The most creative "work in progress" house ever - Northampton County, NC (photo by Lilly Crowheart)
How do you judge your house? By its outward appearance? By the furniture you can afford? By the atmosphere contained within? By its level of cleanliness and organization?
Can a home be a tool, purposefully used to support a life consciously lived?
Some ideas I have for a new life in a new house:
- Our home is a place we belong, a safe place to rest and reflect, a homebase for anything we want to pursue and anywhere we want to explore
- The house is a solid frame through which we look at The Big Picture; when something seems troubling or wrong in our lives, we can take a moment to ground ourselves in its solid foundation and see the context to understand the true magnitude of the worrying detail
- Owning a home is the freedom and the ability to make the space in our home serve our needs – to build, decorate and adapt to create the atmosphere and amenities that support the life we envision
Chaos is Creativity - a source of joy
- Perfection is a naive and absurd pursuit – the real joy and value is in creating, adapting and enjoying a work in progress
March 30, 2011 is like a day of birth, a moment beyond which our lives will be transformed. Buying our new home is an event that no one can ever take away; it is the fulfillment of a dream. We can live that dream to the best of our abilities every day thereafter.
Wise Way Tribe 
Oh Elena!!! I am so HAPPY to hear you are buying your own home!!!!
I love this blog and have also reached that thought pattern on what a home means to us and how it is used… I don’t know if you know but we moved to Wake Forest (north of Raleigh) and although we are renting, this house feels more like a home than that big one in Denver ever did!
I hope you will be happy in your new house and post many pictures of its transformation into a home!
I am also happy to find out that SOME people think chaos is actually CREATIVITY! LOL! I must be VERY creative : )
Congratulations!!!
Your friend always,
Adriana
Thank you, Adriana. I’m so glad to hear that you’re in a comfortable place. Best wishes in your new home!
A warm, safe place for all the family – in every way, with, as a cousin of Craig’s puts it, a magic kettle – which seems to boil whenever anyone enters. I’m so excited for you. What a great adventure. 🙂
It does feel like an adventure. I love the magic kettle image!
Your descriptions of home are lovely! I wish you and your family all the very best.
I think therein lies the difference between house and home, house is just the physical space, the four Walls and roof that you buy. What you fill it with, furniture, belongings, experiences, joy, laughter makes it truly a home.
It is interesting for me too, being an immigrant, people always ask do you go ‘home’ (and they mean country of origin) often and I say “but I am home!”
What a wonderful home you’ll have!
Thanks Li-ling! It’s kind of like the Taoist idea that the bowl is valuable, but the space within is what makes it useful. And of what value is something if it serves no purpose?!