Love Your Home
(even when it's not your dream home)
Part 1
We all have a vision of our ideal home. Perhaps it’s that farmhouse out in the country, a historic home downtown, or a new place in a small neighborhood. No matter what this dream home image may be, many of us are unable to make that dream home a reality at this point in our lives.
So, the question is, how do you make your current house into a home you love? The truth is, you can make any place into a home you love by making it welcoming and relaxing. By creating a home that you can embrace and make your own. Starting with some simple changes to your home, you can love any home you live in.
Here are the 6 “Makes” to live by to help you love your home:
-Make a Vision
-Make it Cozy
-Make it Relaxing
-Make it Organized
-Make it Over
– Make it Welcoming
This “Make” method for your house is my own special formula to a happy home. Each step builds upon itself to create a better living space. You will start with creating your vision, and then we will move forward from there.
The last point, “Make it Welcoming”, is the most important one of all. If you only read one part of this post, please read this, as it is what all of our homes are meant to provide.
Since I have written a lot about this “Make” process, I have broken it into 2 parts. Part 1 one will cover how to make your vision. Part 2 will work on making this vision come to life.
The Dream Home
I have a vision of my dream home, one that I have had for a while, and it has become increasingly more detailed and desired since I met my wonderful husband, Daniel. Finding the perfect man for me seemed to spark another desire – the desire to have that perfect home, along with jobs we loved and plenty of time to travel and adventure together.
We all have that ideal home image in our minds. I can see ours clearly, it’s on a lot of land out in the country. The house is white, 2-stories with a nice porch and shutters on the large windows. We have a barn, a big garage for Daniel’s truck and toys, and a gorgeous mountain view. The backyard is perfect for entertaining and is nicely landscaped. Inside there are enough rooms for offices and out-of-town guests to stay. There’s a double oven and island in the kitchen, with plenty of room for 2 people to cook. I could probably draw you an entire floor plan…
This is an image in my mind, a “perfect home” that we all have our own unique version of. Snapshots from places we’ve driven by, or seen on tv, or come across on Pinterest. That ideal house and life we would all love to have. And it’s good to be inspired and to dream, and I hope each of you can get that dream home you envision one day. But you know what? You can create an amazingly beautiful home and life right where you are, right now.
That Dream Feeling
When I really think about my dream home, I think more about the feeling that home would bring. The ability to relax, unwind, and spend quality time with my loving husband. And then I think, wait, don’t I have all of that in our home now? The answer is yes, I do have all of that right now. When it comes down to it, the thing I love most about our home is that it’s a place where I am sharing my life with Daniel.
Your home, just like mine, may not be that “dream home” you envisioned, but it is a special place where you can grow and share your life with those you love. The fun thing is that your current home can grow and change with you, to fit your style and dreams, to become your true happy place. You just need the right building blocks to create a home you love. This is where the 6 “Makes” come into play.
Make a Vision
This exercise is intended to help you take the elements you love about your dream home, and make them part of the home you have now. There are 3 parts to this “Vision” and I am going to take you through a short exercise for each one.
First, the things you love about your dream home. Second, the things you love about your current home. And lastly, the feelings you want to get from your dream home.
Exercise 1: Elements of your Dream Home
Let’s start with that dream home of yours. I want you to write down at least 10 things that describe your dream home. Are there certain elements of the home itself that you love? Small accents or touches that you see in pictures and every time think, ooh, I want that in my home! Write down what makes this dream home your dream home. Here are some things I included for mine:
- Brick accent wall
- Land
- Garden
- Space to entertain
- Backyard
- Fireplace
- Open floor plan
- 2 stories
- Roomy kitchen
- Garage
- Lots of Windows
Now, before we go into this, let’s do one more exercise.
Exercise 2: Elements of your Current Home
Now think about the home you have now. What are some things you like or love about it? Are there things it offers that are also what you would want in your dream home? Write these down.
