From House To Home

I live in a cookie cutter house.  It's a great house! But it's a great, cookie cutter house.  I've put a lot of thought into how I could make this box of a house truly personal to us.  Besides some of the obvious things like adding crown molding and built-ins, I've decided to be a bit more purposeful with any art  I add to our walls.

I love the idea of personal art like family trees, framed heirlooms and even inside jokes when it comes to decorating.  Here's a few examples:

1.  Everyone who knows Andrew knows that he's a bit of a computer nerd.  It's one of my favorite things about him!  When other wives are spending their days hosting football parties for their husbands and all their friends, Andrew and I are playing video games together.  So much more fun!  When I started talking about decorating our new home, Andrew was a bit worried that he wasn't going to be represented well in the house because his interests didn't seem to fit with my love for french antiques.  When you think of computers, you think modern and cold.  But that is exactly opposite of what I want our home to feel like.  I tried to reassure him one evening by buying these amazing jars from Anthropologie in binary code pattern.  It's my style, but his passion.  Needless to say, he LOVED it and has since then given me much more freedom because he knows he won't be left out!

2.  I love old textures and numbers.  But there is absolutely no reason to plaster your walls with numerals if there's no purpose behind it, right?  These numbers made it into our master bedroom decor because they are the numbers of our anniversary.  Not everyone will know that, but when we look at it it will mean something!

3.  Every once in a great while I rummage through my mom's basement (particularly the cellar), find something amazing like this, and then ask her why in the world she isn't displaying it.  "Oh, that old thing? You can HAVE it. It's old."  hahahaha We are so opposite!  This particular find was my grandmother's and I will cherish it always.

That's just three of the ways I'm adding a personal mark on our home.  I can't wait to share more with you. :)  I'd also love love love to hear your ideas on how to make a house a home, so comment away!