What makes a house warm?
What makes a house feel like a home?
I thought about this a good amount after being invited to my friend’s Housewarming party and I answered my own question in her gift. These are things I value in my own home and provided to my friend in her gift:
1. Clean
Life is messy. Most of that I cannot clean up, but I try to clean what I do have power over. You can tell when life is a bit overwhelming for me because I will start cleaning out closets, mopping floors, and doing laundry. There’s enough messiness out in the world, I want my home to feel warm, welcoming and put together.
2. Hospitable
Following from #1, when my house is clean I am less distracted and able to engage in relationship and conversation. Few things have the power to derail my attention like a pile of junk which cries out, “Kelly! Stop listening to your roommate tell you about her day and come clean me up!” I want my home and my life to be hospitable. I want to invite others into my home and my heart. I want to do things in service for others. I do not want my home to be a fortress where I block out everyone else, I want to do life together.
3. Happy!
Somethings in your home should be just for fun! No I don’t need a giant carved key in my bedroom, but it makes me smile. It reminds me of a memory and the friend who was with me when I bought it. It makes my house and my heart warm. Have a silly pillow or a funny picture on the wall, or crazy patterned towels. Do something that is totally you, even if it’s not the most functional thing ever!
That’s what I put together for my friend: things to clean, things to serve and welcome others into her house, and things to make her smile as she feathers her new nest.
What about you? What would you add to make your house warm or for a housewarming gift?