loads and loads of plants.
OK, I can’t figure out how to commment? So… I’ll comment here. I love my fireplace! It is about 21 ft high and it is a tumbled antique red brick! Love it! I
We love our arched entryways! Your site and book are so beautiful! What a delightful discovery on Instagram!
I love that my home has lots of potential. It was built in 1860 but it has high ceilings even upstairs. I’m learning slipcovers. I want to be able to do any work that I need to. I rent here but I have faith!!
Congratulations on your book. You are inspiration in every way.
Congratulations I can hardly wait for your book to arrive!
I love my home. She’s a refuge. She’s continually in process one way or another but she’s full of lovely memories. We have had fun making her our own. The pace rarely is as quick as I would like but I’ve learned so much along the journey. I’m so thankful for these walls we have had for 24 years!
I love that my small home is open-plan with lots of windows. It is bright inside and I can enjoy natural views while being air-conditioned ?
I love my master bedroom the most. Through the colors, my choice of old vintage books throughout, photos of loved ones on my bedside table, soft sheets, thick duvet and warm rugs, it reflects me. It’s my retreat from the world.
We built out home 2 years ago .. its a downsize, retirement condo. We moved walls and went through all kinds of creative gyrations so I could have a creative space to call my own. Our decorating goal was heavily influenced by you .. our home reflects our history, our family. Us. We aren’t buying anything new, but rather using what we have, repurposing furniture by painting and finding new uses for old pieces, and I’m even trying my hand at creating my own art/needlework. Hubby is refining his woodworking skills and building bookshelves, etc.
Our home is a labor of love ❤
It all started with take out Chinese…..
We knew we wanted to start our lives together in a place on the water. Real water. Water that you can kayak in and get to the Gulf in, watch the mullet jump and the eagles feed, etc. Because we didn’t have a lot of money, this meant buying a fixer upper would be our only option. I would routinely drive in neighborhoods where I wanted to live, hoping for a little piece of real estate that would suit our needs. Found it in the way of a dilapidated, abandoned home with no garage door, broken windows, and now occupied solely by feral cats. I bought take out Chinese and brought my now-husband, then-boyfriend, to this train wreck on the water. We walked to the backyard and saw two giant grand oak trees, with their limbs overgrown and touching the water. Water that we could kayak in, get to the Gulf in….. and I knew we had found it. Fast forward 9 years and it has become the sweetest little home on the block, with a magnificent backyard deck built under those two giant oak trees where we entertain friends and family under a metal roof outdoor kitchen and float in the sparkling pool on warm summer days. Our backyard. That’s my favorite thing about our house. The peaceful place it’s become where we listen to the fish jump, watch the birds build their nests in these grand old trees and enjoy the soft breezes sent up from the water’s edge. It all started with take out Chinese…..
What I like most about our home is when family and friends visit, they feel like they’ve come home. Warm woods, family photos, antiques pieces, collectables, and comfortable furnishings are soothing and familiar. But, that doesn’t mean uninteresting and stuffy. Sometimes, changing it up can inspire your creativity. I’m always interested in new design trends, so that I can incorporate them into the mix if I’m inspired. Your design attitude should reflect the life you love and share.
Thank you for inspiring me every day. Bless you!
I live in a small home with large windows so there’s always lots of light, even in the grey winter here in Washington. Lots of trees, beautiful flower garden. Love your thoughts on home decor, following your passions. Would love to win your beautiful book.
I’m so excited about your new book. Although we have the Internet with so much information and beautiful pictures , I love to be able to go back to a well loved book with lots of marked pages again and again.
I live in a neighborhood with lots of very large beautiful homes. Mine is the smallest and oldest in the neighborhood. But, when people come in they are often surprised. I get a lot of comments that my home is warm and welcoming. That is my goal, not to have the fanciest or most expensive but that people will feel welcome and comfortable.
My favorite place is the dining room. A large table for lots of people, high ceiling, oversized chandelier (love your Opa’s) and lots of windows. A place family and friends want to hang out. I would still love to add a fireplace.
In these crazy times thanks for all you do. You have brought some joy to my life.
My favorite thing about my little 1955 house is the original shingle siding and board and batten. Thankfully the people before me said no to aluminum siding.
I love my garden and my studio. I’ve worked hard at both, but they will always be a work in progress.
I have pre-ordered the books and excited to see it! My favorite thing about our home would have to be the memories here. We have lived here for about 30 years, and before that, my husband’s grandparents lived here. The house is very old but as long as it has been in the family, it has hosted the family reunion. Numbers are dwindling, but as many as 130 have come. We have dinner on Saturday here, and on Sunday is the Church homecoming with Sacred Harp singing all day and dinner on the grounds. Over those 2 days, we fry 150 pounds of chicken, have fresh peas, creamed corn, and any dessert you can imagine. It is always a lot of work, but hearing the sounds of family together is always worth it. Thanks for the opportunity.
I love that my home is bright and welcoming. My favorite room is currently my dining room where I have finally changed from neutrals, after moving 24 times in support of my husband’s military career, to fully embracing my favorite shades of blue. ♥️
Let me start by telling you I love everything you do and your color palette is not quite mine, but I love how you play with your blues and greens!
We are getting ready to renovate our home in Florida.
I love to decorate and have preordered your book!
My question comes from your blog today on August 14.
I see your graph paper and the sizes of furniture and the ability to move it all around to checkout layouts!
I have done this my whole life.
But I’ve not done it since I purchased my home in 2000.
Help! I used to use Ethan Allen books, but I’m at a loss to know where to go now since Ethan Allen is not physically in my area.
What decorator book would you recommend right now because my draftsman is wanting to get my project started.
Thank you so much for your recommendation!
I love that the house my husband and I share was the house I grew up in. My parents built it and family helped. Even I was able to hand my dad tools and boards. These walls held many family gatherings. My sis and I grew up here, my children grew up here. It’s my home.
We are an old (not just older!) couple who downsized (going from a 2 story with a finished basement) to a ranch style 1 story with a great room, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and utility room. We slipcovered a couch and 3 chairs in white duck and painted all the wood paneling white. That was 14 years ago . It is time for updating and making upkeep little easier. We would love to have some fresh ideas.
