House Art Journal

I admit it, I'm a jewelry person. I love accessories, especially if they're shiny. Last year I was wearing a lot of homemade necklaces with glass beads, and I decided to heap them like a pile of treasure, in a favorite round basket with makeup and hair accessories and brush. And of course I couldn't resist taking a picture to capture the exhibition. Mom's dresser, as the largest horizontal surface in most bedrooms, too easily becomes the catchall for all sorts of odds and ends, important things saved from the toddler or the cat, important-looking things whose proper destination other family members are unsure of -- my dresser quickly becomes cluttered. The final step in cleaning my room is always cleaning my dresser. My constant battle is to keep it uncluttered and home only to the things I need and things I find beautiful, as William Morris said. This basket was last year's attempt to make the necessary things beautiful. This year, the struggle continues.

Well, after three weeks of construction, the outer shell of the addition for our house is done. We can hardly believe it -- we've spent months and months planning this addition, and it's startling and odd to see it looming up above our old carport. And it's amazing that it's up -- given the wind, freezing rain, and snow we've had over the past weeks. But our construction crew (Klassen Construction, great guys) didn't quit until the job was done. Lots still needs to be done -- if the weather lets us, the standing seam metal roof will be put on this week. And then we need to scrape together the money to get it wired for electricity (need to chase down our electrician friend), insulation, roughing in the plumbing -- and then, yes, finishing. We're anticipating that finishing will take us a while. But that's okay, because not having a lot of money means lots of time for dreams. And that was what I was doing last night, as I walked through the bare studs, li

From Stephannie: I'm fascinated by the idea that with fewer and nicer toys the kids will respect and treat them properly...and I'm wondering if that applies to dishes and tableware, as well. I liked your use of "Sunday Silver" and was wondering about your thoughts on this subject. I've seen families who use enamelware (which doesn't break, but chips and rusts), melamine (aka, plastic), fiestaware (sturdy but still breakable), and mismatched corelle (very breakable, but cheap to replace at garage sales and thrift stores). Others, like us, have plastic kid-sized stuff for the kids. I don't mind the colorful plates and bowls so much (they match our colorful fiesta dishes) but am ready to toss the plastic spoons, forks, and awful collection of sippy cups that I currently regard as a necessary evil. Thank you, stephanie I respond: Hi Stephannie! Sorry it took me so long to respond! I favor using a combination of enamelware, which (as you said) chips and rusts,

Thanks Charlie! Hi Regina, I love your blog. In the comment section of your topic about expensive toys you asked us to send you some links to the children's toys we love. I don't usually buy toys (they just seem to keep marching into our house from outside sources), but here are a couple of my favorite ready-made toy links: www.heirloomwoodentoys.com and www.wonderbrains.com I really prefer homemade toys to store bought ones though, and so I'm including some sites that show parents how to make dolls for their children. Corn Husk Dolls: http://www.nativetech.org/cornhusk/dollinst.html As a child I grew up on a farm, and one of the main things we grew was corn. Each year at harvest time, my sister and I were able to make new dolls from the corn husks. I think my mom still has some of our better creations, and I'll see if I can get some pictures up on my blog. I found the above website, that has a very good pattern for these unique little friends, which can be embellishe

Sorry it's taken me a while to finish this post. Life intervened, as they say.... Here's how we rearranged the room. This time for a focal point, I used the wardrobe (from IKEA ). Since it's kind of high for a horizontal surface, the kids don't tend to put so much clutter on it. On top sits a dollhouse log cabin (since it has glass windows, I like to keep it up high) and a plant. The girls use the wardrobe for clothes (there's no closet in the room) and it's easy to close the doors when it's messy. As for the shelf for toys, I decided to use it as a room divider to section off my older daughter's art area. We painted the back green to match the walls and hung up artwork on it. It's still usually a messy area, but this time the shelf hides the mess instead of displaying it. :) Probably an idea focal point for a child's room would be something large that contained no horizontal surfaces, such as a painting or a large plant (though plants have their

