One of the things I try to do to make my home say “Welcome!” is to make the approach to my home pretty and tidy. I struggle with this, especially in winter, when things look tired, grey and dead. Spring through Autumn I try to have flowers, garden flags, a pretty mailbox cover, greenery and something pretty on the stoop and front door as well as a pretty mat. We have a side door that is used by our closest friends, family and neighbors which I also try to keep tidy and pretty, even though it is in our garage (this, too, is a challenge, but a worthy one).
she lived in England – it is one of our treasures. Do colors greet you? I know some live in rentals that cannot be painted. This can be remedied by hanging colorful artwork or posters in frames that make you happy to look at, or family photographs. Never hang anything on the walls of your home that does not make you very, very happy or does not feel beautiful to you.
Never hang anything on the walls of your home that does not make you very, very happy or does not feel beautiful to you.
Now come through the front door – what greets you? Coats and shoes piled up? Piles of mail on the table, along with whatever gets dropped upon entering? My dining room table often becomes a “hot spot” or kind of parking place for items as they are brought into the house, and I have to stay on top of it or it will get overwhelming fast. We have an old grandfather’s clock that greets us in the foyer upon opening our front door – it belonged to my late mother-in-law, and it was handmade for her when
Pretty baskets can be used to hold mail, keys and other items neatly until we have time to go through it. A larger basket currently sits next to the garage door for my family to kick off their shoes and/or boots.
When my children were young, they would often draw or paint pictures. I hung them proudly on the door in the kitchen, and hung the precious handprints and pie-plate punch creations they made for me on the walls of my home (I still have these treasures even now that they are grown). Once we lived in an apartment. Although it had many windows and let in lots of sunshine and light, the kitchen always felt small and dark, and the little window looked out onto a brick wall. I bought two
DIVA MYSTIC MAGAZINE 18