Because of you I am continually inspired to make my house “feel like home”. The favorite thing about my home is its evolution. My style has remained the same through the years but has also evolved into a simpler version of that style. I find that less is more and it gives my home a calmness that I appreciate much more. Thanks for all you do Marion and I am looking forward to reading and looking at your book.
I love our living room which has a bank of arched windows down one side of it. I love how the light floods in and being able to look out across our back patio to the beautiful woods we are nestled in. My big ole southern front porch takes a close second. Here I listen to the birds, frogs, and crickets, relax to the sounds of our fountain, and breath in the fresh air. Delightful! the book looks amazing. Congrats!
How incredibly generous of you!! We have just moved into our new home, and the thing I like most about it is its open family/dining/kitchen floor plan. We hosted a brunch here this week, and we all loved being able to enjoy being together in one area.
I am so excited about your book and can’t wait to get my copy! You are always so encouraging!
My kitchen is my favorite place of my home, not because it’s completely put together and finished, but because it’s where I drop my bag and kick off my shoes at the end of the day. It’s where I nourish our family, and bake, make and prepare to share and host and entertain. It’s truly the heart and hub of our lives. The last place we sit before we leave for the day, and the first room in our home to welcome us back. This room always makes me feel like I’m home.
Our house is small but looks out onto a row of redwood trees. From the upstairs window seat it almost seems like I’m in a comfortable tree house.
The people. Our dog. And after that the dining room mural and the corner of our sectional in the living room.
I love the porches. We have two open porches and one screened one. The second floor porch is like being in a tree house!
Congratulations on your book and I will cherish it along with all your books, I own every one! You have such a great eye and so talented at so many things!
My most favorite thing about my home is that it doesn’t lack anything……plenty of rooms, big rooms, so many closets, beautiful views and as a bonus it’s positioned on the most beautiful dirt road. Thank you for everything you do!
I love the people and our dog that occupy our home. I like that when my Mom comes over that she feels it is cozy and intimate. When I visualized the interiors, I wanted to feel cosseted and comfortable. I have assembled my vintage and antique furniture over time because just like “Rome was not built in a day.” I believe a house does not become a home overnight. I love that it is comfortable but not precious and that so much thought went into everything; layout of the rooms, the colours that we used to paint; and that there are still projects left to do so it feels like a living breathing thing, always changing but always home. I would say my favourite room is the sitting room as I could spend the weekend in there reading and napping on the vintage crewel work down filled settee; in the autumn ? and winter with fireplace blazing and one of the tea sets pressed into service.
Our house is considered more on the modern spectrum, at the end of a cul-de-sac, in such a wonderful neighborhood. We worked hard to give our modern home that warm antique feel we love. We are blessed to have treasures that have been in our family for generations, we are lovers of antiques and books. Filling our house with what is dear to each family member made it HOME. Thank you for all you do!
I love the layout and flow of my house. I love to look at designers’ pictures on Instagram and see how I can adapt it to my home. I also have many design books ( which I have bookmarked with post-it notes, and I refer to them regularly when choosing fabrics and colors (which I change regularly, much to my husband’s disbelief).
I so enjoy our enormous dining room table that my husband had built, it fits lots of people and I love having a full table with conversation and laughter.
I love how cozy my home feels. It’s a perfect mixture of old and new; my collections and things that just make me happy. I’ve lived in my home for 24 years now and it is always a work in progress. We bought it brand new with no landscape, floor coverings, window treatments and it had all white walls. It has evolved so much over the years but always becoming more beautiful. I always have fresh flowers in my entry way and on my table which completes the space?
We just moved to our new home a year ago. After 27 years in our previous home, a center hall Colonial in the suburbs, we wanted and purchased something completely different. Our new home is more modern, main-floor living with additional guest space downstairs. And it is on a lake. Happy Retirement to us!
This may sound silly, but one of my favorite things about the small condo we down-sized to about two years ago is the covered front porch, something we never had in our previous, larger houses. It is such a wonderful shelter for the multiple deliveries we now depend on!
Compared to our previous houses, the condo has much less natural lighting, so I am interested in learning how to compensate for that. I love your creativity and inspiration, and look forward to seeing your new book!
Our home was purchased sight unseen!! We are a military family and could not afford to travel to go house hunting. This was before internet and fax was a new concept. So we had a realtor, MLS sheets sent by US mail, and the telephone. After our choices made and offer accepted, we waited anxiously for a video tape made by our realtor of our new home!!! We were supposed to be in this house only 2 years so my list of needs were simple. That was April of 1994!! God had a different plan! We are still in the same house and continue to pour creative love into every inch of the small square footage.
What I love most about our new-to-us little house is the tension between *what is* right now (low New England ceilings, a step down into the living room, …) and *what might be* after some redesign (vaulted ceilings, level floors throughout, …) . It offers so many moments of design-geek pleasure as I noodle over how I could re-deploy the furniture we already have in new arrangements. “Sugarplums dancing in my head” for sure!
I love the “old bones” of our 1880s house, the solidity, the natural light and the plaster walls.
I’m definitely a design nerd and would LOVE to win this prize!
When my husband and discovered this house, I knew it was my dream home within five minutes. I just knew it. It didn’t have every single thing on our wish list, but the style and layout are perfect for us. The tall 9-over-9 paned windows are my favorite.
After almost two years of not having a home and living as a nomad before I married my husband last year, I’m so thankful that we have a place to call home. At first I cried because it was not the house I wanted and all I could see is the flaws and how strange it is, but more and more I’m thankful for what it does offer us. What I love most about it is all the great light that comes in through the windows and sunroom. You can’t replace natural light.
I’ve enjoyed your blog and Instagram so much this past year and it has given me so much inspiration!
I tried to think of what I love most about my home, but I couldn’t come up with just one most-loved thing. I think what I really like is it is a total reflection of me. I’m totally happy with its small, cozy, peaceful environment.
What I love best about my home are the floor to ceiling windows in all the rooms across the back of my home. There are ten of them. Our house has no backyard because we are located on a ravine. The windows are up in the air amongst the treetops. When people come over they say it is like being in a treehouse. It is amazing to watch the seasonal changes from my windows. It is really wonderful when it snows because we can see it falling but we have to go to the window and look down to see it on the ground. It is a peaceful way to live when you are constantly surrounded by Nature and her beauty!!
