Give your home some love with these thoughtful ideas and watch it return the favor —
now and throughout the year.
1. Invite in friends. Whether you think of it as a New Year party, a housewarming, or a home blessing, welcoming friends and family into your home is a meaningful event. This fills it with laughter, love, and camaraderie. Sharing your home is a fun way to enliven it; and you will feel the good vibes vibrating.
2. Display a guest book. This is a fun way to tell your friends you value their friendship — it doesn’t have to be fussy, maybe it’s a nicely bound journal or sketchbook. Have guests write a message in it when they visit your home. It can be replaced annually giving every new year a fresh start. It’s a lovely gesture that brings joy into your home and it’s especially fun when having a party.
3. Make an “always-changing” photo book of your home for your coffee table. What a fun way to show your gratitude! Online photo sites make it easy to combine photos with your own text, making it personal and self-explanatory; or you can put together a traditional album. The photos do not need to be professionally taken; make it fun and informal. Capture the small, everyday details (like your child’s attempt at cleaning their room or potting flowers on the porch) to make this book a treasure and a conversation piece. Remember to keep it updated by replacing outdated pictures with current pictures. This keeps the book fresh and evolving, and in step with your lives. You may want to include snippets from your guest book as well.
4. Make a list of things you are thankful for about your home. This can simply be acknowledging the roof over your head, the warmth on a cold winter’s day, the way the front door welcomes you home, the way light streams through a window or how a breeze dances with a curtain, even the bird’s nest on the porch — record it all. And this, too, can be placed in your coffee table photo book!
5. Nourish your home with fresh flowers and a fabulous scent. Pick up a bouquet from the market (it doesn’t need to be expensive to be lovely), or cut flowers from your garden or country roadside ditch. Then, continue to delight your home (and yourself) by filling it with a refreshing scented essential oil candle or natural room fragrance. These simple gestures make a home feel loved and you’ll feel loved in return.
6. Fix a decorating dilemma that’s been bugging you. From awkward spaces to the lack of storage, all homes have quirks. If something annoys you, get creative and fix it. Shoes piled by the door? Too much stuff on the counters? Big or small those annoyances compound over time and are well worth the effort of resolving them. If your house has a place that’s difficult to decorate, don’t hesitate to resolve it. If you get stymied, invite a design-savvy friend over to help you brainstorm and move furniture, or have me stop in for some fun and unbiased design solutions — just do what you need to do to find a solution.
7. Clean every nook. It’s normal to skim over corners when doing a quick cleaning — but there’s something symbolic about clearing the (real and metaphorical) cobwebs from your home. Go straight to those nooks and crannies and thoroughly vacuum and mop. Often-neglected spots are: corners, baseboards, tops of picture frames, areas behind appliances, bed frames, beneath furniture, and ceiling fixtures (fans).
8. Stay home and enjoy. Once your home is fresh and clean take time to stay home to savor it. Whether you listen to music, light candles, watch movies, play games, or read – it does not matter as long as you take time to enjoy your home, which is the utmost form of gratitude!
9. Give your home an honorable name. This is a lovely gesture of gratitude for your home. Maybe it feels like it should be named after a famous home, fictional or real, or maybe it should reflect its location or physical characteristics; just make it a respectful name because it will not only reflect the dignity of the house but also the people who live there. Once named remember to include it in your photo book and guest book; you can even display it prominently in the foyer, or outside the front door, or at the property entrance. Do not place it on the floor or door mat though; give it a place of honor.
10. Hang a portrait of your home. Portraits are symbols of honor also — whether you commission a photographer or an artist, this makes a lovely tribute to your home for being the vessel that holds and nurtures the lives of you and your family. You may want to label the portrait’s frame with the address or the name you gave it.
Homes are at the center of our lives – will you be showering your home with gratitude?