does your house feel "homey"?

[KristinCB]

Mine doesn't and not really sure what to do or how to change it so it is?

I love looking at sites like pinterest and houzz but getting the ideas incorporated to my own home can be challenging. We don't live where there are stores to just go browse for home goods etc so thats a bit challenging too.

I think I need to hire a frugal interior design person so i can get my house feeling like a home in an inexpensive way.

Anyone here an interior designer? We could do a trade with kits... haha. Not kidding

[Happy Now]

Oh, I wish I were!! Sounds like a sweet deal!!

[NeverendingJen]

My house is getting there. We did really good when we first got here about getting our living room set up and homey...and then we got custody of my stepkids and lost steam on everywhere else.

I've been obsessively browsing on pinterest for months now and have put together inspiration boards, and my office is just about complete. This weekend we will be tackling the master bedroom and I am so looking forward to it and having everything look nice.

I'm doing this on a major budget-for my office, including paint and furniture, my entire budget is $150, and for our master bedroom its $500(we've already spent 150 of that on paint and curtains for the room, we've not even gotten bedding or decorations yet). I've been doing a lot of DIY stuff because of that and its turned out awesome...the clock in my office cost me nothing, I used leftover paint from projects to paint the face of an old clock, replaced the numbers with buttons from my stash, and reassembled. My craft table cost me $11, the cost of a quart of paint to refinish our old patio table that was collecting dust in the garage since we never use it.

It's really easy to make your place feel homier and more welcoming by reusing things you already have and just giving them a fresh look. A coat of paint, new trim, etc. can help add a lot of mileage to things you already own and don't cost much at all

[jessica31876]

Not as much as Id like it to be. I like browsing magazines myself. Online is ok but something about looking through a magazine seems so much more inspiring. I like Southern Living and Better Homes and Garden for ideas/inspiration. Id love to have a home with a beachy theme though...like a beach home away from the beach With this color scheme:


with alot of white added. My favorite color combo!!

[aggiefamily]

I am slowly getting there. Since we moved in 1.5 months ago I have only hung one item on the wall. I worked my butt off on those walls and don't want to mess them up! I do have photos out on my bookcases but that is about it.

My office is about 90% finished, the living room needs some attention and my bedroom is a clean slate. We put beadboard in the kitchen and I have no idea how to decorate in there.

So yes, we need a SSD decorator!

Oh and add pillows! Pillows can be cheap (esp if you buy fabric and make your own) and add great impact to a room.

[Lyd]

I guess I don't really know what you mean by "homey." My house definitely feels "lived in" and like a family lives here. LOL. But, the decorating is abysmal. And, as long as I have little kids that destroy everything, I don't see it changing anytime soon.

[Megan Turnidge]

Nope, my place is not cute at all... I hate looking around at my own house and its lack of style. lol All our furniture has been handed down to us, except for a coffee table that I bought for $10 on clearance. All our furniture is ugly. I have nothing hung on the walls because we move every year (renting). I can't wait to own a house and then I hope to go crazy and really style it.

[heathergw]

we're still renovating our house... but I can't wait to have some money to do some decorating... but I still consider my house "homey" even with the holes int he wall and the unfinished stuff and the odd colors on the walls from the previous owner... I just make it a point to entertain... because I think it's the friends who make it feel homey to me.

[color of my heart]

home does. apartment does not.

i think my idea of what "homey" feels like probably is different than everyone else's. homey to me means calm and comfortable and familiar.

i go to school with interior designers... does that count? i'm DYING to take an intro to interior design course. they told me i couldn't, because it wasn't in my major. but i still wanna!

[SweetMelissa]

No mine is not at all. Ours is very cluttered because my husband doesn't like to throw anything out. Although tonight we de-cluttered our storage closet, living room and our son's room. We switched up the rooms so that there is actually more "room" in the middle of the room - does that make sense? It does look more inviting then it did before. Esp in the living room. We moved a lot around. I like it much better this way. I hated the clutter anyways. Now we just need to finish Rachel's room, our room and the kitchen/dining room.

Edited to add: we live in an apartment & we can't paint or put too many holes in the walls. Or else we will get fined when we leave.

[*Celeste*]

my motto is they are just going to destroy it anyway. LOL
so we just live simply and without a lot of clutter.
my house is blah and looks like kids live here. but i'm ok with that!

[emmasmommy]

i'm with celeste. my house isn't necessarily pretty, but it's ours and it totally is what 'we' are.

[Nettio]

I studied interior design for a year in college. Does that count?