I’m a draperymaker and an artist and I also love to collect other people’s art. It took me YEARS (ok, decades) to put my own paintings on my walls. Now I have gallery walls full of my paintings along with other people’s paintings. I feel like a bird with her nest filled with all kinds of feathers! For example, our guest bathroom is now full of dog portraits and dog paintings, from tons of artists .. even myself. This has been so rewarding and freeing. 🙂
The thing I love most about my home…THE FLOORS! We built our home on wooded acreage and in the space cleared for the house (just under an acre), there were enough oak trees to floor our entire house. A friend with a sawmill turned the trees into boards. Another friend with a wood kiln and mill dried the boards and milled them into tongue and groove flooring of 3”, 4”, and 5” widths. I spent a month in our shop sanding and staining each board. It was a labor of love – and worth every minute. We installed the flooring ourselves, making sure we included knots, ‘defects’, and lots of interesting figure in the grain. Are our floors perfect? NO! Are they a testament to the diverse beauty found in nature? YOU BET! And I love them more with every passing year. 🙂
My favorite thing about our house is it a “home” where everyone can feel comfortable, including a few orphaned farm animals from time to time! I am excited for the release of your new book. After 20 years I am ready to put our own stamp on my husband’s grandparents ranch house and I think your book will give me just the right inspiration.
The favorite thing about my house is my new shower. It is so pretty, I love to turn the light on above it when I shower now. Before my old shower was so dull and ugly, I never bothered to turn the light on. The tiles even sparkle when there is no light on!
Our home is far from being ordinary. It’s a 1901 built red brick home in Germany (my brother lives in the US, so if I win, it can be shipped to his address) with the charm of old times. We bought it 5 years ago as a fixer upper and are proud that we learned how to tear down brick walls, lay bare timber frame, put up drywalls, plaster the walls, do the flooring etc…. We found hidden doors and more timber frame to serve us as room dividers. Nothing is perfect, but every corner is filled with our energy. Our home has a soul and is constantly in the process of evolving, growing and reflecting our personality as a family. It gives us the confidence that we are very much able to roll up our sleeves and make things happen. And that’s basically what I love most about it!
My home is my refuge. It gives me great comfort to be here amongst the family pictures, memories, and all the love of my family. I can’t wait to get your book and I am so happy for you and your success.
I love the quietness that the rooms and landscaping of my home create. My home is on a busy corner with a fire station four blocks west, a city stadium two blocks north and train tracks three blocks behind me. The window treatments that I’ve incorporated in my bedrooms and dining room have helped with noise reduction. The landscape of mature shade trees, abelian shrubs and my husband’s potted flowers also absorb some of the noise as well as give an aesthetic sense of peace and serenity.
Marian, bless you for the generous offer! I would say, this being our 9th owned home, it’s the vessel God has used to harbor hurting people, family, young friends, and church family. We’ve been here 3 years…moved in on our wedding anniversary! The home feels cozy and inviting… And, as we’ve been able to do some things to it, it’s just felt comforting… We have some plans, nothing too major!
I adore my home. It’s the place I can kick back and relax and enjoy all the improvements i have done to it in the last 21 years. When I bought it it had been a rental property for 30 years and so it was in dire need of cleaning and updating, in addition to love. After removing all the ‘stuff’ left behind by the last tenant…. which was quite a job, I tore out all the carpeting and linoleum and tile floors. I have slowly refurbished my home as I had the $$$ as I was determined i was not going to go further into debt. Today I’m almost done and I am so incredibly proud of how much I have accomplished. As I sit here today I look around i just smile… this is my happy place.
We have been in our house about 8 years. It’s exactly what we wanted – smaller and quieter. We wanted to get back to the country so we have trees out every window. It still needs a lot of work, but we have plenty of time.
Oh! I am always so thrilled when I think about my house and how I came to be here. It is (probably) my last house, our scale-down from a very big two-hundred year old ante-bell up in a small town, to a small builder-home in an 80’s neighborhood two miles from the ocean, under hundred + year old oak trees in a hammock between two tidal rivers. What I love best, is the small size and that when I leave my glasses by my bed, it is a few steps to retrieve them, and not TWENTY STEPS up the beautiful stairway, and down the hall to the bedroom! It sounds simple, but there it is! All the lovely things I kept are within a space where I can see them, and decorating a small space is a happy challenge! I am enormously grateful to have found this dear home.
Really what I love most about our home is that it is an oasis. It is a place where we can seclude ourselves away from the world when we want to. Yet, it is also a great place for inviting friends and family to come and stay for a while. We feel truly blessed and fortunate to have such a wonderful place to call home.
I love my back porch! Coffee in the morning or a relaxing glass of wine at the end of the day.
We bought our current home because our backyard adjoins a large common area with mature trees and bushes. It’s like living in a park! Very calming and healing. The house we’re slowing working on.
I love the layout of our home and that we can live on one level. Unfortunately this home is much more then we need and we will be looking to downsize in the near future. Thanks for this amazing giveaway and I always look forward to your posts.
I love my kitchen window because it gets so much morning light!
I love my home because it’s comfortable although I’ve picked up things from the curb, refinished, reupholstered, painted and thrifted almost everything. It’s home and homey. BTW I’ve gotten a lot of ideas from you. Thank you!Sh
Hi Marian,
Congratulations on your book. I look forward to receiving my copy. What I like most about my home, even though we don’t own it is that I am able to do almost anything to it that I like. I was the perfect size when we moved in from the 1700’s farmhouse we were living in. We were wanting to downsize. This house is MUCH smaller, the master bedroom and bath is on the first floor. The bones of this 1857 cottage had just been redone top to bottom..gutted. So the canvas was blank. Walls were mine, floors were mine and I put shutters up at the windows like I like. All my antique furniture fits like it was made for the place. Each season I change curtains and bedding. Now to just play with the things and the strange floor plan that is the large Eve room upstairs we use as an office/sewing room. Your book and your giveaway would be perfect for that. Again, congratulations on the book. I am sure I will refer to it as much as I have your others.