- ½ bath off kitchen
- Walk in closets
- Garage
- Laundry room
- Scenic patio
- Duel masters
- 2 story
- Nice wall color
- Plush carpet
- Updated kitchen
Finding Similarities
Now take a look at both lists. Look at what you like about your current home and note the aspects it has that you desire in a dream home. Even if you only have 1 or 2 things, this is a good starting point! Take the time to write down what your current home offers and how it is like your dream home; even if it’s on a smaller, less grand scale.
For myself, I know I am lucky to have a number of elements in my current townhome that I would like in my dream home. Our townhome is 2 stories, with a 2-car garage and a great floor plan and updated kitchen. I love that our entertaining space is downstairs, with a 1/2 bath, and all the bedrooms are upstairs. These are things that I enjoy in my current home.
So, when I break it all down, there are a lot of benefits to our current home that we love, and a good amount that fits into that dream home vision. Even if it’s a little off from the goal, we are blessed to have it.
Hopefully you also found that there are some things your now home has in common with your future home vision. Maybe you even found a few things that you love and never thought of including in that image of your perfect home until now! All homes have something about them that is good, something that can be seen as a blessing.
Finding Inspirational Differences
What does your dream home offer that your home you live in now does not? Look at your list from the first exercise. Having you create this list was not meant to be a reminder of what you don’t have. Rather, it was meant to show you the potential your home does have. What can you take from this list and create in your current home? Are there ways you can alter your home to encompass some of these desires?
For our home, although we don’t have land, our front porch does face the park with a view of the mountains. So we can still sit outside in the evenings and look out on open land.
Are you dreaming of a backyard sitting area or garden? Well, any porch or patio can easily fit a small table, a couple of chairs and some potted plants. You can always make an herb garden or grow some veggies in a small outdoor space.
What about a wishing for a bigger home? Although we cannot expand our homes without a major remodel, what about working on organizing and maximizing your storage space or finding dual purposes for rooms? Decluttering can work miracles on a small home. If you struggle to keep your home tidy then read my post about how to simplify your home.
Think about how you can use the differences in these 2 homes (your current home vs. your dream home) and let it inspire you. Find new and exciting ways to set up, decorate, and embrace your home to make it into something you love. It’s all about getting creative and making your vision come to life.
Exercise 3: That Dream Home Feeling
Now let’s focus on how your dream home makes you feel. What elements make this home your dream home? Were not talking structure or space here, I mean the emotions that connect you to it. Think of how your senses will engage, and how others will feel in your home. Write at least 10 description words here. I have included my words below for an example:
- Cozy
- Relaxing
- Welcoming
- Warm
- Organized
- Tidy
- Bright
- Fresh
- Cute
- Fun
- Homey
- Place of Love
- Comfortable
- Happy
- Stress-Free
Does your current home bring these emotions to life as well? Look at what feelings your current home gives you and what is missing. Now, use the ones you already have as motivation (and a win towards that dream home goal) and think of creative ways to bring the rest of these feelings into your home.
A great place to start would be by creating intentional spaces in your home. This method helps you use the rooms in your house as ways to promote relaxation, fun, and an overall happy environment.
Embracing What You Have
The point of these exercises was to get you to see that there might be things about our homes that we take advantage of without realizing it. It’s easy to dream about what we wish we had in our homes, and sometimes we forget about the amazing things our homes have to offer.
The point here is that each home has certain aspects that we love, and things that others admire when they visit as well. It’s hard to get all of the elements that you love into a single home, so why not take the things that you do love and focus on them? Use them as reminders of how nice your current home actually is. Think of how you can take these parts of your home that you enjoy and make them even better.
All of the “Makes” of the home are built off of this first step – Making your Vision. Now let’s see how the rest of the “Makes” can help you to bring your Vision (the style, the elements, and the feeling of your dream home) to life in your now home!
To Continue the “Makes” process, be sure to read Part 2!