According to Adam our home is a "medium homey." LOL I'd say the rooms we spend the most time in our homey-ish but not necessarily styled the way I would like. But we finally finished paying off our student loans and are in the process of signing a two year lease, so home stuff is next.

[scrap2day]

This blog inspires me: The Inspired Room -- not that I'm there yet.

[rach3975]

I think there's a difference between well decorated and homey. Most of our house is under-decorated, but it's comfortable and welcoming because it's filled with the things we love. And by that I mean things like toys, family photos, and comfortable clutter, not the sort of things you'd see on Pinterest. To me that welcoming feeling makes it homey. I've actually put a lot of our home goods in the basement because they'd just get ruined with the kids. There's a lot I'd love to do one day, but for now "decorating" means paint and hanging things on the walls. Anything else gets destroyed or just turns into more clutter.

As for decorating, we've lived here for 6 years, and the only rooms that are well decorated are the kids bedrooms. We're making progress on ours, but we got about halfway through what we planned to do and lost motivation. (If I'm being honest, it's really that we got through with the easier parts like buying new bedding and hanging photos and stalled when we reached the projects that require more time and effort.) I'm hoping we'll get back to it soon.

We're also starting on the family room, spurred by a new wall-mounted tv that DH wants. When we get it we'll have to do some rearranging and replace a piece of furniture, so I'm trying to do some decorating at the same time.

[Kenzi]

I feel like mine is pretty homey, but I still feel like there are things that I would change. I think it's gonna always be like that because "the grass is always greener" right?! I don't have any training in interior design, but I like to do interior design and love helping my friends with their homes. Not sure how that would work long distance though lol

[Teresa]

No, not homey at all and it stresses me out! We moved in 2 years ago and still have rooms that are empty or have boxes to unpack (i.e. my office/craft room). With two very young kids and two full time jobs, we barely have time for the basics (cleaning, cooking, laundry, "quality" time), let alone decorating...some day I hope to be able to indulge. For now, I'm a pinterest and HGTV junkie for 5 minutes here and there!

[kscwgirl]

I refuse to decorate here b/c I hate this house. but.. once we move.. it's on. I have paint colors picked out for every room.. wall art made or bookmarked to be made, vinyl wall art picked out. I"m ready. Just need my cousin to buy a house and get out of mine LOL

[joelsgirl]

Nope, not homey either. : (

We have this awful yellow paint on our walls, and the walls are dirty and every single day I think about how much I hate them. We've been planning on moving for the last three months, so hopefully on Friday we'll find out if we're going to get the new apt or not. Either way, moving or not, I'm painting next week.

I'm collecting ideas on pinterest, too, but I find it hard to turn ideas into action. Especially since there isn't a large middle class on our island, so things are either crazy expensive or total crap.

Maybe we could find a way to inspire each other to action.

[ColleenSwerb]

As much as I love pinterest and inspiration in magazines and all that, making your house your home isn't about that "perfect" look. It's about surrounding yourself with things that you love, and people you love.

One of my favorite tips on "home decor" is to have a decor closet (or shelf, or whatever). Instead of having all of your favorite stuff out all the time, only put out a few items at a time. Then when you're bored with the look, switch things out. This goes for vases, frames, pillows, blankets, decorative knick-knacks, anything really. Have a box in the basement or closet or attic that you pull out every so often and switch things around.

Homes and rooms are never "done". Your tastes change, and then you want to change things up. I think my house is comfortable. You can come in, have a seat, and relax and enjoy the company for a while without worrying about spilling something, or breaking something, etc. I don't have a ton of knick-knacks or decorative items out because Jordan HATES clutter and I haven't mastered the art of the "vignette", lol. Lately I've been doing even more decluttering, just preferring things to be a bit more simple. There are a million things I want to do around the house, and I just slowly work on it.

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

As much as I love pinterest and inspiration in magazines and all that, making your house your home isn't about that "perfect" look. It's about surrounding yourself with things that you love, and people you love.

This. Actually, I never feel well in a perfect environment. I always fear I will spill something and the host will kill me for it. Casual mess makes me feel comfortable. Decorations are nice, but they aren't the point - you don't get a homey feeling by living in a catalogue. It's about being able to relax.

[AmyG]

Not at all haha. We are moving in the next year or so, waiting to see how the market goes so we can sell here. I have no motivation to put that kind of effort into it to just leave. That said, I do hang stuff up. That is easily removed and packed. The kids and I have coordinating bed sets. Things like that I don't mind putting money into. The kitchen needs wall art and I plan on making that myself. My Dad lives with us and OMG he has the worst crap just put places so after we move his stuff will be carefully screened and the most offensive (simpsons beer stein in a box anyone) will be in his room!