One of my favorite things about my house is the great natural light that we get most of the day. I love all the memories we’ve made in it as a family and it’s just a cozy and peaceful place to be with my very favorite people in the whole world.
I love the large shapely old Elm tree in our front yard. Its a welcoming beacon when I arrive home in every season. Our house nestles below it and its companions. Its a secure and comforting sigh, that feels like home.
I love the back room in my home with all the windows. It started off as the ugliest room in the house, well close 2nd to the dated kitchen with pink and black plastic tile backsplash, and now is our favorite room.
Congrats on your new book you have always been very inspiring!
My favorite thing about my house is my side garden. My front door is actually on the side of my house. We have a mature dogwood in the corner of the garden and bought the house because of the tree! We then took all the grass out and put in hostas, hydrangeas, ferns and coral bells. When my mom passed away, we planted an Ann magnolia in her memory. She was a gardener and her name was Ann. When I come through the picket gate to the garden, it still takes my breath away.
Peeking through the keyhole at all your readers homes is inspiring, too! For us, it’s the view of the ocean out our windows. We love the wildlife: whales, otter, deer, bears & birds. We love the Monarch cookstove that’s our espresso stand & Coke cooler turned kitchen island! Best of all, family dinners where everyone gathers & we play Molkky in the driveway. And having three guest beds that get used often. Thanks for the question! Makes me realize the list goes on & on…!
I bought a beach front house (total steal at the right time!) and I’m mesmerized by the constant view and sounds of the ocean, birds, even seals and whales—pinch me! With the sky, water, sand and plant life, I am loving my favorite colors (blues, greens, beiges) that surround me everyday.
Congrats on your new book!! I love my interior layout, my color ways, and my wrap-around porch!
I love the plan of my house with nice sized room and it’s a ranch ! All one level and cozy. I like a home to be homely and I am not into the high ceilings and like the plan to make sense and be smart.
Our home is where we’ve lived for the last 5 years. Before moving in we remodeled the main floor adding ideas I’d learned from you and other bloggers. We love what we’ve done adding light, creating an open floor plan, and removing design elements from the 80’s! My favorites — the open floor plan, our new kitchen, the wainscoting in the back entry, and the shiplap over the fireplace rank as the highlights in my mind!
Thank you for sharing not only your home design ideas and skills, but your art/painting journey!
I love everything about my home. It’s the perfect layout and size for my family. I just redid my powder room with a vintage dresser vanity and a shiplap feature wall, so it’s probably my favorite room for now.
I love the open floor plan of our home. I’ve acquired many antiques through the years, and I have a large collection of books (including many design books). I love that I have built-in display/bookshelves that I keep books and other special items on. I also love my office where I spend a lot of time working on my family tree. The office walls are filled with photos of my ancestors who watch over me! I feel my best when I’m in my home, surrounded by the things and the people I love.
I can’t wait to get your book, I purchased it in April, and congratulations. God has blessed you with many talents. It’s hard to choose one room. Our bedroom, cause that’s where all our troubles melt away through a good night’s sleep in our ohhh sooo comfy bed. Or our front room where we watch a good movie and munch on buttery popcorn. Or the kitchen, where we make delicious meals! I guess all the rooms are our favorites!
It’s hard to pinpoint my favorite thing about our home, since I enjoy different rooms for different reasons, like when the sunlight pours in the windows or the fire is crackling in the fireplace. Overall, I think it’s the comfort we feel just being here.
Over 20 years ago I fell in love with our house before I even saw the interior and, after we bought it , I told my husband I never would move again. I feel the same today. My favorites – the original floors and trim from the 1920s fill the house with warmth and the antique pieces from our families fill it with love and memories. Thanks to the inspiration from you through your blog and IG, I have learned how to decorate our home to reflect our needs and remain true to our style. I can’t wait to read your new book!
I’m brand new to your blog. I enjoyed reading- and loved hearing that the designs I’ve drawn and furniture rearranging has all been practice! We are in the process of selling our home – I have loved the size, but it’s time to downsize. Maybe all the practice will pay off with a great retirement-ready home.
Our 95 year old stone cottage has captured my heart like no other house I’ve owned. There are projects on projects, some improvements some remedies and some designing, The summer screened porch is a favorite spot these days, overlooking the gardens that are being renovated. Yesterday my husband and I went to Architectual Salvage to find a garden gate. Your blogs are very helpful in making choices. Congratulations on the new book.
Oh gosh, what don’t I love about my house. I live in an old farm house from the 1800’s and is sitting on 2 1/2 acres. We bought it on foreclosure and was in total disrepair and to add to the misery, the previous owner was a hoarder. Anyways, my husband and my family totally gutted it and redesigned the whole inside. I feel like I’m home now on my little farm and am very much in love with it. <3
What I love about our home is that we are surrounded by pieces with stories. I love to repurpose and am in a budget, so I don’t often buy new items. Instead, we fill our house with special pieces passed down from family members and friends as well as used items I have purchased from people who tell me their stories. In each room there are memories of these people, who are both alive and passed. It has led to an eclectic and magical feeling in our home that brings a unique warmth and sense of belonging for our family and anyone who spends time with us here! (You have the most beautiful home I have ever seen, Marian!)
I love that I have a vaulted ceiling in my family room and a hallway when you first walk in! My home is a work in progress right now, we want to do some upgrades after being here 34 years. I’m really excited about your book!
The thing I love most about my home is it sits on a creek that we love. We have always wanted a home on the water and we finally moved back to my hometown 38 years later. I love my first floor master bedroom with the French doors that open to our screened porch. The views are beautiful no matter what the weather is. Slowly but surely making it ours, one drawing at a time with color pencils and notebooks!!!
Yummy yummy post! Give me all pages, colors, and textures…I want every last bit, Marian! We are in a phase of life that has us renting our home, and I find it easy to pick out all that I don’t like about it and wish I could change. But at night, when the house is quiet and I walk into the kitchen to grab a glass of water, gratitude overwhelms me and my heart spills out words of thanksgiving to God for this place He lets me call home. It is the place that we fill with family (our married daughter and their 6 energetic children live close!) and the many guests that come through our doors and sit at our table and sleep in our guest room. I feel so blessed!
Can’t wait to read this book!
