Guest Room

We had guests last week. My parents were here for five days. Before they came, I wanted to surprise them, we bought a new mattress for the guest room! I don't know what your philosophy is for the guest room, some people place their old, lovingly warn mattress on their guest frame. I admit, we did that for a long time! Our mattress was so bad, that my Dad got a piece of plywood to put between the mattress and the box spring! Can anyone relate?

Well, I figured it was time that we invested a little money into our guests! When we built our home, we knew we wanted to have a guest room and bath. Thankfully we were able to put it in the plans and we have gotten a lot of use out of it! This summer we are hoping to have some more guests stay with us. This leads to my "snowball"....

Now that we have a new mattress...... I wanted to decorate and freshen up the guestroom. This has been a low priority for me, but after I re-did our master bedroom last year, I'm inspired to work on the guest room! Hopefully, since I put that in print, it will encourage me to make this goal happen. I will be thrifting as I look for different bedding and I'm planning on hitting some fabric stores. Also, I have an idea for the headboard. Hopefully I will have some new pictures to follow up with this post!

How have you made your guest room inviting to others?

In The Kitchen

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen! Maybe if I had one of these cute aprons, I would feel dressed for work! One thing I tell my students is that food preparation takes more time than you likely have planned for it! They have a class project in which they need to do all the shopping, planning, preparation and cooking for at least four people. Most of them say, "it was a lot of work"! This is not news for most of us who seem to take up residence in the kitchen.

Today I'm linking up with Sandy, The Reluctant Entertainer. She is so much fun and encouraging, so please check out her blog.



The memory that sticks into my mind is making Christmas cut out cookies with my family. We were even able to make cookies as a large group this past Thanksgiving that we froze until Christmas. Cut outs aren't my favorite cookie, but they do bring our family together, since so many jobs are involved in the baking process. My girls are finding that they enjoy the cut outs because they can be involved with this hands on recipe.

The Whys

This past weekend I had the chance to help a friend "set up" her new home. As we were unpacking boxes and moving things into her new home, I really started thinking about all the things that we do to make our house a home!

I know many of us are all across the board when it comes to decorating, meal planning, organizing and cleaning. We all have different ideas on what it means to have a well decorated home or an organized closet! Plus, some of us don't care if meals are planned out for the week, while others have the entire month figured out!

We are all different! I know as women, we can sometimes get rather opinionated when it comes to our homes! Yet, I hope we can enjoy the differences and encourage one another!

This brings me to my title, "The Whys"! I was thinking, "Why do I care about my home? Why am I so passionate about the home and all that happens here?" Yes, it is because of my family and the calmness that it brings, but I believe it is more than that!

"By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures." Proverbs 24:3-4

Wow! I feel like this answers so many of my deep questions about the home. Or at least gives me an explanation about my passion. Now the goal is to keep the balance of the home, not allowing it to consume me! After all, the verse starts out with, "by wisdom"!

Let me know your thoughts about "home"! I love to hear about others purpose and passion for the home!

Please Help!

I have been working on my mantel for a few weeks. Nester had a mantle party a couple of weeks ago, while I was away on Spring Break. Those who linked up with her mantel party have really inspired me!

For a while I had this big empty space in the middle of my mantel. The last couple of years I had one of my old windows propped up against the wall. However, I was ready for a change, but I just didn't know what to put up there. I thought about a picture, and over break I spotted one, but the husband and I couldn't agree on it. (Yes, he does have some decorating input!)

Well, yesterday I was visiting my sister-in-law, the accessorizing queen. Yes, she is that good!! Anyway, I spotted this picture in her stash of goods. So, for now I'm trying it out. I like it. It works. But, do I love it?

Let me know what you think!

Home

My family is back from Spring Break. Actually we have been back for four days, but it has taken me a while to get caught up. Hopefully this will explain my long absence from the blogging world! As much as I enjoyed the warmth, water and exploring over break, I was excited to get HOME! Does anyone else feel this way? There is just something about being at home that is good for the soul!

Since, I'm so passionate about the home environment, I worked hard at getting our home ready for our return from break! Before we left I made sure I was caught up on laundry, cleared off the counters, cleaned the bathrooms and did an overall straightening up of the home front. It just made it so nice for our return, to come home to a clean home! It kind of felt like we were still on vacation!



On break I was able to visit a Homegoods store! The closest one to me is two hours away. How I wish we would get one of these stores in Grand Rapids!! I limited my purchase to some new kitchen towels. They fill that attractive and useful criteria for fitting into my home. Plus, they are relatively inexpensive! I'm always looking for a few items that can add aesthetic value to the home without breaking the bank! Having a welcoming and comfortable home for family & friends is my goal!