Pockets of glow

I had the chance to go to the craft store today (AKA Hobby Lobby) and lo and behold, a wonderous sight greeted me -- FALL DECORATIONS! Yes, yes, I know we're in a horrible heat wave in the middle of August, but seeing all those Fall decorations made me so blissfully happy! All who know me know how much I love the Fall, with the smells of baking, the decorations, the crunchy leaves underfoot, the warm sweaters and cool, overcast days....

ah... the very best time of the year...

But I digress.

I don't know what Fall does for you, but it makes me want to set up a cozy little home and spruce it up with all sorts of wonderful decorations.

Which brings me to the whole point of this post: home decor.

My husband's mom (she HATES to be called a "mother-in-law") has decorated their home so nicely. She's rather eclectic and loves to display all sorts of knick-knacks, but it WORKS, thanks to what I described to her as "pockets of glow." All around their tiny little house she has set up little corners here and there, each with its own light source and place to sit, that are so inviting and wonderful!

I have tried to recreate that as best as possible, and I thought I'd share it with you... because, if you're anything like me, you like to see how other people have decorated their homes! (I love it when bloggers post their house pictures! I get so many great ideas and so much inspiration from seeing what others have done!)

[you'll have to use your imagination a bit, however, because I had some difficulty taking the pictures. If I used the flash, it was too bright, and if I didn't, it was too dark... oh well]

Here, for example, is the pocket of glow I have right here next to me on my desk:



It's nothing fancy, but the lamp and the soft glow is so inviting!

Next is a corner in my living room. I have to admit, this is one of my favorite corners of the house. The lamp, the chair, the old-timey radio and the pictures set up such a nice display that visitors are usually drawn to it. It's the perfect place to sit with a hot cup of tea and read a book while listening to Echoes on NPR...



This next little pocket is in our hallway, just inside the front door. We don't have any sort of foyer, so this was our attempt to make a plain hallway a bit more inviting! Again, it's much prettier in person, but the soft glow in the hallway, the statue of Mary, the fun old-timey phone (sensing a theme here?) and the table my husband built makes another spot that just feels so... peaceful.



I even tried to spruce up the laundry room. It's mighty small (think closet-sized) and I needed SOMETHING to make me happy in there... so once again Hobby Lobby came to the rescue with a lamp and a fun French poster -- and the result is that I look forward to doing laundry at nighttime, because this little pocket of glow makes me happy.



The last picture doesn't seem to fit, but you'll just have to trust me on this one. We even have a "pocket of glow" in our bathroom (but unfortunately, the bathroom is kinda small, and it was impossible to get a decent picture... believe me, I tried). However, I can show you the wonderful shelves my husband built. This door used to be a window (before we added on to the house). When the builder put in the door, we were left with a horrible hole in the wall where the rest of the window used to be. My husband, well known for taking "a bug and calling it a feature," was able to fill up the hole with these fun little shelves, which I fill up with all sorts of seasonal displays. Obviously, "beach" is the summer theme around here! I took some poster putty and stuck my little sea-shell friends up on the wall, and the result has been a fun display that my kids have really enjoyed!



I hope you've enjoyed this little "Chez Ouiz" tour! Anyone else want to play along? Do you have a quiet spot... a pocket of glow... or a little corner of your house that makes you blissfully happy... that you'd be willing to share?