Oh my, I love my dining room. I put my blue and white plates up around my white mirror. The wall is the prettiest blue and I have my Empire style buffet under the mirror. In each corner are my cabinets from my nana and my best friend. Can’t wait for your book! Thank you for this beautiful giveaway!
Unfortunately, I love the things in my house too much. I need to lessen the emotional hold they have on me to curate them better. I have furniture and objects from 5 grandmothers. I get inspiration from your website but old habits are hard to break. I’m going to start keeping a journal of ideas to help me on this journey – trying to make our home look more current and not cluttered, learning to use my antiques in way that doesn’t look like granny’s attic, and making our home comfortable and functional. Thank you for your generosity in sharing your thoughts, ideas, skills, and creativity.
What I love most about my home is that I’m slowly turning it into MY home. It’s MY style, MY design. Design trends come and go, but my home will always be my own design.
What a generous giveaway. My favorite room is my basement family room. Its a finished area that I didnt have before moving here and its great to go down to enjoy it.
Your book looks amazing! Can’t wait to see it! I love my home and it has even been in many magazines, however we are talking downsizing and moving so I am trying to design a smaller space with large living space and less and smaller bedrooms.
What sweet give a-ways! Your new book has such a homey vibe. A few of the things a like about my house would be the big picture window in front, the long covered front porch, and the flowers we’ve planted that grow in the yard.
I love the fact that my home surrounds me with things and people I love. Its rooms inspire me to sew, read, paint, and anything else I feel called to do. What a blessing to have a refuge that offers peace and the ability to express myself. I’m really looking forward to being inspired by your book in October!
My husband and I sold the larger home we built together and downsized to a very small cottage. I love the cozy feel and the beefy old white trim. The cottage is an older home in the community I grew up in and it really speaks to my heart!
I’ll be honest, my home is where I live, but my favorite thing is my neighbors. They are helpful, thoughtful, fun, and friendly. In the pandemic , we play bingo in the driveways met outside for gab sessions, brought our dinners and lawn chairs outside to eat together and checked up on each other’s. The house? Well it lets me show where I have come from and the things that I have been blessed with that I don’t deserve. My goal is to make memories and pass the history on to the next generation.
I love that our home is unique, filled with family heirlooms, travel memorabilia, needlepoint, books, and beautiful plates all over. I even have a dresser that came over from Scotland with my ancestors. And almost everything was thrifted. I love its coziness .
I love the layout of our home for entertaining. The flow of how the rooms in the front of the house are where we can have as many as 100 ( and we have) even though we only have 3,200 sq. feet we still have room …….Thank you for the giveaway and I always love your blog and instagram. Congratulations on the book!
I love everything about my home, but if I were pressed to pick my absolutely favorite I would say my dining room. The 1937 built-in china cabinets flanking the French doors that open to our outside living space are so elegant. And the room gets so much natural light I can’t count the times I’ve stepped into the room to turn the lights off, only to find that the lights weren’t on in the first place.
Large windows with a great view of mountains on three sides, clean country air and watching families of quail top my list of favorites of living where I do. Spacious closets and storage areas make living here very pleasant.
We moved out of our house of 36 years in Georgia and in twelve days we will move into a new house we had built in Oklahoma. I imagine my favorite thing will be interacting with our granddaughters because they will live right next door.
I love the wide open floor plan – lots of space for entertaining and family gatherings. I love the double set of French doors leading to the back porch where we sit with ceiling fans keeping us slightly cooler (in this Southern heat). I love the woods and flower beds, wildlife, dogs in the yard, and hummingbirds at the feeders that I watch through a double wide kitchen window as I sit at the island with coffee or tea. Life is good in the country!
What I love about our home is that I see it as a blank slate. We moved in a few years ago after moving and renting as a military family for meany years. So now more making do…. I have a place to call our own and take the best of all of our homes to make this the best yet. Ready to welcome all who enter.
I love my loft…I call it my SheLoft, as I have taken it over and it is set up for exercising, vegging out, reading, or playing cards/games!
My favorite thing about my home is the sense of peace I feel when I’m here. It’s filled with things I have made and love.
So excited for your book! I love all the colors of blue in my home – I immediately feel relaxed when I walk in the door.
My favorite thing about my home is that it reflects who we are and where we are in our lives. My most favorite comment was when a friend entered my home for the first time years ago and said that the house looks like us, so I have tried my best to make sure that we are all reflected in our house in some way all the time.
I appreciate our large main living areas inside and the potential of our land outside!
My favorite thing about our home is all the memories I see in each room! Our children grew up here, we’ve celebrated countless holidays and special occasions here, grandchildren have left handprints on the French doors and windows and a growth chart graces one kitchen wall. I’ve loved decorating it and always will even though I’m ready to downsize. We can make new memories elsewhere but this home is a treasured sanctuary…
I love my home because anywhere I turn I see almost 50 years of collected memorabilia that never grows old and reflects who I am and who I have always been.
I love all the nooks and crannies in my home. I love the juxtaposition of the quiet spots where I can steal away and read a book, with the big open spaces where we loudly gather as a family. The layout of my house balances these two ideas really well!
So excited for your book to come out – its number one on my Christmas list! My favorite thing about my house is the fact that it needs so much work – it gives us a million blank canvases to set it up, and change it over and over and over again until we figure out what works best for our family in a particular season of life. Thanks for your blog – been reading for years and you never cease to inspire!
I love the 9’ ceilings in our 80 year old house, the fireplace and Birdseye maple floors. I’m so looking forward to your lovely new book!
can’t wait for the book to come out. Look forward to reading it and adding it to my shelf with your first book. Favorite thing about my house is all the natural light.
Our home was built in 1944 has lots of character that is often missing in newer homes like arched doorways, a tray ceiling, and pretty glass doorknobs! I love that!
I’m that person who drew houseplans when I was a kid (I ALWAYS had graph paper). In fact, I did them right thru college! My dollhouse got rearranged on a weekly basis & I was always inventing new furniture with bits of plastic & fabric. I’m in love with my 1933 forever home, we call Winterborn. We’ve made major changes over the years but always retaining the original style by reusing bits & pieces of the old house (doors, built-ins, etc). Winterborn has grown a bit in size but it looks & feels like it’s always been as it is. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Since I do run out of rooms to decorate, I now have two dollhouses & numerous room boxes to keep my inspiration flowing!
