Reading, Writing & Pondering

  I find home decorating books to be fun and relaxing to look at. We love the character of older homes so we bought one and have been working on fixing it up and decorating it a bit at a time. Feels Like Home by Marian Parsons is a simply gorgeous book with lots of pictures and encouragement to decorate your own home. In Feels Like Home , Parsons offers a lot of budget-friendly, practical tips for making your home the relaxing place that you want it to be. She has chapters specific to living rooms, kitchens,  dining areas, bedrooms, home offices and work rooms, bathrooms, hallways, laundry rooms and mudrooms. They are a whole lot of gorgeous pictures in this book to inspire you. But the thing I like best about this book is that Parsons truly encourages you to make your home your own. She invites you to find your own style, not just copy hers. At about 300 pages, there is just so many practical home tips in this book, that I believe Feels Like Home would be a great addition t...

Does your house feel like YOUR home? Does it feel comfy and give life to all who visit? If the answer is no, you should read Restoration House by Kennesha Buycks. Restoration House is divided in to three parts. Part one is Restored Home, Restored Soul where Buycks shares how she learned to make her house her home in spite of living in many different houses while her husband was in the military. Part 2 is A Restored Space For You where you learn about how you can make your space more enjoyable for you and your family. There is a lot of good practical information in this section about selecting paint and decor and more along that line. Part 3 is Sharing Your Restored Home and offers a lot of good advice and encouragement for entertaining. I picked this book, Restoration House , because my word for 2019 is Restore. I also enjoy books about decorating and home entertaining. I thought this book was beautiful as a whole. I enjoyed the pictures. I thought Buycks had a lot of good adv...

These past few years since we have downsized after moving four times in three years, we have been remodeling and making this last house our home. Our goal has been simple yet cozy. I haven't always known how to do that well, but I am learning thanks to The Nester (Myquillyn Smith). Her latest book, Cozy Minimalist Home is just what I have been looking for to make our living room and dining room a place of cozy rest for my family and guests. Cozy Minimalist Home is a how to book for creating your own style in your home that is both cozy and less cluttered. Minimalism doesn't have to mean cold and empty. Instead it can be both cozy and easier to care for with less stuff  to clean and move around (CoMi style). The Nester tells us how to decorate, arrange furniture, hang curtains, buy rugs, add lighting, accessorize a room, and bring color to walls. All the while you are doing these things, she shows how you can still maintain your own sense of style that makes your home uniq...

 This past year we moved to a new house in a new town for my husband's job. I had lived in the same house for 12 years. . .so leaving wasn't easy for me. We purchased a house in a different flavor than our first one. . .so when I saw this book was available for review, I knew it was just what I needed to inspire me. Going from a 1920s two-story house to a 1970s ranch was an adjustment in tastes that I felt needed to become evident in my decorating style. I'm so glad I read The Nesting Place because Myquillin Smith inspired me in several ways. Myquillin Smith is a blogger and self-taught decorator. Her book, The Nesting Place, is full of inspiration on how to make your house the home that you want and need for you and your family. . .regardless of your budget, your living arrangements (even if you are renting!), or most anything else that you think might stand in the way of making your place beautiful for your family. Smith helps you see that "creating a beautiful ...