[MommaTrish]

Originally Posted by emmasmommy

i'm with celeste. my house isn't necessarily pretty, but it's ours and it totally is what 'we' are.

Ditto.
We worked really hard when we first got our house to make the living room, kitchen, and boys' rooms reflect us. (or well them in the case of the boys' rooms lol) Once we moved Ryan to Zach's room and put Belly in his for a long time her room just looked more like storage with a crib. lol When we converted her crib to a toddler bed we worked harder on clearing everything out and decorating it, but it still doesn't really have the same feel as the other rooms, and I'm just not sure what to do to change it.
My room just looks like a giant closet. We just have no desire to really pretty up our room since we're only in there to sleep.

[KristinCB]

that is the thing i think i mean by "homey" so that I can look around and say this is "us" not to have something perfect or show home but something where it just feels like the perfect fit and comfortable!

Jessica - my favourite type of home is the beachy look too! I wouldn't mind if my house looked like a beach cottage.. quaint and somewhat eclectic with an airy feel to it..

I would love to just go to auction sales and buy a bunch of old crap and make it new again LOL

[Stacey42]

People say our house is homey. They seem to especially like our kitchen which has slate tile floors & countertops & a wooden island. The plates are all hanging on the wall in a plate rack because we lack cupboard space, all the coffee mugs are assembled below it for the same reason; there are several book shelves & we have two large multi photo frames on the walls, hiding holes. Not so much 'decor' as necessity but it's nice.

The living room has a wood floor, Gulden's mustard yellow walls (which I so want to paint but it took us 10 years to paint them yellow & it's only been 4 years since then so I doubt it will happen soon). The sofas clash horribly (hand me downs) but they are so comfy. There are photos all over the walls, bookshelves everywhere we can find space & games piled on top of them. Plus a woodstove. It feels lived in & loved.

[Nettio]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

As much as I love pinterest and inspiration in magazines and all that, making your house your home isn't about that "perfect" look. It's about surrounding yourself with things that you love, and people you love.

I'd agree with that. The key is to take inspiration from those images and then make them work for you and your family. But you can definitely have a well-designed or styled home that is homey and livable. I think Young House Love is a great example of this.

I do know, as someone who's had 4 addresses in 5.5 years, haha, that taking the time to personalize your space even a little can go a LONG way in making a house feel like a home. Yes the people matter but having a space that feels like "you" matters too.

[maryinaz]

I have several very rich friends with custom homes which are decorated professionally and perfectly. When I go to their houses and then come home, I realize how much I like my own house, with all it's imperfections. Their homes are not "homey" but ours is. We have sofas that none of them would dare have in their houses, but they are soft and comfy and great for watching TV or hanging out.

My boys never want to move so I guess that says something.

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by Nettio

I do know, as someone who's had 4 addresses in 5.5 years, haha, that taking the time to personalize your space even a little can go a LONG way in making a house feel like a home. Yes the people matter but having a space that feels like "you" matters too.

So true. I've lived in 3 flats during my 7 years in Luxembourg, and only the last one is really homey, because I've been there long enough.

[Priscilla]

pick ME ME ME ME

decorating my house is my hobby!

I watch decor shows and read decor blogs for inspiration.

Remember sets of 3. 3 candle sticks, 3 this/3 that.

Go to goodwill/salvation army for cheap goodies. (frames, candle stick hodlers, etc) and paint them the same color.

I LOVE Krylon spray paints.

My favorite thing? My eclectic collection of frames ALL OVER the house. I buy frames super cheap (25cents - $2/each) and paint them all the same color ... BLACK. Actually I used a rubbed bronze that looks black with a smidge of sparkle for depth and dimension ... it REALLY Looks black .... just not flat and boring.

The same thing with baskets. Resale shops generally have LOADS of baskets (small ones for trinkets, toothbrushes in the bathroom, random legos found in a million places, to larger ones that you can toss magaizines in....) I paint these black too and coat it with a high gloss clear coat finish so the black doesn't peel off.

Throws. we have several thrown on the sofas at all times. I've folded them before and put them in their "place" but the best place is just laid over an armrest.

[Priscilla]

oooh and an AREA rug with rich colors that match your style to tie a room together. we got one at pottery barn outlet for $200 (retailed for $1300).

Oooh and buy over time... when you feel a piece or set "fits"

here are some pics