My house is a work in progress. When we moved in, January 2021 there were so many things that needed to be done, we did not know where to start. I checked out a few web sites and started in. Your site was a great reference. Thank you.
We bought our first home at 51 and 54, we are late bloomers …..what like best? I think for me growing of our love and commitment through living, decorating and of course repairing (yikes) our home together as a couple….so many things! But I love the hand print and names of the kids in the cement of the original owners 1993….. the rose bushes in honor of our Father passing, planting the Easter hydrangeas I received as gift every year in our shade garden….we are truly blessed, and probably say that every other day…. ❤️?
I remember drawing house plans with my bestie. i go online searching for decorating ideas and sites where I can plan a room’s layout. What I like most about my house is that my five children grew up here. We are adding onto our house bc we have Sunday dinners here for at least 16 and sometimes 18-20 people. I am planning the layout for the new room addition, making our family room bigger. Fun!
What I love most about my home is that it can be a refuge for someone to come to-to relax, to unwind, to heal, or just feel loved. Thank you for placing value on being a “design nerd!”
I love that my home has housed 2 sons growing up, 3 good dogs and our lifetime of good memories with family and friends. I love that it sits quietly and lets me try all of my decorating whims and wears them well. While I wish it had larger rooms, I’m happy that I don’t have too many to care for.
What I love the most about our home is the love and laughter it generates when our 3 grown sons, (who grew up in it) are in it with their families, which only happens about twice a year.
Creating in my own space ‘feels like home’ . Thanks for offering the give away 🙂
I’m a “design nerd”! Who knew there was a name for it? All I knew is that I wanted my house done “my way” when I finally got the money to do it. And I did EVERYTHING exactly per my taste. It happened organically and just kind of flowed but it turned out so nice! People who see it want to consult with me! I didn’t realize there was a name for it or that it is a unique talent until this post.
That’s what I love about this blog. It is a process of discovery. As Marian discovers and shares, it opens new possibilities for us, too. Just wonderful. Thank you Marian.
I love the peacefulness of my yard and neighborhood, especially in the Winter.
After a snowstorm, I feel like the trees and shrubs surrounding my property are hugging my house and keeping me warm and tucked away. A small clearing in a magical forest. And the fireplace helps too!
Thank you for your wonderful blog.
Christine
New Hampshire
I’m soooooooo looking forward to seeing your book! My favorite thing about my home is that it is always a blank slate. Even when I have painted, re-arranged, new fabric, etc., I can always do it again! When I don’t feel like I have the funds, I can be creative; when I feel like I can splurge, it’s a treat. In the end, surrounding myself with the things I like and people I love make home my favorite place!
Dear Marian,
Thank you for causing me to reflect on the happy parts of my home or perhaps the renovations that make me happy. One of my favorite things are the built-in bookshelves in my dining room. My husband, Phil, built them for me a couple of years after we were married. He declared that he was not going to move all of my book boxes again. Oh, what a happy day! I love how they came out, and I am delighted with having all my books out in the open. I am a very blessed gal.
Thanks again! Kristin Fisher
Four years ago we downsized to a one story home. It was in its original condition from 1980. We are slowly renovating it to make it ours. Our most daring move was to take out a supporting wall. (Replaced with an I-beam) We back up to bottomland forest. That view is my favorite part of our home. I struggle with decorating so I appreciate the ideas you provide. I look forward to reading your blog. Congratulations on your new book!
Our house is from the 1850’s, it was my husband’s grandmothers and we have been renovating it since we moved in 30 years ago…I love that it’s always a work in progress.
Marian, So excited about your book!!! From what I’ve seen it is so visually appealing to the eye. I know I will get lots of design inspiration from it.
My favorite thing about my home, first of all, would be who I share it with. My husband Troy, of 30 years. Secondly, this is the first home that I feel really reflects my personality. It is still a work in progress, but I absolutely love this home. My favorite room right now is our living room. It is open concept so, the kitchen and family room are one big space. It’s excellent for entertaining, which I hope and pray someday we all will be able to do a without worrying about this dang virus. Best wishes to you and I can’t wait to get my copy of your book.
My favorite thing about my house is that its MINE! It’s a sanctuary with things I love and make me feel like home in this sometimes upside down world.
I’m so sad to say it, but I don’t love my house. We moved here for my husband’s job, and left a house I absolutely, deeply, and truly loved. It was unique, while this house has several clones in our plan. It had the most gorgeous woodwork and hardwood floors everywhere, while this one has a lot of carpet and ugly flooring. The yard in our old house was more than twice the size of the one we have here, and it had a beautiful, big tree in the backyard. I keep trying to fall in love with this house, as home really is where my family is, and your blog gives me hope. Maybe with enough paint and fabric (I think I could open my own fabric store with my stash) and some patience, I will get there. But as sad as it is to say it, my favorite thing about this house is we have more bathrooms than people.
Your book is beautiful! What I like most about my home is that it is paid for! ?. I love that it feels peaceful and is my nest and is filled with things I have gathered over the years.
My heart is racing as I read this post and hear about the wonderful tools that add to the inspiration of designing a space. My husband and I now own the home I grew up in and what makes it special is that it was built by my father and we are the second owners. It has been a joy to plan and design how to make this “feel like home” as I always had thoughts as a child for the ideas that are floating in my head. Having these special tools to put the ideas on paper is adding to the excitement of making our dreams a reality. Thanks for your generous offer to all design nerds!
My favorite part of my home is that my family is in it and that is what makes it a “great” home !
So many congrats on the new book, and thank you for the giveaway opportunity! What I love most about my home is that my family owns it. It is OUR space to do WHATEVER we want with! After many years of living in rentals that we couldn’t paint or change much about design-wise, it has felt so life giving to be able to paint walls the colors we envision them, to have a choice in how we decorate and design rooms, and to plant a garden in our backyard. I love that we finally have a space that we can truly make ours!
I just bought a new home in June, but this will be the second house that I’ve bought since my husband passed away almost 5 years ago. My favorite thing about it is that I ‘m planning to turn it into the most cozy/fun grandmas house so that when my kids and my grandkids come to visit and stay there, they’ll feel, comfortable, happy and loved.
