Create A Home Retreat

It seems that 2020 is going to be our year that we all re-discover a sense of home. In our new era, we're all spending so much more time at home. Our homes have become our ultimate retreat. Here are a few tips on how to Create a Home Retreat, a personal haven, filled with beautiful, simple comforts.

Summer Florals

These are a few of my favorite ways to enhance your environment to make your home lifestyle beautiful. It will make being at home a soothing experience. 1. ADD A PERSONAL SCENTED AMBIENCE. Little mood lifters like a home fragrance or scent create more ambience in your home. Choose one signature scent, or change your scent with the seasons. Here at home, my summer potpourri favorite is >Lavender and Rosemary. 2. CREATE A WARM ATMOSPHERE. I adore our FrenchGardenHouse scented candles every time of year. Now that we are home so much more, I seem to light a candle just like I do in the fall and winter months, that welcoming little flickering flame warms my heart. My favorite scent right now is the l'Orange et Rose. Since we aren't really dining out, we are taking the time to set beautiful tables at home. You too? Often it just take a few candles to change the every night into a special evening. I either light a few of the luxury scented candles, or add a few of our summer tapers to brass candlesticks. Instant. Special feeling. Trust me on this. 3. ADD SOMETHING FRESH. I don't know about you, but "before" this time, I took it for granted that I could go shop for glorious floral bouquets. And while it's still possible to get flowers here in California, with our mostly "stay at home" orders still in force, I don't seem to go out to do that quite as often. More often than not, I lovingly place a beautiful faux floral arrangement in the living room and on the dining table. And add a little touch of fresh, be it a rose from the garden or even a few branches from a shrub in a glass vase to add a soothing ambience. This is a shot from springtime here at FrenchGardenHouse, with a nest, but I could be just as happy looking at the living room mantel decorated like this. I bought those pussy willows fresh in March, and believe it or not they are still going strong! 4. CELEBRATE THE TABLE. Beautiful table linens can really set the mood for a table, and silver and a pretty glass is like added jewelry. The luxury of a carefully set table makes lunch or dinner something to be savored. A tabletop is a great way to refresh, sitting down for a meal at an attractive table sparks joy and is an instant mood lifter! Not every day needs to be formal, but if you are gathering for a {social-distanced} family celebration or entertaining another couple, incorporating some small touches on your table signifies to your guests a sense of thoughtfulness and care when it come to spending time with them. A few garden roses and flowers together with clipped eucalyptus makes for a pretty flower arrangement.

Grey Linen Cloth | Hand Painted Delft

5. DECORATE WITH ANTIQUES. Antiques tell a story. Every home should have its own story, a narrative that embraces history but also the unique story of you and your family. What makes antiques so wonderful to decorate your home with is not just the stories and the history, it's that these pieces allow you to live in beautiful rooms without having to worry about every scratch or bump. Every antique brings its own story to your room, each one is unique, with its own personality.

Antique French Urn | Barbola Mirror {coming this week!}

At FrenchGardenHouse, we're known for our design philosophy based on the beauty of old, worn finishes. Perfectly imperfect pieces, aged wonderfully over the centuries. It makes each piece even more exciting if they are mixed in with contemporary pieces, or pieces from completely different era's. Decorating with antiques at home brings personality to your home. Each worn gilded frame, each mellowed piece of wood, and each slightly imperfect box is the result of over a century of love and life. Antiques fill every room with their personalities, and ensures that your rooms, your home, will be unlike any other. Decorating with antiques allows your own personality to shine in your home. Simple comforts have never been more important for our wellbeing, with an added element of luxury that makes the home-centric lifestyle a soothing experience.

A BIENTOT

Shop for the best in French Antiques, furniture with the patina of age, vintage accessories to delight you and your family & friends, and French Country utilitarian pieces. Treasures that make your home fresh, beautiful, inspirational and above all uniquely yours. Visit our shop FrenchGardenHouse.com