What little things do you do to make your house a home?

[Anonymous]

I find myself always wanting to get out and never feeling content...how can I make thins cozier?

[Anonymous]

For me it's all about warm lighting. I hate overhead lights, hate fluorescent. I need golden or rosy light emanating from multiple mid-brightness lamps, otherwise my mood is grumpy.

[Anonymous]

Cozier? Do you have a huge house? I find those to be harder to personalize. They always look like showrooms to me.

For me, the easiest adult ways are with linens, window treatments, area rugs, and decorative pillows. And lighting. Choose table and floor lamps instead of overhead lights. Focus first on the parts of the house where you spend the most time.

[Anonymous]

I just completely re-did my family room. I had the same stuff since the late 90s.

I made it a totally chill design...not a lot of knick knacks or tons of busy decorations. Very calm, warm colors. I have a glass jar with ocean rocks my boys collected on the beach in LongIsland this summer on the mantel now, art I love on the walls, etc.

We have lived in the home about 3 years so I finally got a feel of exactly how it worked. It is not a huge home given its city location, but I really worked on designs to eliminate clutter and make if feel homey while minimal. There are hooks and cubbys and baskets.

I now completely relax whenever I step in that room. Re-organizing and getting all clutter out of the house made it home for me.

[Anonymous]

I choose artwork that has special meaning to me, not just pretty.

[Anonymous]

I second lamps. Overhead lights are AWFUL.
I think lighting candles looks nice and warms a place up. Oh and removing clutter. Nothing makes a room more uncomfortable to me than looking around and seeing a bunch of shit scattered over the tables and on the floors.
A couple nice warm throw blankets on the couches helps.
Oh, and not pulling the blinds all the way up. Hate this!! Leave the blinds down and open them to let sun in, but don't pull them all the way up to the top of the window, leaving it bare. And if you do, DEFINITELY don't let them hang lopsided.
And lots of things on the walls!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I choose artwork that has special meaning to me, not just pretty.

I move a lot and having the same artwork around makes me feel at "home" wherever I am living.

[Anonymous]

+1 million for the no overhead lights. I am a mommy dearest about this. Drives DH nuts, but I don't care. I don't need or want a harsh glare in my eyes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just completely re-did my family room. I had the same stuff since the late 90s.

I made it a totally chill design...not a lot of knick knacks or tons of busy decorations. Very calm, warm colors. I have a glass jar with ocean rocks my boys collected on the beach in LongIsland this summer on the mantel now, art I love on the walls, etc.

We have lived in the home about 3 years so I finally got a feel of exactly how it worked. It is not a huge home given its city location, but I really worked on designs to eliminate clutter and make if feel homey while minimal. There are hooks and cubbys and baskets.

I now completely relax whenever I step in that room. Re-organizing and getting all clutter out of the house made it home for me.

I agree with the overhead lighting..I got two very cool floor lamps and a table lamp. The room glows warm at night.

[Anonymous]

1104 again- I think area rugs do wonders for a room too.

[Anonymous]

My in-laws home is so cozy and welcoming. It's clean and not cluttered (big change from ours). They have artwork that they've created and collected over the years, beautiful houseplants, and fresh flowers. It just really seems to reflect them. They're usually cooking something that smells great. MIL burns a pine-scented candle around the holidays (just one for the house), which is really nice, and I usually don't like scented candles.

I have trouble relaxing in our own house because I'm faced with a mess that I never seem to tame. We have really comfortable living room furniture around an area rug that's the baby's play area--that's a nice spot to hang out with the family. I think paint can make a big difference in how inviting a room feels--I really liked the pale yellow we did in our bedroom, but struck out by painting our living room white. I don't like giant rooms--some new construction just seems to have such big rooms that you feel lost. That's hard to change, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I second lamps. Overhead lights are AWFUL.
I think lighting candles looks nice and warms a place up. Oh and removing clutter. Nothing makes a room more uncomfortable to me than looking around and seeing a bunch of shit scattered over the tables and on the floors.A couple nice warm throw blankets on the couches helps.
Oh, and not pulling the blinds all the way up. Hate this!! Leave the blinds down and open them to let sun in, but don't pull them all the way up to the top of the window, leaving it bare. And if you do, DEFINITELY don't let them hang lopsided.
And lots of things on the walls!

yes, yes, YES!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My in-laws home is so cozy and welcoming. It's clean and not cluttered (big change from ours). They have artwork that they've created and collected over the years, beautiful houseplants, and fresh flowers. It just really seems to reflect them. They're usually cooking something that smells great. MIL burns a pine-scented candle around the holidays (just one for the house), which is really nice, and I usually don't like scented candles.

I have trouble relaxing in our own house because I'm faced with a mess that I never seem to tame. We have really comfortable living room furniture around an area rug that's the baby's play area--that's a nice spot to hang out with the family. I think paint can make a big difference in how inviting a room feels--I really liked the pale yellow we did in our bedroom, but struck out by painting our living room white. I don't like giant rooms--some new construction just seems to have such big rooms that you feel lost. That's hard to change, though.

I agree with the last bit. I know super high vaulted ceilings are popular in recent years but boy those houses feel like caverns to me. Those foyers where the ceiling is 30 feet up? Noooooo. I'm now in an airport hangar.

[Anonymous]

I buy for the use rather than for the look. We have a very comfortable, sectional for our family room (which is in the middle of the public space on the ground floor) which we love to sit on, read on, watch TV on. I've been to some houses that are magazine beautiful and the furniture is so uncomfortable. No wonder these people don't spend much time using that furniture. We decided that with my wife's visual problems (she's low vision due to a genetic disorder) that it was more worthwhile to get the large screen TV even if it wasn't the most attractive. It really makes her life easier to be able to see the screen without having to sit 6 inches away. Our home is designed around elements that make us want to stay and use it, not to be photographed. And guess what...we stay and use it.

[Anonymous]

I found a student artist that I love on Etsy and have bought several paintings and prints from her. It's the first time I have artwork that really resonates with me, and it has really personalized my house into more of a home.