My home is my comfort, my peace of mind, and my inspiration. It challenges me to take on projects, to do the work, and welcomes me home when I walk in the door. I am constantly looking for ideas. It could be a magazine, Pinterest, or a set from a TV show. It’s my entertainment. When I sit quiet, I get questioning looks from my husband. As soon as I say, “I’ve been thinking”, he gives me the big eye roll, and we are off on a new adventure. It makes me so happy!
As much as I love my house, my favorite thing about it is its location. It is located down a long driveway and faces a beautiful greenbelt that looks like a part of a rainforest. Just this morning my husband and I spotted three deer that were nibbling on the trees along the driveway, showing no fear of us whatsoever. It is peaceful and makes us happy we have been able to enjoy it for 35 years.
Cant wait to get your book! I love my home cause there is so much beautiful yard (1/2 acre) and im always dreaming of the next project that my husband will do for me. I come up with the ideas, he implements them!
Oh my, what a wonderful prize package. And my favorite part is I don’t have to “like, share or comment” in order to be entered. I always appreciate your very honest blog! What I love about my house is any of the rooms I gather with my now adult children when they come home to visit!
What I love most about my home is it is my safe space to experiment, a place to practice my decorating skills, a 3- D pallet in which I can play with and display all my thrifted and yard sale finds. It is a space in which to create, hang and display my art. Home is where I can inspire my family, friends, and myself. Thank you sharing your journey with all of us.
I love the wide pine floors in my home! Even though the house was built in 1974 the floors give it that antique cozy feeling.
I get my inspiration from everywhere.. books, magazines, nature & Online.. I love decorating & design it gives me peace to be working on a project. I am a very visual person so I look for & appreciate the beauty in everything. I love everything that you do.. you are very inspiring ?
The thing I like most about my home is the fact that we “rescued” it from foreclosure and abandonment by its previous owners. It was the neighborhood eyesore and had been empty for five years before we purchased and rehabbed it from top to bottom, inside and out. We did all the work ourselves with the exception of laying the hardwood floors and I like to think we gave the home back it’s spirit. I have followed your blog for 11 years and have taken lot of inspiration from your design style. I can’t wait to get my hands on your new book!
I’m definitely one of those design nerds-ha! I love that my home is filled with special memories of people I love. All I have to do is glance at the piano or look out the door to a tree and all the memories come flooding back. I also look forward to many more wonderful memories in the future.
My favorite thing about my home is that it’s out in the country surrounded by orchards. It’s beautiful and peaceful.
We bought our mid-century house two years ago from the estate of the family that built it. We’ve heard from the locals that it was the talk of the neighborhood when it was built because it was so different from all the farmhouses surrounding it. What I love most is that even though it is a different type of architecture, it has a custom, handcrafted spirit. It’s been fun to update the colors and furnishings and find ways to make our own stuff work…and it’s still a work in progress! Your new book looks divine! Can’t wait to see it.
The thing I love most about my home is all the color I have. No monotone color scheme for me.
I just love to seeing how you use color in your home and paintings Thanks for sharing your talents.
Natural light, scents that invoke the season, shades of blues and whites, an ode to the past, a safe, loving, and comfortable feeling is what I love most about my home.
I so appreciate your blog and creative soul. I have learned so much from you and I look forward to your emails daily. Congrats on your book coming out! I have pre-ordered my copy and I am so excited!
While I’m currently living in a rental house, which is only temporary, I absolutely love it. For the first time, I have hardwood floors throughout the main living spaces like I always wanted. It also has granite countertops, white subway tiles, and a stainless steel gas stove in the kitchen. Another perk is the open floorplan with large windows that have faux transit windows above them. Although this temporary, rental house is not my forever home, it has allowed me to test out features I always envisioned for my future home and became an inspiration for that home. And for those reasons and more, I’m so thankful and blessed to live here. I can’t wait to read “Feels Like Home” to gain more inspiration for my forever home!
My husband and I have lived in our home for 32 years and have fixed and decorated it while working and raising a family. It feels like us. There are so many memories here.
What I love most about my home is sitting on my screened porch looking out at my beautiful flowers! Can’t wait to read your new book!
What I love most about my home is that even though I live in a condo, I have a west-facing balcony that gets a lot of sun and every summer I love to watch the bumble bees come and dance among the sage and cone flowers I grow to entice them.
What an amazing giveaway! I love that I can make our home feel welcoming and cozy in different ways depending on the season. I love to tweak it to our needs-my family may not be aware that I do this but they appreciate the result. So excited for the book and new inspiration! You are a dynamo!
We moved from an older home in town to a newer home in the country. Over the years we have collected a few antiques that I was concerned wouldn’t look the same in this newer home. We made it work and my husband and I are very pleased with the outcome. Thank you for so many ideas. I am anxiously waiting for your new book.
My favorite thing about my home is that we built it, along with my dad, and were super hands-on with many projects. I raised my family here and the walls are infused with the voices of my beloved people. It’s so cozy and perfect. Congratulations on your book! It looks amazing!
my garden is my favorite part of my home, especially the flowers and berries
Congratulations on the book! I have been a follower for a very long time and it has been wonderful to see all your accomplishments!
My favorite thing about my home is the wood floors.
Your new book and this “giveaway” is just the INSPIRATION that my hubby and I need to finish so many projects we have needed to do and to make our house a warm and welcoming place of sanctuary again, not only for others, but for US!!
After all these years of giving to everyone and everything else, we need to take care of “us” and spend our remaining years giving to each other, and one of those ways is by making our house a “home” that we can be happy and content in again. We love to work on our house together, but haven’t been able to because of working and care-taking of family members. We wouldn’t have had it any other way, but it is TIME!
THANK YOU, Marian for all your years of inspiration, encouragement and sharing of your family life and God-given talents.
And, oh, yes, the thing I love best about our home is that it is PAID FOR and the fact that we HAVE a home! We just need to give it some TLC !
Oh my goodness, I didn’t realize I was a “design nerd” but yes, as a youngster I drew house plans on graph paper; actually I did it even in my 20’s, 30’s, 40’s – LOL. I’m a paper geek too…I go crazy down the paper/journal/notebook aisle of any store!