Hi Regina, The photos are of our Valentine's Day afterschool tea and the little house in the middle is one of those foam craft kits from Michael's. It has a slot in it for sending valentines and the base comes off to get them out. I just love it because it reminds me of Tasha Tudor's "sparrow post" in "A Time to Keep." The wooden figures are made by Ostheimer from Germany. I bought them through www.thewoodenwagon.com which carries the entire Ostheimer line. I love that link in your post about the dolls! I'd never seen The Blueberry Forest before and just drooled over their Kathe Kruse line. (note from Regina: Amazon.com sells some of these toys too) ... The Four Loves theme was really serendipitous. I have four children and Iwanted to order a pair of figures for each and only after that did I realize I could group the figures into a theme. I tried to place the figures around the house in positions that reminded me of what Lewis wrote about each of t

In the light of recent discussion on dolls, I thought I'd use this photograph, taken on one of the rare times when my girl's room was clean, to illustrate the idea of the Focal Point, a term used by designers. An easier way to illustrate the Focal Point is to say it's the first thing you see when you enter a normally-shaped room. Generally it's the largest piece of furniture - in a bedroom, it is usually the bed. But sometimes it is the object that is directly opposite the door. For example, the tub is the largest object in our bathroom, but it is tucked into an alcove. Our bathroom's focal point is the window opposite the door. Now, this is why we "house artists" with children should understand this: one easy way to keep a room "clean" is to make sure the Focal Point (the first thing you see in a room) is tidy. (This is one reason why you should always make your bed.) My bathroom tends to look presentable, so long as the curtains on the w

Since it is St. Valentine's Day, a holiday beloved by females and resented by males (who always want to point out that it's no longer a canonical saint's day), let's talk more about dolls and beauty. To set the tone, I couldn't resist posting this picture of a Kathe Kruse Mini-It's-Me-Elf (which I don't own but enjoy looking at). I wanted to share some thoughts I had about a comment a blog reader sent me about yesterday's post ("Favorite Things"), wondering how I could possibly consider spending so much money on a toy. I feel compelled to answer her quite reasonable question. How can you justify spending circa $100 on a doll? True, it's beyond the budgets of many of us. Normally, it would have been for us too, but this was an unusual Christmas for us in many ways. This is the main reason why I've made Waldorf dolls for years instead of buying them, because they are handmade and do tend to be very expensive (this sweet doll above retails

I thought I would share this cartoon by my daughter Rose, one of our resident artists, colored by me. I don't know if she originated the idea or not, but I think this is charming. Enjoy!

Ever since I learned how to make Waldorf dolls when I was first married, I've loved these cotton wool-stuffed dolls with their basic faces. To me, the face is a modicum of perfect simplicity: not faceless, like the Amish dolls; not super-detailed like today's typical baby dolls. Since a Waldorf doll has only the simple suggestion of a face, the child can choose for herself whether the doll is happy or sad, instead of being locked in by the dollmaker's choice. (Side note: these types of faces are wonderful for dolls representing the Blessed Mother or the saints, being subtle enough to represent solemnity and/or joy. In my experience, it's hard to make a "holy smile" without looking ghastly, simpering, or smug.) I've made about ten of these dolls, but this year at Christmas, feeling the need to do something extra-special, I invested (once you see the price, you'll understand my choice of the word) in these finely-crafted heirloom-quality dolls from Nova

I've been meditating lately on how God brings good out of evil -- and not just one, single sort of goodness (ie: moral), but usually a variety of goodnesses, ranging from the simple to the humorously ironic to the deep and weighty and lasting variety. Can I say that He seems to allow evil in order to have the opportunity to create more and different kinds of goodness? For example, bitter cold seems to have been (in some ways, bear with my theological opinions here) the result of the Fall. But out of bitter cold, He brings a goodness as specialized as the mere simple action of coming from cold into warmth, which is about the most delicious of feelings, one I suspect Adam and Eve in Eden never knew. And after days of bitter cold and chill, numb fingers and chilled feet, our pond finally and thoroughly froze to my husband's satisfaction. So on the weekend, he took our kids sledding on it -- or more properly, sliding. Some trials are worth going through.

