Homemaking

I became a homemaker in my early twenties. My first home was a small basement apartment I shared with a roommate during my first two years of university, where I hung hand-sewn curtains on the short windows, spread my mom's handmade quilt on the bed, and laid my grandma's handmade rug on the floor.

a doll quilt Brienne's stitched in 2012, next to my grandmother's quilting

Even then, when a lot of my peers were partying their way through university, I was a busy-bee at home; studying, falling in love with my husband, planning for my future, and dreaming about becoming a mother. I have always been drawn to homemaking and being home. I come by that honestly having been raised by an accomplished homemaker mom, and a home-loving (and home builder) dad.

I'm a homebody with an adventurous husband and my own adventure-loving disposition. (I've done a lot of writing on the blog processing this inter-personal and intra-personal dynamic in my life.)

From that first basement apartment with girlfriends I've made home in fourteen different places as an adult, including a communal living arrangement, half-a-year of "moving back home to my parents" with my husband and our three kids, a one month "tourist-type" apartment rental in-between other homes, and six months on the Appalachian Trail.

You could say I'm a serial homemaker. I just keep making home wherever I land.

Currently, home is a cosy first-floor apartment in Montreal, where we've lived since 2015. Making a home in this south facing, white-walled, honey-colored wood floors, and dark kitchen cabinets apartment gives me tremendous joy.

My homemaking specialties are organizing and managing physical space and resources. (To be very clear, I'd rather organize the kitchen than cook in the kitchen.) I'm also good at creating rooms that are both cozy and clean with a colorful, eclectic aesthetic. In other words, we rescue furniture off the side of the road, build some ourselves, and buy the rest at IKEA.

I have a thing for the color red and it features predominantly in my home, as on this blog. Homemaking provides a satisfying creative outlet and I love making things for our home, though my style tends towards simplicity and utility.

A couple years ago I wrote a homemaking mission statement, as a vision for the kind of home I want to create and an affirmation of the work I do here.

Home Mission Statement

I create spaces for living, learning, cooking, creating, studying, relaxing - being together - that are comfortable, clean, efficient, beautiful, welcoming, and organized.

My ideal home is both bright and warm. It is a simple space where people feel comfortable and welcomed.

The purpose of building home is to raise our children in a loving atmosphere, to create a safe space for our family to learn and work together, and to share the gift of our home with other people.

My primary aim in homemaking is to create a safe space for my family to be loved and nurtured. My explicit goal, which I have posted on a 3x5 index card above my desk, is that "I want my kids to feel at ease in who they are, in this home, and in our relationship. You can be you in this space."

I have consistently found (and I've lived enough places to know!) this doesn't require fancy meals, lots of square footage, the right color scheme, or the best furniture. What builds this kind of environment is relationship and that's ultimately what homemaking supports, relationships.

Hospitality is a natural extension of this kind of homemaking and sharing our home with other people is a strong calling in my life. This too, I inherited from my parents. My hospitality-related resource posts are found in the Adventure Living library in Travel & Hospitality.

hosting a friend's birthday in our Montreal apartment

The page links below feature posts I've written about different physical facets of homemaking.

Homemaking posts by topic

If the inner life was not such a demanding and relentless muse, my blog would feature more homemaking content for sure. Homemaking is one of my primary vocations, and a key piece of who I am.

For house tours, photos of our apartment, and different places we've made home, see Moving & House Tours.