I grew up in a family where we spent a lot of time at home. Aunts and cousins and uncles would visit even if it wasn’t a birthday or holiday. I have fond memories of family gatherings and thinking back now, I always knew that home was a safe place.
Now that I have a home of my own, and a family as well, I’ve been working towards making my own home welcoming and inviting for all who come to visit. It has been an evolution of a home in the past five years as I married, had a child and my home was constantly changing to accommodate the growth of our child and then we even moved homes. So I have a few ideas about how to create that welcoming, inviting and peaceful space for both your family and your guests.
Have Intentional Spaces in Your Home
The thing I have found that really makes our home inviting and functional is that we have intentional spaces. Each room has its own function. We have a a family room with a TV, a kitchen and dining room and then a living room. The kitchen and dining room are used for cooking and entertaining, and since the dining room is extended into the living room, we have purposely made the living room a space where we can gather.
Having that space where you can sit with family, or with guests, has proved really nice. It invites conversation and comfort and allows people to relax and feel at home. My husband and I like to sit there and enjoy a cup of tea, or in the evening, a glass of wine, and just talk about things. I feel as though having this space is so much nicer than standing around in someone’s kitchen to chat, so I’m very glad we have this space that is just for conversation. And I love that these three rooms–the kitchen, dining room and living room–are connected but also divided by one wall so it’s easy to entertain if we have a full sit down supper and there is room to spread out and eat and chat and relax.
And of course, we have other spaces like the family room for watching TV, and an office for my husband and even a play room for my son. Though of course he plays all over the house.
Limiting Screens in Your Home
Now, I don’t mean not having televisions or devices because that’s just impractical in the twenty first century. However, limiting how many devices you have in your home is something I think is important. We have one TV and our son has only very limited access to our personal devices. Personally, I think having less screens means we spend more time together as a family instead of just staring at a screen. I also think having less screens means we invite more intimacy into our homes as it’s a place where we can gather and connect.
Screens can creep into spaces where they really don’t belong–like the bedroom. I know some people really enjoy having a television in their bedroom, but we prefer to keep that room as place for rest and sleep. The focus is on connection in our home and limiting screens is one way we find makes the home a place of connection and rest.
Make Your Rooms Cozy Spaces
This is something I think I makes a BIG difference when you have guests over. Rooms should be functional but they should feel cozy. I have tried to make each room feel cozy by having thick rugs underfoot, cushions that invite you to sink into them, and candles and blankets. My son loves cuddling up with the blankets (and playing with them) but these things make the spaces cozy and welcoming to those who enter your home.
I’m not big on aesthetic for the sake of aesthetic, but I do like to have a colour palette and I think that helps the home feel less chaotic and more soothing. My living space is white and green, and I try and keep it as clutter free as possible so that when we are in that space, it’s relaxing and cozy. This also makes the space more inviting for guests as they are not visually overwhelmed by clutter and a lot of things everywhere. Clutter is the exact opposite of inviting, so be sure to minimize that and arrange your home decor with intention.
Intentional Decor
My husband and I are very intentional with our decor. It took me an entire year to arrange the decor pieces in our built in glass cabinets. I wanted it to be a reflection of us, and I wanted it to hold things we love or that are meaningful to us but also matched the colours of the room. I included a lot of books because I love to read and love the classics. I also included some pieces I’ve had for many years as well as some new ones.
Something I am going to be incorporating into our decor is faith based artwork. Or rather, needlework as I have started learning embroidery and have made one piece that I do want to frame and hang in our home. This is important to me because my husband and I are really reverting to our faith and I want the Lord to be known to those who enter my home.
We are keeping the faith based decor quietly simple, but we both think it’s important to have. Other art pieces take centre stage, but those pieces that point to Christ are still present. We don’t include statues of Buddhas, which is a weird trend I see some people adopting even though they are not Buddhist, or other new age-y kind of decor. It didn’t really appeal to us before our reversion and even if it had, it doesn’t fit our mid-century home which has a vintage to modern feel.
We thought it more important to work with the feel and character of the house we bought instead of forcing a certain kind of aesthetic style into it. Which is one way I think we can all make our homes more inviting–don’t force a look into it, especially if it’s going to cost you a ton in renos. Work with what you have instead of a style and your home will feel very welcoming and cozy.
Final Thoughts
Creating a welcoming home requires intention and love. A lot of the choices we made were made because we wanted to put family at the centre of our home and that was an expression of love and connection. We also wanted to make it a space others could feel at home in and I think we have managed to do just that with having a gathering space. My husband and I really followed our gut about home decor instead of trying to achieve some look we had seen on Pinterest, and that allowed us to work with the style and character of our home and that has hugely helped make our home far more welcoming in my opinion. I know you can make a welcoming home too with some of these tips!