My Summer Cottage...and Yours

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Where is your mind in the summer? Mine is somewhere on the coast of Maine--one of my favorite places on earth. 

Just thinking about the pond and mountains and fresh air our family loves...my heart skips a beat and a smile spreads across my face.

Where is your favorite summer place?

Maybe you already own your dream summer cottage, maybe you get to visit yours as a rental....or perhaps just driving by while dreaming, or flipping through a magazine. We all have a favorite place that comes to mind as Memorial Day ushers in the season.

While most of us cannot spend a full three months away on vacation, we can capture the essence of that place we love so much, and bring it home to our everyday house, making each day of the season ahead that much more special.

Having a summer that is extra summery-- full of beauty & simplicity each day--that sounds fantastic to me. How about you?  

So let's think about what makes our time away so special? What are the qualities of a summer cottage that we can recreate here at home??

Here are just a few ideas:

  • summertime simplicity--when on vacation we only have the things we need with us, and nothing else. How freeing! Start to create this simplicity by throwing away, putting away, or giving away at least 10 things in each room of your house and give yourself a vacation from all of that stress and visual clutter.
  • a slower pace--make sure you have time built in to your schedule this summer just to spend quiet time at home. Put your feet up and enjoy the evening breeze with an iced tea on the porch or a glass of wine on the deck.
  • light and bright--put away heavier, darker fabrics and rugs (you can get them back out again come September), and put some accessories around that are colorful and airy. I bet you already have some things in your house that would qualify...no shopping needed. Think sparkly clear glass vases, white bed linens, a collection of sea shells from last year's trip....
  • fresh flowers and natural treasures--a little life in a room goes a long way. Flowers are blooming and leaves are unfurling everywhere right now, so be sure to bring some indoors. The kitchen table, your nightstand, the bathroom sink are all places that can benefit from a blossom or two. These are also good places to set out the seashells I mentioned, or other things collected on vacation from Mother Nature that evoke a summery vibe. 

Here's to a relaxing, peaceful, and beautiful summer at your summer cottage--wherever it may be!

 

Let's Flip Your House!

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Ok, so maybe you don't want to move...

But you aren't really sure you want to STAY either? 

AmmIRIGHT? 

We all reach a point with our houses, from time to time, where we are DONE with them. (I have been there myself!) Like, get me outta here.

And this may be the perfect time to go through the motions as if (we are just pretending here) we are going to put the darn, disappointing thing on the market. 

How does this help??

Well, all of a sudden, we begin to look at our house through another person's eyes--a potential buyer's eyes--and we will see things a little bit differently. 

You know all those things you have been tolerating? All that chipped paint in your bedroom, the powder room toilet that has been running intermittently, the living room layout that has never felt quite right--

Those things will NEVER DO when that sign gets posted on the front lawn and the open house is scheduled for next Sunday!! 

It is time to polish this thing up and make it beautiful. It is time to get our game face on, carve some time out of our weekends, and make this happen. 

Because life is so busy, it is so easy to NOT put your home on project status, and just slowly become more and more disenchanted with it each year we knock around in it, watch it age, and continue to live with rooms that don't serve us. 

However, when it is  "Your Potential Buyer" that will be disappointed, suddenly the urgency and energy is there to make the most of things, pull rooms together, and make sure the spaces in our house are beautiful and welcoming...

So this FLIP really is a flip in our attention and intentions with our house. We are trying to impress someone else...and in the process, we may just impress ourselves, and fall in love with where we live all over again.

So, are you up for this challenge? 

It can be really simple things and inexpensive fixes that can make all the difference (as you can see here in this redesign I did earlier this year), so don't hesitate to take the next step! I have a few openings in my Redesign Program this summer, where we meet for a couple of sessions and make HUGE changes in how you feel about your house, and how your rooms function for you. 

Your house is too big of an investment to not love each day you spend in it. 

Here is where you can learn more about what the first step is if you are interested in taking this challenge with me this summer. 

I'm excited! Hope to see you soon!!