What makes a house a home . . .

Today I am featuring the art of Carl Larsson, who is one of my favourite artists.

“Why do we love certain houses, and why do they seem to love us. It is the warmth of our individual hearts reflected in our surroundings.” ~ T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbons

From the minute you walk into some houses . . . they wrap their charm around you and tug on your hearts. They emit a certain charm or cosiness that is hard to resist. Welcoming, comforting, restful . . . they beckon us to enter and settle in to our heart’s content. Like a big comfy chair, they sing to your heart and say . . . leave your troubles at the door and come and set a spell . . .

One of the things Todd and I love to do on our off time is to visit old stately houses. Filled with beautiful objects d’art and lovely furnishings, each of the rooms appointed with beautiful architectural detail, they are a fascinating doorway into historical time. As I wander through the rooms, I try to imagine some of the people that may have lived there and the lives they have lived. I think my two favourites are Chartwell, which was the home of Winston Churchill and Hever Castle, which was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. They both have charm and the enduring presence of the people that once walked through their halls. . . but they are no longer homes.



With money you can buy beautiful furnishings and decorative accessories of the finest qualities, but all the money in the world cannot make a house a home. A house is just a house until it has a heart . . . and only then does it become a home. Charm seems to be the quality of the soul that cannot be bought or sold.

Todd and I don’t really have lot in the way of possessions and what we do have is mostly tatty and old, having bought a lot of it in charity shops . . . but people do seem to love to come and visit with us and spend time here in our humble home. I think that’s because it is a home and not a house. I have tried to make our home as comfortable as I can, and as welcoming and as cosy as can be. Most of the pictures on our walls are family pictures, or pictures of the Saviour. We have no real art. A lot of the nic nacs are just small things that people have given us for gifts or that we have collected on our various travels. I have also been a consummate crafter in my life time so there are lots of examples of my handiwork . . . cross stitched samplers and wooden folk art pieces I painted once upon a time. But they are all things that have meaning, and heart, well, at least to us that is.



I’ve been really fortunate in my life in that I’ve had the opportunity to live and move to all sorts of interesting places. My father was in the Canadian Military, as was my ex husband, and I have lived all across Canada and in Europe, and now my adventurous soul has brought me to England these past almost 10 years. For most of my life, my home has been whatever I could carry in a box or two, much like a gypsy . . . except that I didn’t also carry my four walls with me as well. As a child, I was always fascinated with the turtle who carried his own home upon his back. Everywhere I have gone though, has ended up being home to me. Every house I have lived in has become a home and that’s only been through my capacity to instil charm and warmth into each one of them. I didn’t need a lot of money, or a lot of things . . . all I really needed was my heart, and like the turtle . . . I carry that with me wherever I go. Home really is where you hang your heart.



I have made a lot of changes over the past few days with my Art blog. For one thing I have change the name. It is now called The Artful Heart. I have also moved it to a new space, which you can find HERE. Any of you that were followers of the old one, will want to change your bookmarks and or start following the new one as I will no longer be updating the old one. I do hope you will go and have a look at the new space. I've spent a lot of time designing a new header and finding the proper background for it. I've also been making up a lot of cards to send as samples to card companies so that they can see what the designs look like as cards . . . to give them a peek at my vision so to speak. I know it will cost me some money to do this, but it may be money well spent in the long run, I am hoping. I need to find some addresses of rubber stamp companies as well. Companies that both produce and sell the rubber stamps for crafters. Any advice or information that you could share with me would be greatly appreciated!

What do you think of the look of the new one? Your opinion is greatly valued! I want to seriously start looking at this as a business, instead of simply playing around with it. How can I expect prospective buyers of my talents to look at me as being a professional if I don't think of myself as being a professional?

I made these delicious mashed potatoes for Todd the other night. We had them with a simple stew of Beef. He does love his meat and potatoes! This is a recipe that I got from my friend Joy, who lives in South Wales. I would have never thought of making cheesy mashed potatoes before I moved over here, although I did add sour cream and chives to them occasionally!



*Cheesy Mashed Potatoes*
Serves 4 to 6
Printable Recipe

Easy to do and, well, impressive. This version of mashed potatoes is creamy, tasty and a real family pleaser.

2 pounds of floury potatoes, such as a Maris Piper, peeled and cut into chunks
1 large onion, peeled and diced fairly small
½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
2 ounces strong cheddar cheese, grated
1 ounce butter
Warm milk
Salt and pepper

Put the potatoes in a saucepan along with the onion and add boiling salted water to cover. Simmer just until the potatoes are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife and then drain well.

Return the hot potatoes to the pot and mash well with a potato masher. Add the butter and just enough warm milk to make them creamy. Stir in the parsley and the cheese, mixing in well, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

You can also make these up ahead of time, put them in a casserole dish, brush the top with some melted butter and then re-heat them in ahot oven for 20 to30 minutes or until the top has slightly browned. Delicious!

*Note - they also make a delicious topping for casseroles and meat pies!




In The English Kitchen today, scrummy Cappucchino Brownies!