So, what do I love most about my home…that’s not easy to answer. We downsized 3 years ago from 2900 sq ft to an apartment that is 1450 sq ft. It was not easy for me to do, I dreaded giving up the space and the stuff. Now, 3 years later I am happy and so content. I love everything about our home, and it is a home now, not an apartment. I love the smaller spaces, I love the light coming through the windows, I love the cozyness, I love that every room has only those things that I love. And yet, in the end, what I love most is the man I share this home with, the family including 3 grandkids that comes to visit and fills this home with love. And I love how this home has blessed us and our lives with thankfulness to be just where we are meant to be.
Your book looks amazing! Congratulations on your achievement!
We bought our house nearly 17 years ago when I was pregnant with our second child. I love that every room, rug, piece of furniture, piece of artwork has a story – antiques purchased with my husband during our 7 years of unbridled spending before children, favorite books our children enjoyed when they were young, the perfect fabric my son chose for the loveseat when he was 5, my in-laws’ mid century sofa which I have reupholstered 4 times, my grandfather’s clock, my grandmother’s lamps and tea set, my daughter’s drawings, etc. My home is not perfect nor is it always clean, but we are happy and comfortable here as a family.
(already preordered your book and I’m very excited to receive it; )
What I love most about my home is my craft table/art table/buffet table. It’s just a large L shaped table in a centrally located room adjacent to our kitchen. The room never had a use other than my husband’s weight bench while we were dating ; )
I designed and built the table myself. What I love most about it is how it functions as my craft/art space for day to day use and when we have large gatherings, I clear my stuff and the table becomes a lovely, very functional buffet table. I have so many fond memories of sitting at that table with my daughter and her friends. Before they all went off to college, I would host an annual Christmas craft party that the kids all looked forward to every year (the mom’s came too : ). I’ve been using the table a lot lately because I discovered watercolor painting and I’m absolutely obsessed.
I don’t think I could’ve imagined that simple L shaped table was going to create so many memories and be as functional as it has been.
I’m so very grateful for my home, my craft room, being able to design a functional space, build the table I imagined, and use it to create art and memories.
I love that my home holds a collection of our lives. From my husband’s office with it’s Air Force memorabilia, to my kitchen with it’s 40-year-old Dansk stoneware, to the living room showcasing family photos, I feel like my home holds my life gently within its walls. There’s a peaceful sense of having been and now being and awaiting more to come. It’s full of memories and promises and life.
We are at the very beginning of building a new house! I think I will love the living area the best as it is wide open. I have made several choices for my new home based on pictures of yours. We have very similar tastes in color and antique furniture. I usually hate painted furniture but have learned that it quite nice.
Thank you for your posts. I love your blog and am interested in everything you are! I get very overwhelmed and unhappy looking at magazines and blogs because I want my home to be picture perfect like the ones I see. However, after getting covid and being sick for the past three weeks, it really changed my perspective. I am so happy to be alive and have a roof over my head. While I was sick, my home served me well. It was so cozy and comfy and I was so very thankful to have a place to rest and recuperate! It made me so appreciative of what I have instead of what I don’t have!
What I love most about my house is that it is in my hometown, where I returned after being away for 40 years. Plus we designed and built it! And we are still working on all of the finishing touches. Can’t wait to get your book!
Hi Marion, I do love my small cape house. It may be tiny but it’s eclectic and filled with things that are part of my family’s history.
When my grandson moved in with me when he got out of the Marine Corps, he brought tons of stuff with him. He was drawing on graph paper one day. I asked him what he was doing and he replied, rearranging my room to make it more efficient. That sparked my interest and I started doing the same when decorating or rearranging (which I love to do). My favorite thing in my small house is changing out for the seasons. I love gathering choices together and then mixing old and new.
i love our new apartment here in brooklyn. the building was built in 1927 + we still have the original glass doorknobs on all of the doors!
I’m excited to get a copy of your book! Congratulations to you! Just trying to answer your question has made me appreciate my house more!! I love the natural light of our house and the views from the back windows :).
I love my HOME because of the feeling I get when entering the front door: CONTENT.
I think what I love most about my home is that I put it together piece by piece. I would never be one of those people who hires a decorator or designer to do it for me. As a result, it never “done”. It’s always a work I’m progress and something for which to look forward.
I’m super excited about your book. I enjoy getting fresh ideas for my home.
Can’t wait to get my copy of Feels Like Home! I love my kitchen the most, small and awkward though it is!
I love my open floor plan. Everything is right there in the same space.
My favorite thing about my home is the family heirlooms. There’s a secretary desk in our entryway and it makes me smile every time I look at it. And just the love! So much love!
Congratulations on the launch of your gorgeous new book! I pre-ordered it and can’t wait to read it. The thing I love most about my home is the natural light that comes into most of the rooms! Also that there are a lot of projects!
The thing I love about my home is that it is collection of pieces carefully put together and each piece has a memory. Some are special items inherited from a family member, others may remind you of a special trip or town where you found it, still some remind you of a day out with a friend when you stumbled upon an amazing piece. Each piece has a story. ❤️
I look forward to your book release. Fir my home, I love that it’s filled with the people and things I love most.
I love our empty nest home. It was built in the 50s and has so much character you don’t see in newer homes. Lots of brick, vaulted ceilings, and paned windows. My favorite is probably the original Dutch doors! Super handy for mail and ups men while keeping my dogs at bay! Can’t wait for your book!
My favorite part of my home is our Sitting Room. Small, cozy and where my hubby and I sit together and read. It’s our own little haven.
After a divorce, I lost many things that I had collected over 20 years (and before my marriage even). I moved into a much smaller home and found through the editing process that I only had room for things I really loved. And my young son and I built or refinished furniture to add what we needed to rebuild a decorated home. My favorite diy decorating project is a 8 x 10 foot wall of faux polariods we printed from our favorite iphone photos. What started as an inexpensive art project has become a conversation piece and a visual gratitude display of the adventures and friends we’ve gained in the last 4 years.
Can’t wait for you new book! I love the views of the trees from my house and all the windows. I love that with paint and fabric , I have made it my own!