Todays guest post for the Creating a Meaningful Home Blog Series is Anneke of This, That and Life . Welcome Anneke
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Creating a meaningful home is something that is very near and dear to my heart, so thank you Jenna for having me share today! Im Anneke from This, That and Life where I blog about my experiences in furniture makeovers, interiors, diy projects and occasionally health, fitness and girly girl things. Im a momma to three kiddos and Ive been married 10 years to the love of my life.
Hello!
Leave it up to me to complicate things, but there are so many ways you could go with this Ive been seriously pondering about what to say and share with you today. Ive promised myself to keep it simple!
Many people are often surprised when we mention moving from our current home. We designed and built it ourselves and were involved in every little detailed decision. It was definitely a labor of love that we learned a lot from, but in the end, its just a bunch of walls. And while the memories of building that house together will last forever in conversations, pictures, and experiences that are brought into new projects and endeavors, the house is fleetingand really, everything is fleeting.
With this in mind, I LOVE decorating and making a home really you, so here are a few things that I do to make our house a home WHEREVER we are.
1. Keep it in PERSPECTIVE.
It is a top priority of mine to teach our kids an Attitude of Gratitude and if Im being honest with myself, Im constantly keeping myself in check. I think there is a great value in educating yourself on other cultures and ways of life and experiencing them if you are able to. I have been so blessed to travel to Mexico, the Phillipines, Kenya, as well as around the United States. I have home decor items on display in our home that remind me of my travels to these places and these experiences have contributed an attitude of gratefulness. I will strive to be patient and content with what I have wherever Im at.
It makes a HUGE difference when you co nsider that there are so many others in need throughout the world. You tend to evaluate how much of a priority something is to you, and ultimately, that should create a home with tons of meaning because you are thinking more about whether or not something is worth acquiring or even making.
2. CONSIDER OTHERS that are living in the home.
Ok, Im seriously a girly girl. I have a lot of great girly id eas..at least to me. But Im not the only one living in our home, and I dont want to be! Our homes are about making memories together and I personally have to consider my husbands decor taste as well as our stage in life having younger kids. All that to say, most women are the homemakers and decide how these tastes and values are expressed. When I was decorating our home at first, I knew that we wouldnt use the formal living room as a formal space. I decided to dub it as the Reading Room. It is a relax, chill out, read, enjoy the fireplace, chat with friends kinds of room. I love snuggling with out kiddos and going through baskets of books which are organized on the built-in bookshelves in the dining room!
Also, including all of the members ideas when changing something in your home can be very fun! When we were getting ready to change our girls bedroom they share, I asked them if they wanted to draw a plan like mommy does. It was so fun to see what ideas they had and use some of them! This can be for anything big or small. Im always asking my kids opinion, and they actually have some awesome ideas!!!
I found these little bronze statues on Overstock.com and they are usually displayed somewhere in the Reading Room as a symbol of the importance we place on family and reading.
Just in the adjacent dining room, we fill this tray with seashells from our family walks or travels and wine corks from dinners and parties. The kids love picking up the shells and saying, I remember when we found this and. I love to hear them talk about their memories.
3. Make it FUNCTIONAL.
I cant stress this enough, and its constantly changing with life. But whether youre a sports family, you love to host parties, you have game night every week, or whatever, having those things organized and functional contributes to the great memories of doing what you LOVE and adding meaning to your home! One example of day to day life in our home is just the mornin g routine. Our kids shoes were getting out.of.control. That equaled stress, wasted time, frustration all definitely not the result of a meaningful home. I dont want our kids morning memories to be filled with visions of shouting, scrunched faces, and crying. Since we had an upper and lower laundry space, I decided it was worth it to ditch the downstairs laundry luxury for shoe storage sanity. Its literally right off of the garage and I was able to hack a Craigslist find to fit the bill perfectly! You can check that out here if you like. :-)
4. DISPLAY things that matter to you or mean something special.
Yes, I love to fill our home with family pictures, artwork, etc., but for the most part, a lot of our walls are still waiting for that something special. So for you, this could be art that you love or acquired on a trip, pictures of family and friends, beautiful mirrors, etc. I personally just cant bring myself to put something on our walls that I just dont love or admire. Here are a few ways weve done this around our house.
A rotating gallery of pictures on DIY shelves I built with a plan from Ana White.
Our home office has this artwork on displ ay and is very motivational to me. I did a full reveal recently that you can find here.
See that ladder to the right of the photo??? My husband grew up helping out in his Grandfathers boat house where this ladder was used every day. It means a lot that we can use this little bit of family history in our home.
I hope that these simple points inspire you on how to make your home more meaningful!
Id LOVE to connect with you more. You can find me on:
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Thank you so much Anneke for opening your home to us. I LOVE that quote Our homes dont give our lives meaning. Our lives give meaning to our home. I love how Annekes passion for travel and love for reading show up in different way all throughout her home.
From DIY creations to furniture makeovers, from health and fitness to girl things, This, That & Life is filled with so much inspiration. Truly inspirations for everyday which is Annekes motto! Even though she had a few hiccups, a favorite piece of mine that Anneke created was this two-tone dresser. The use of paint with the grain showing through on the drawers is simply beautiful.
Head on over to This, That and Life, and give Anneke a BIG HELLO!
Check out all the Bloggers that have contributed to this series on
Creating a Meaningful Home.
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