Creating Spaces that Celebrate Family

One of the things I love to do is Create Spaces that Celebrate our Family... both who we are and what we love.

I want people to get to know us simply by walking through our front door and looking around at the space we call HOME.

I'm sharing some of the ways in which I make our home a scrapbook of sorts, that reflect our family and the memories we share.

Since most of our vacations are near some kind of water, be it a Great Lake or the ocean, and because it's summer time, I'll give you a peek into the ways I capture our times at the BEACH.

 Hopefully this will inspire you with some ideas in your own home with the things/places your family enjoys...

 by the way, I'm not necessarily into themed decorating, but I do think done tastefully, in the right locations, Celebrating Family Decorating, as I call it, is a wonderful way to keep a family connected. 

It brings joy, a sense of belonging and it stirs up great  memories
(I figure, if we are going to spend the money to vacation, then for crying out loud I want my kids to remember we took one!!)

 Let me encourage you to find what identifies your family... maybe that's camping, fishing, the North Woods, biking, nature, sports... whatever you love to do together, find ways to capture that, take lots of pictures and create a space your family will love to live in!

 Have fun!! By the way, you will find that most of my decorating is free or thrift. That's how we roll around here. I rarely buy brand new... I think it's more satisfying that way... and my husband appreciates it too!! 



In our bathroom, a tin wash bin from our Great Grandparents farm. Since it's magnetic, I put some family photos of us on the beach in there along with some other treasures we found.




Another tin pail from the same family farm. Brightly colored towels rolled up inside just make me smile.



 



I found this picture discounted at a Christian book store. It says 'Everyday is a gift from God'. It reminds us of our favorite spot on Lake Michigan







A little sunshine in a vase and  sand and shells displayed in jars



Shells the kids picked up  on the Gulf Coast in Florida.






Sand dollars are one of my favs! We've found them on the Gulf Coast in Fl and on the coast in beautiful Oregon! Every time I find an unbroken one barely peeking through the sand I squeal. I find such delight in the treasures God gives me. Somehow we manage to get them home in one piece.

I love to collect rocks. Most of these are from the shores of the Oregon coast and Northern Michigan. I display them in a wire basket on our coffee table



Over a decade ago, I started collecting and labeling sand from all the beaches we've been to. I write the date and the location on each label.  This is my favorite 'Celebrating Family Decorating' thing I do.  Our family loves to look at the jars of sand. We marvel at how different the grains of sand are. It brings back great memories and makes us appreciate God's creativity and awesomeness!!



I love this window I picked up at a garage sale. I decided to hang a frame on top of it and display it in our bedroom. It's of my husband and I on the beach in Michigan.





I found this frame at a thrift store. After removing the picture, I painted the mats the colors of our walls. The photo is just a cheap poster size print from Walgreen's. I filled the sconces on the walls with guess what? Yeah, sand from a trip to Mexico.

This is just the truth. I love being next to my husband... anywhere...but at the beach is simply divine! A wonderfully gifted friend of mine came up with this design after I gave her the words I wanted.

Finally, this is a wall in our basement. No, not all of my walls are ocean blue... just these 3!  It's a fun wall to display photos from our vacations.

There you have it. I little peek into our home. You don't have to spend a lot of money to create spaces that celebrate who you are and what you love. Just be creative... and if you are stuck with no ideas, find a friend to help you and just get it done already!!! 
 Because I believe every family should love the space they live in!

Blessings,
Amy