Home

Wonderful music is playing, scrumptious candles are burning, fresh flowers are on the table and dinner is gently simmering. The atmosphere is quiet and relaxed. My heart is full and my soul is content. The latest holiday magazines are on the old trunk/coffee table and a cozy throw is draped over the arm of the chair. I dearly love all things ‘home’...the place which should gather you up like a cashmere blanket, soothe your hurt feelings, and prepare you to go back in to the world and fight dragons.

Because I’m a nester, after spending an entire day making decisions and dealing with sometimes cranky people, I can hardly wait to get home. And when I come home I want my house to feel secure and beautiful, sort of like the way you feel when you get into a bed piled high with fluffy pillows—you just feel safe.

Like with most people, the heartbeat of my home is in the kitchen—-the place where my guests and I always end up. It has lots of natural light and just outside the breakfast room window is a lovely birdbath and a bird feeder where the cardinals and blue jays routinely gather for daily meals. Many are the secrets and hopes and tears and fears that have been shared at my kitchen table over a cup of tea. Mercy.

What few realize is that what makes a home feel warm and cozy and casual doesn’t just happen, but is actually quite deliberate. The key is finding what works for you and what appeals to all the senses of those who enter your world. But more than being captivated by delicious aromas and beautiful flowers and rugs, when entering my humble abode I want those whom I love to feel my warm embrace, which I hope will make them feel right at home. I want my guests to feel as comfortable as if they are family, a feeling that will always make them want to come back for more.