By – Sue Reyes
Let’s face it, if you could, you’d stay forever in your Tagaytay luxury home, and never leave. But if you’re the type of person who has a luxury vacation home and only has been there a couple of times since work has been demanding, then a good weekend off is well deserved. But you want it somewhere that feels a little more familiar, close, and homey, so here’s a few tips on how to make your house feel more like a home.
One of the first things you should do is make the most of every inch of your house. Use your facilities, because it will give that well-lived in feel. Cook in your kitchen, let your children play in the living room, eat on that beautiful wood table in your dining room, fill your bookshelves with loved books–all of these will give your house a warm kind of feel.
Invite people to your house. It doesn’t matter if “it’s not done yet.” Enjoy having friends and family in your space, host parties, enjoy a quiet dinner with your family, or a loud get together with friends you haven’t seen in while. Don’t make your house look perfect like a hotel. A perfect house is too staged, too fake. You don’t want a perfect, immaculate looking hotel room for a home–it’s going to make you feel disconnected. Love your imperfect home.
Make some noise! Listen to music! Fill your house with whatever kind of genre you want. Slow dance with your spouse, go crazy with your children, or with friends with a couple of drinks. Filling your house with music together with family and friends is just like filling it with memories.
Or quiet down. When all the bustle of the day has toned down, everybody is tired and sleeping, or reading a book, or keeping to themselves with a few episodes of their favorite shows, you can take a deep breath, and enjoy the blissful peace and silence of your home.
Be in your home. Not just you yourself as a person, but your physical presence such as leaving your unfinished books on the sofa in the living room, your indoor slippers near the coat closet, or your laptop and organic k cups in the office with a few pieces of paper strewn around, your towel of the week hung on the towel rack in your bathroom, the toys in the living room and in the hallway, or your spouse’s morning routine sprawled out in the bathroom. The mess you and your family leaves in the house represents them. Be in your home.
Create rituals. Movie nights on Fridays, and game nights on Saturdays, a quiet holy weekend with your family. Keep your traditions going, make more memories, and look forward to making more.
Cook food! Unless you’ve cooked in your house, it’s not a home. Nothing beats the smell of your favorite dish coming from the kitchen, or the warm, safe, welcoming scent of cookies being baked. Every home cooked meal nourishes not just your body, but also your soul.
About the Blogger:
Sue Reyes is a former writer for CNN Philippines and Aspiring Fashion Blogger
Follow her on twitter: @suereyesfashion
