Austin Toaf Rica

Posts Tagged ‘reference’

To increase the feeling of “no place like home,” how about decorating for a favorite aunt with a three-dimensional wall hanging? Grandmother’s hand-me-down dress against one wall is reminicent of times when women didn’t always wear jeans. I drape a red cut- glass necklace that belonged to Grandma Daisy over a gold-framed mirror as a symbol of her love of elegant things. Photographs of her in elaborate hats and lavish lace collars add the charm of the gilded age I missed.
For a girlfriend, change out of the Victorian style by replacing Grandma’s dress with Mom’s. I treasure my mother’s fifties-era little black dress, so early “Jackie.” In this outfit, Mom looked like the princess she never recognized herself to be. I can change the whole context of a guest room by using that dress to achieve black-and-white elegance. Photographs of Parisian scenes, stored from the girls’ old rooms, replace the Victorian motif.

You’ll find other ways to express hospitality by combing the pages of good books and searching for details in the photographs of home and garden magazines. Tour model homes, and take mental notes when you visit the homes of friends.
A wise woman hears one word and understands two, so give yourself time to ponder. Most important, lend your prayers and your fervent attention to the art of making a stranger feel at home. Seize the sparkle. Take back the night. Your guests will love the difference.

when a granddaughter comes to visit, out come the little table and chairs and tiny tea sets. Yellow gingham with pink toilet draped over window and bed make the room seem fairy- tale-like too.
Guest rooms are a work in progress. I used to wonder what to do with all the books I’d collected over the years. Now, when a guest arrives, I pull those I imagine my guest will enjoy and stash them around the room for browsing: Cute volumes of stories for grandmothers. Motivational themes for go-getters. Gardening books, beauty and health magazines, and home design catalogs for girlfriends. I tuck these away in a basket on the floor or poise them on a shelf or bedside table. Photograph or coffee-table books especially make a pleasant exit to the day for a tired traveler.
A small table in a corner of the room can become sacred space when you leave a candle with matches to light it alongside a personal note of welcome. Some small icon from your natural habitat makes it an altar where your guest can be reminded that good things come from God and where thanks can be given.For my home, that might be a pretty pine cone, a vase of tall grasses, or a bouquet of red and black volcanic stones. It doesn’t have to be colorful; it just needs to be a token of the holy sense of place where you live.