When I walked into Anna's house, I couldn't help noticing her new shoe shelf. When I complimented her, she said, "When we were moving furniture around, I realized that the bookshelf that was in my bedroom was actually the shoe shelf I had been wanting for years!" It's simply made, out of rough planks, but it does a great job organizing boots and shoes for two toddlers and two grownups (our family would need a longer, taller unit for all our footwear!) and I like that she has the basket of kid socks on top for those quick rushes out the door. Right now our shoe bin is outside in the cold (I exiled it when I got frustrated with the piles of galoshes everywhere) and shoes are frozen so that they have to be thawed before they can be worn. But the garage addition with a mudroom is being built around the bin of frozen shoes, and hopefully I will someday soon have shelves for them all! In the meantime, I am admiring Anna's.

During the "cold season," there's nothing our family likes better than a generous helping of "rubies you can eat" -- also known as Cranberry Relish. Made of cranberries, oranges, apples and honey, nearly pure Vitamin C and very good for you. I follow the recipe my mother-in-law uses, which she got from the outside of a package of fresh cranberries aeons ago: put one package of fresh cranberries, one whole orange, and a cored apple into your food processor. Chop till fine and mix with honey till it tastes fine to you. (Cranberries are bitter, so the amount will vary from person to person!) Sugar works too, in a pinch (as you can see, I had to use here). But I have to admit I love Cranberry Relish not only because of its goodness, but because of its beauty. Especially in a blue bowl in a spot of winter sunshine.

For years I've had a toddler snack table in a corner of my kitchen or dining area, a little place with a small wooden table and chair where kids can sit in a chair sized just for them and have snacks in a somewhat civilized manner, or color or play with table-sized toys. Currently we don't have an area like this in our kitchen, but my friend Anna Hatke does. She made hers with an end table and mismatched chair, but by prettying the area up with a colored oilcloth and a fairy-print plaque it's a spot of beauty in her dining room -- just for small children.

This is my idea of luxury, one that makes me feel that our house (with its partial siding, construction project at the back, two closets, and plastic bins stacked on the porch) is coming along just fine. Since we ditched our furnace, our central heat is the wood stove we bought. Cold early mornings, my husband comes down, lets the chickens out, brings in wood, and lights the fire. It's the most natural thing in the world for us to congregate around the growing warm spot for breakfast. And when the breakfast is tea and toast, and sausage cooked over the fire, and when the kids start their homeschooling without a fuss, then I feel that life really couldn't get any better. Peace to your day.

Feb. 2 is Candlemas, the last day of what our family calls "Little Christmas," from Epiphany through the Feast of the Presentation. I thought I'd post a picture of my miniature Nativity scene in honor of the last day of this past year's Christmas. This Nativity scene is a replica of the one that was stolen from me when I lived in New York and thieves stole a trunk from the back of my car an event I wrote about years ago shortly after it happened. After lots of searching, I found a replacement on Ebay a few years ago and have been trying to add one piece a year. It sits on my dresser now every year and my girls love arranging it. Enjoy the last remnants of the Feast of the Incarnation!

I just wanted to share a picture of our "Away Room" as it looked last year when we had just moved into a house that had been carved up by rennovation, plaster and plywood and electric wires everywhere. We had two rooms carpeted before we moved in and dubbed this one "the sanity room." Nothing was allowed to be stored there, no boxes, just books and furniture for resting on. It still looks pretty much the same - the bookshelves and chair are in the same place, but we moved the couch. The term "away room" was coined by Susan Susanka and her team when they were designing the "Not So Big House." It refers to a room attached to the main living area where you can go to be "away" -- to have a private conversation, watch a movie, listen to music, play video games, etc. She came up with the idea because with the trend for open floor plans, the only place to have a private conversation was a bedroom! So when we rennovated the first floor of our