Five Things that Make a House a Home

This is a completely biased post, my own personal opinions on what makes a home cozy and inviting. These thoughts have been swirling around in my head for a while now and I thought it would be a fun post to write.

Today I am having a low key day after finally succumbing to the head cold my husband so lovingly shared with me, and it presented a perfect opportunity to work on the graphics and this post.  When I think of what makes a house, whether mine or one I visit, comfortable, these things come to mind.

 

 I love living things. And growing up we always had plants in the house. My grandmother had a whole room in her house that we still lovingly refer to as the Plant Room (which is holding my plants and my musical instruments).
Plants can brighten your house and lift your spirits. How can someone not smile when they walk into a room and see a plant in bloom during the winter months? After my summer trip to PEI and seeing red Geraniums blooming on the sills of Green Gables, I wanted some for myself. How cheery they made the kitchen seem! I haven't gotten them yet, but soon they will be added to my collection.
 You can search the internet for the health benefits of plants in your home. I am gong to "nerd out" for a moment...back to basic botany folks.
 Humans breathe oxygen and put off? ............right, Carbon Dioxide!
And God created plants to "breathe" Carbon Dioxide, and put off what? .......Yup, Clean oxygen. Isn't it amazing how God created everything to work together for our good?

 Anyone who really knows me, knows that I love candles. Normal smelling candles. Nothing says home more to me than walking into a house that smells like apples and spice. That's my personal smell favorite, but you may love more of a fresh Clean Cotton smell. In college we learned about people's memories and how certain smells will trigger certain memories. Maybe people's memories of me one day will be triggered by an apple and spice candle.
The small flicker of light makes a homey atmosphere also.

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 Now this one my friend Amy B would disagree. She loves mini blinds. I on the other hand do not. They make me feel like I'm in an office or a hospital. Institutional. Yucky. And who. in their right mind, likes to clean those things? I've tried the "easy" ways mentioned on the internet, nope. I like the wash, dry, and re-hang mode of cleaning window coverings.  Curtains soften the straight lines of a window and let the light filter through, casting a glow about your room.

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 A person's body relaxes when the light softens. Or, like me, a person falls asleep when the light softens. Really though, bright lights are all around us all day. Electronic devices, harsh fluorescent lights, weird LED lights, and sunlight. Studies have been done to show how it's best for the human body to put electronics away at least thirty minutes before bed and spend some time reading a real, paper book in soft light. It's one of my favorite things that Working Man and I do every night, though now even earlier than before.
They make dimmer switches for your overhead lights, but I don't have those. I just have good old-fashioned lamps in about every room in the house. I try to keep the light bulbs at 40-60 watts and no higher.

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 Obviously you aren't going to play your musical instrument all day, unless you are a more dedicated musician than I am. But in our day and age music is at the tip of our fingers at any moment. Sometimes I feel like cds are a thing of the past, but I even have cassette tapes I play sometimes.
Music affects the soul, and the more peaceful you want your home, the more peaceful your music needs to be. Even stores and restaurants know this, they play upbeat (and annoying) music to make you shop fast, and make eat you fast food even faster. Whereas a nice restaurant will have softer music so you linger and hopefully buy dessert. Do you want your children to get rid of energy? Than put something silly and kid friendly on. (We grew up listening to Patch and the Wee Sing collection). But if you want your husband or your company to walk into an atmosphere of peace and calm then put some soft music on, instrumental is sometimes best. I was brought up with a love for classical music along side the sacred music we listened to.
Music makes you feel different ways, I usually put something more peppy on if I am going to clean the house- most times Steve Pettit's older cds. If I want to feel inspired to write I'll turn my Jay Unger and Molly Mason station on Pandora on. Their music creates such word pictures of what I love- old Americana- and the Mountain people stock I come from. And when I want to shut down my mind and go back to sleep when my husband leaves at 5am I sometimes put on a calming classical piece. God created music to affect the body. Remember King Saul and how David comforted him with his harp music?

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The bonus was one I threw in for the fun of it and because not everyone has a fireplace. But if you have one there is something mesmerizing about curling up in the living room watching the logs flicker and burn. Memories are created around the fireplace. Why else would people have a fire around Christmastime except for sentimentality's sake? Or for warmth. It's natural instinct for me to pull up a chair, wrap up in a blanket, crack open my book and pick up my hot drink from off the side table when I have a fire going.

I hope you enjoyed my fun post today!
What makes you think of a comfortable, relaxed home?