A Different Kind of Home Makeover

What makes a house a home?

• Is your home merely a place where you eat and sleep, or is it an expression of your personality and values?
• Is your home a sanctuary for you and your family, or is it a source of frustration and stress?
• Do the individual rooms in your home accomplish the functions your family needs to thrive, or do they fall short?

Do you think your ideal home can only be realized if you found your dream home? I hope not, because making a house a home is not dependent on size, location, budget, or layout.

You and I may never own our dream home, but these questions can help you bring a little of that dream house into your current living situation.

Start by looking at the whole picture

What makes a place feel or function like home to you? What do you wish your home provided for you and your family? If you had a list of goals that your house should accomplish, what would you include?

Why should I care about goals for my house?

• They inform decisions on reorganization and decluttering
• They guide choices when redecorating or replacing furniture
• They help us pinpoint where the major problem areas exist
• They enable us see what is already good about our home

How do I come up with these goals?

Write down answers as many answers as you can think of that complete the statement: I want my home to be:___. As you answer, consider the question from various angles and make sure your reflect your values, personality, phase of life, and practical realities.

An Example.

Here is the list I came up with for my house.

I want my home to be:

• A peaceful, safe retreat for me and my family
• Welcoming and comfortable for guests
• A place where married children (and their potential offspring) can spend the night.
• Easy to maintain and efficient to use
• Warm, simple, cozy.
• Uncluttered, unpretentious, comfortable.
• Full of things that spark joy in my heart
• Adaptable for large gatherings
• Not something I am afraid to share with others

Next, look at the pieces

How does a house accomplish goals like those above? One room at a time.

We generally take the rooms in our house for granted, yet each room plays a specific role in accomplishing our home goals. If we want to bring our home closer to our goals, we need to look at each room and figure out how it is—or is not—functioning as it should.

Make a list of each room and consider the following for each:

1. Current reality:

• How do we actually use this room right now?
• What stuff do I keep in this room?
• What are the key features I love? (ie. Fireplace, view, etc.)
• What are main things that frustrate me? (Function, décor, layout, etc.)
• Why do they frustrate me?

2. How I wish the room was:

• Key activities/functions the room should facilitate:
• Things I wish I could use this room for
• The mood/atmosphere/emotions I want this room to reflect
• List 3 – 5 adjectives that describe my ideal for this room

3. Ideas for Improvement:

• What stuff do I need in this room for it to function well?
• What hinders the room from functioning as I would like?
• What can I easily change to make things work better?
• What long-range things could be fixed to make this room better?

An Example

Here is how I would answer the questions for my dining room

Current reality:

• How do we use it today?
  • eating when guests visit
  • depository for large items carried into the house,
  • project work area
• What stuff do I keep here:
  • Nice tableware, large serving ware, tablecloths
  • Vases, candles, miscellaneous décor items.
  • Large items waiting for someone to deal with them
  • Gifts needing to be wrapped
• What are the key features I love? Built-in china cupboard, handsome and comfortable table and chairs.
• What are main things that frustrate me? Sort of an isolated corner of the house, so not used much for social gatherings. Not great traffic flow. Projects tend to get left sitting around for weeks.
• Why do they frustrate me? It causes a room that should look lovely to instead look cluttered. The room tends to be underutilized and ignored

How I wish the room was:

• Key activities/functions the room should facilitate:
  • Comfortable eating area for family and guests
  • A nice first impression for people coming in the front door.
  • Sufficient and good-looking storage space for pertinent serving ware.
• Things I wish I could use this room for: I wish the traffic flow made it more useful for large family dinners and parties in general.
• The mood/atmosphere/emotions I want this room to reflect: an elegant but not stuffy ambiance for guests. A showcase for my personal style.
• List 3 – 5 adjectives that describe my ideal for this room: Welcoming, serene, simple yet stylish.

Ideas for Improvement:

• What stuff do I need in this room for it to function well? Tablecloths, tableware, and other items (ie. salt shakers) that make it easy to set a nice table.
• What hinders the room from functioning as I would like? Extraneous stuff that lands here because it is an out-of-the-way to plunk it. Projects that don’t get cleaned up.
• What can I easily change to make things work better? Get rid of stuff stored in the cupboard that doesn’t belong here. Resist the urge to use it as a convenient storage room. Remember to use it rather than the kitchen table when people come to dinner.
• What long-range things could be fixed to make this room better? Replace worn carpet.

This may seem like a lot of work to make a list for every room in your house, but honestly pondering these questions can truly help you pinpoint where your house is working, where it most frustrates you, and how some simple changes might help.

May you take a step closer to creating your dream home this week.

Get a downloadable version of these questions here.