Making a house a home

It’s raining. The dogs are bored. Oliver is chasing the cat around the house, doing his little bunny hop dance and attempting to snap at Allie’s tail whenever she jumps up (thank goodness his reflexes are slow and Allie only threatens to swipe at him with her claws without actually connecting). Sadie and Charley are arguing over who should get to lie on the bed – at the moment Charley is the winner, and Sadie is sulking on the cedar chest at its foot. She is, I suspect, waiting, waiting, waiting for Charley to hop down so she can stake her claim.

"This sucks. I want the bed. Move, ya dumb ox. Grumble grumble."

The Princess Belle follows me from room to room as I move about cleaning this, or moving that…..in each room she settles down on the best available cushion or bed, only to rise with a sigh when she sees me move to another room. Poor Belle – she just wishes her mama would sit still for a bit! Perhaps it is a good day to read a book. But other tasks call to me – little things I am working on, little changes I am making to my house.

"Would you PLEASE stay put??!!!"

I am in love with my house. When I first bought it, it was a “good enough” house – right location, right price, right size but nothing exciting. This past week, I have found myself wandering around thinking “I love this house. I just LOVE this house.”. Slowly I have been transforming it to match my tastes – a bit of paint here, a bathroom reno there, new light fixtures throughout (oooohhhhh the sunshine ceiling in the kitchen gives the whole house a brand new feel – I love, love, love it!), a couple of new closet doors, rearranging this and that, surrounding myself only with things that give me pleasure – good books, some pieces of family history, bright and warm artwork, real wood. Yesterday I brought my beautiful patio bistro table in for the winter – a brilliant splash of colour to brighten the dark winter days.

"Hmmm...needs cleaning...has rain spatters..."

"Waiter, clean this table....and bring me a half litre of cream!"

An interior designer would no doubt have a heart attack looking at my place, as nothing is particularly modern (or uniformly antique, for that matter) and the furniture is a mish-mash of woods and fabrics and styles – but it is MY place, a comfortable place, a place of peace and solitude and yet a place to welcome friends.

And, because I am not worried about having the Home Beautiful image, it is a place where my dogs and cat are welcome everywhere, in every room, on every piece of furniture and on every rug.

And my critters, of course, are what make my house my home.