Home, home on the range. There’s no place like home. Home is where the heart is. I could go on and on with the many sayings that relate to home. No matter who you are, there is always that one place that we will always call home. My brother Jon always says that home is where your bed is. I have to say that after a week or so when we are on vacation, I can’t wait to get home to my own bed. No matter how comfortable those beds are when I am away, and I have spent many of nights in a nice hotels, there is nothing more comfortable than your own bed or the comfort of your own home.

I used to consider the home that I grew up in that place I called home. After my mother passed away 3 years ago, that home didn’t have the same feel or meaning to me like it had when she was still around. Sure there are many memories that I have in the 20 plus years that I lived in my parents home but the heart and soul of the home was gone now and only my mother could make it feel that way. A new young family lives there now and I am sure that they are making many new memories with their young family. When I passed papers on that home with this young couple a year or so after my mother’s death, we presented them with a $500.00 gift certificate to the nearest supermarket and told them that my mother would have wanted them to have that so that they could fill the kitchen cabinets with food. That was always important to her when we grew up there. We always had food to grab at after school, after sports or anytime we were a little hungry. I had made my mother a dry sink cabinet one year in shop at school when I was a sophomore and that was always full with good things like cookies, cupcakes and every other sweet tooth food you can think of. Like I said, she was the heart and soul of our home growing up and she made sure our home felt that way and kept our tummies full.

Wherever you call home these days, updating that home can be stressful. The planning and going through the remodeling stage can be overwhelming but if you take your time and choose the right people at first, the experience can be so much more pleasant, especially when you move back into the space. With the cost of building a new home today, remodeling has taken center stage. People want to make their home more of who they are and match their personalities. They are choosing many new materials in their design to reflect that. Pets are also adding a lot to home designs with the explosion of pets in our homes. Many people want to reflect their pets personality into their spaces also since they are part of our everyday routines.

Another thing that made our house a home back then was our weekly Sunday dinners. You know the ones I mean where aunts and uncles came over for the big dinner, whether at 1:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon. It wasn’t a Sunday without those great dinners that my mother slaved cooking for. I can still smell the roast pork or roast beef cooking away in the oven That was a distinct smell that always made you smile. It was always roasted potatoes with the pork and mashed potatoes with the roast beef, with lots of gravy on them. My mother could always make her company happy when it came to her cooking. My uncles always raved about her meals and coffee. Coffee and sweets always followed the dinner and if you were a kid, you were not allowed at the table with the adults at that time. We would take our desserts into the living room and watch TV while they talked the weekly events going on in the world.

If you decide to remodel your home and want the space to feel more like you, take the time to research and look at new items to bring in new. Use some of those old items that mean something to your family also. Houzz is a great source to gather pictures and thoughts to present to the designers and contractors that you hire. Working with professionals if you are not handy or inspirational will add another dimension to your space. Not only will they know how to put it all together, they will offer some great suggestions that can make you completely satisfied with the final result. I’ve always said that being happy has to be your goal when doing any project. This is where you live so get it right the first time.

No matter how or what you choose, take the time to dream first and make that house, a fun place to be and a place you call home. You owe that to yourself!

Bon Appetit!

Tim Holick

This entry was posted in Inspiration, Kitchen Design, Kitchen Remodeling on May 14, 2015 by THblog.