Making Your Home Your Own | The Gift of Home

A giveaway, my thoughts on making any your home your own, and a new design book you will love!

Click here for pergola and outdoor space sources.

This January marks my FOURTEENTH year of blogging here at Home Stories A to Z, and I’m so honored that some of you have been with me from the very beginning! If you’re new here and visiting from my friend Bre’s book launch tour, a special welcome! I’m excited to celebrate the launch of Bre’s new book, The Gift of Home, and share some of my thoughts on how to make your home your own. Bre and I both share a passion for teaching others how to decorate and how to make your home feel like a warm welcome to friends and family! 

Psst! At the end of this post, there is a fun book giveaway as well as links to other bloggers’ participating in the book launch blog tour. Be sure to enter for your chance to win a copy of The Gift of Home and visit Courtney from A Thoughtful Place next! I’ve included all of the links of the bloggers participating in the blog tour at the close of the post.

My Home Journey

For those of you who are new, allow me to introduce myself and my home blogging journey! My name is Beth, and I started this blog shortly after moving into our second home located in downtown Harrisburg, PA. We purchased a 115 year old, four story row home that we completely gutted down to the studs and renovated. I created the floorplans, chose the fixtures, paint colors, lighting, and flooring and then quickly regretted most of those choices. My decorating style was in transition at the time we were renovating. And although I knew I was ready for a new color palette and some new furnishings, I thought I was being wise and frugal by reusing the tired colors of my existing furnishings.

Farmhouse Bathroom Renovation – Click here for sources.

My brand new home quickly felt dark and outdated. Perhaps you can relate. Perhaps you currently have some spaces in your home that no longer feel like you. I spent the next ten years completely transforming every single square inch of our house and documenting all of the changes here on the blog. That house taught me so much, but most importantly it taught me that it is okay to change your mind about decor decisions! It’s okay to redecorate and refresh as mood and budget allows. Nothing is permanent and you can never underestimate the transformative power of budget-friendly paint! 

Our spaces should be a reflection of who we are and what we care about.

Row home transformation. Click here for exterior paint color details.

Making Our Current Home Feel Like Home

Four years ago, we sold our PA home and purchased a country home just outside of Greenville, SC. Once again, I embraced the challenge of making a home our own on a budget. Over the years, I have decorated and redecorated several rooms as mood, budget, style, and our family’s needs change and evolve. I am a firm believer that home should be a reflection of who we are as a family and what we care about. Sometimes a space might require an entire room renovation and other times it may just require a good cleaning and reorganization—but it’s always evolving to best suit our needs.

Our home sets the stage and backdrop for memories, nurturing, and life to take place! It is a refuge from the world and a warm welcome to those who enter.

Rooms Will Change and Grow as You Do

When you’re not able to afford a complete gut and remodel of a space, you make the best with what you are given! One of the selling points of our current home was the recently renovated kitchen. I was thrilled that we wouldn’t have to suffer through the expense and hassle of a full kitchen remodel; however, the kitchen has never been exactly what I wanted. Over the years, I have changed the backsplash, updated the hood, updated the lighting, changed the hardware color, changed the flooring, added a wood beam, purchased three different sets of stools, and painted the kitchen island (twice). And you know what? I enjoyed each and every look I created! Give yourself permission to try new things in your space.

New Year New Rooms

With each new year, I like to reassess how our home is working for us and what spaces need reassessing, refreshing, and/or renovating. Our primary bedroom has gone through several different looks over the last few years and has recently received some major updates.

Last summer we added a double window to allow more natural light into the room and also added a wall of Ikea Pax built-in wardrobes. The rest of the room has been waiting patiently for me to prime, paint, add molding, hang curtain rods, etc. but I just haven’t found the mojo to tackle it yet. That’s okay! Give yourself permission to decorate slowly. Transforming your home is a process and a journey that should inspire and not drain you. 

Give yourself permission to decorate a space slowly over time.

Click here for more on how we designed our Ikea Pax Wardrobe Wall.

Click here for all sources for my upcoming bedroom design!

Where to Begin When Decorating

Perhaps you’re ready to make changes to your own home this year, but you struggle with knowing where to begin. The Gift of Home book is a great resource to help you get started! In her book, Bre outlines the key elements needed to decorate every space and gives room by room inspiration using photos and ideas from her own home. She also includes many budget-friendly tips and DIY tutorials for adding character and functionality to your home. I highly recommend checking it out if you’re looking for a good do-it-yourself decorating resource!

The Gift of Home Giveaway

If you’d like a copy of the book, click below to enter for your chance to win!

Gift of Home Blog Hop

Click on the links below to see how other bloggers have made their home their own and glean some free decorating insight and inspiration!

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