Tip Of The Week - Does Your Home Express Who You Are?

When people come into your home, do they know who you are right away?

This is something that I think is very important for each person to incorporate in their home.

Every single room in my home plays a part in expressing who I am as well as my whole family.

First off..... when you first walk into my front door, you see this sign....

If you can't read it, it says "Aloha, Please remove your shoes, Mahalo."

I am very big on people removing their shoes inside of the home so I found this sign in Hawaii a couple of years back and had to have it to let people know that is what is expected in our home and that we would appreciate them following it. :)

The next thing, and I think it is the most important thing(s) to us in our home are our religious beliefs and expressing those in our home.

Now I just want to state that these are things that are important to us and that we express in our home and are not intended to offend anyone if they believe otherwise.

But the very first thing that you notice when you walk into my front room is the large picture of Christ that is hanging above my sofa.

This is one of the few pieces of that we spent a lot of money on in our home and it was very important to me that it was placed basically front and center in our home. I want people to know that when they walk into our home, it is a Christian home with Christian values and we would appreciate it if everyone respected that when they came into our home.

When you walk into our family room, right in the corner against this red/orange wall is our Christus, so once again, a reminder of what is central in our home.

Here are some scriptures that are dear to us from our religion.

and a Proclamation to the Family that was put out by our church.

and here is a picture of where my husband and I were married.

All of these things are incorporated in our main living areas to remind us as well as let others know what is important to us as well as what is "expected" if you will, in our home.

In my living room I have this framed saying on my wall about being an Extraordinary Human Being

it is great for anyone to read as well as a reminder to myself.

Now you have seen this in a previous post before,

but one of the most important things in my life is my family and I want to make that known so I created this framed picture of it.

Now this is something that is in my kitchen window sill now and is a great reminder every time I go to the sink.

As you have seen in previous posts, I have pictures of my family all over my house as well as pictures of my travels up in my office. These are also great things that are up to show what is important to us and expressing who we are.

Because this tip is such a big deal to me in my own personal life, I don't really hang up a picture or something on the wall that isn't something that fits into being important to me or expressing who I am. I do not have any art work up in my home anywhere, I would rather have a picture of a family member or something dear to me than a random store bought painting that means nothing to me..... that doesn't mean that I am against having those in the home, I definitely use them when I design other people's homes if it calls for it. I just prefer in my own personal home having something that is dear to me.

Have you walked around your home lately and analyzed what people are seeing of you in it? If you haven't, I would suggest doing that and making your home personal and expressive of who you are.

Model homes or Parade of Homes type homes are great and beautiful, but every time I go through them, they lack that personality and personal expression touch that I personal believe that every home needs.

I love going into people's homes and seeing who they are. What's important to them... Who's important to them.

Don't be afraid of letting people know who you are..... Your home is meant to be your own personal sanctuary.. right!