First Winter in Our New Home: Bare Necessities

Hello, and welcome to Panoply! Today I'm inviting you for a partial tour of our new home. With all the Christmas decor put away, it feels like there's a lot of white space (literally, there is!) in our home. As we transition to what are normally viewed as the cozy winter months at home, you may get the impression I'm living with bare necessities. I beg to differ, so please allow me to explain.

Winter 2022 Reading Nook, Spare Room

Before we go any further, I'd to thank Cecilia of My Thrift Store Addiction for this invitation to share Winter Transitions at Home. If you've come here from Cecilia's blog post today, I'm sure her latest mantel styling gives you a great sense of refreshed winter cozy. Be sure to see the list of others participating in this hop at the end of this post. And regardless of any bare, white space you may see in my photos today, I hope you'll take away just this one tip: there's no hurry whatsoever to make your home your own version of cozy! 

New home exterior, just after landscape makeover

Having just moved into our new [old] home in late October 2021, I really didn't have the chance to get unpacked, let alone settled, before it was time to deck the halls for Christmas. Now it's time to focus on the interior. Originally built in 1938, this house underwent some rather significant renovations in 2015 before we bought it (mostly on the first floor). I put my stamp on the landscape with some pretty significant changes of my own as soon as we moved in in late fall. You can see those outdoor changes in this post, here. 

The layout of this home and small landscape makes for a wonderful new canvas for me to "play house" again. 

Winter 2022 Guest Room (bed was negotiated in the sale). 

Winter 2022 Bench in Guest Room

We had downsized in 2019 from a big house and garden to a city loft with about half the square footage of our former house. With the current move from condo back to a house, there is more space than furnishings (I had purged so much just three years before!). This house is sized somewhere in between the two former homes. Like Goldilocks, I think it's just right.🤞 

While bookcases may be filled, most of my curio cabinets and walls are not. Pictures are hung only where the prior owner had left nails and screws in [mostly] the old plaster walls, and where furniture is placed to my satisfaction so far. I have plenty more to hang, I'm just indecisive!

Stairway to Upper Level

Cubby at foot of stairway, outside of powder room

This little cubby at the foot of the staircase to the upper level - just outside of the powder room on the first floor - lends itself to cozy. My flock of sheep found a nice place to graze on this cabinet, just beneath an antique print more than 100 years old, of sheep roaming in fields. It could be their ancestors, keeping a watchful eye over this century. 😊

Detail on Cubby Cabinet

I've tried to make at least one cozy landing pad in each cubby, room, or landing, literally.

Winter 2022 Upstairs Landing

I claimed the one new area upstairs - the bonus room - as my personal space. I set it up so I could work and be comfortable right away (photo below is taken from my computer desk). It's a multi-purpose space, also conducive to play - whether that's reading, watching tv, rocking my almost five-month old granddaughter, or fiddling with dish stacks (which are stored along the right wall cubbies the length of the room). A pair of Parsons chairs float throughout the house where extra seating is needed but are currently in this room. I have slipcovers for different seasons. Again, there is much wall space unadorned. 

Winter 2022 Bonus Room (My Space)

It's time to focus on walls when your minimalist husband suggests hanging pictures "or something" on a bare wall. Take the family room (below) as another example. Our Christmas tree was situated against the bare wall where an ottoman is right now (where we put on and take off our shoes. Just to the right of the ottoman is a door leading to our garage). Yes, the walls are bare, but the bookcases are filled. My focus was on comfort and cozy first, and the chairs and sofa are super comfy and cozy. 

Winter 2022 Family Room

With the 2015 renovation, the entire first floor had a three-zone hydronic (water) heated system installed for the floors. With a low 8°F temp this past weekend, our first floor didn't even need the gas heat system turned on because of the heated floors. Talk about cozy! The heated floors feel so good underfoot. I've used area rugs sparingly in this house as a compromise with Mr. P., who wanted no rugs at all. Now that really would be bare. 

The photo below was taken in the family room, and shows the dining room in the background. The Christmas tree reflected in that mirror in the dining room. The angle from which I took the photo now shows part of the floor lamp and bookcase in the family room reflected. 

Winter 2022 Kitchen, Casual Dining Area

Notice also the white space in the kitchen, immediately behind the seating area in the family room. I have three prints on the counter, trying to decide where I'll hang them (under cabinets or over the window?). The table in front of the counter is a gateleg style, with a leaf on each side that opens to extend dining space. We use this for casual dining.

Casual dining table, extended

The photo above shows one side of the table extended. The table can easily be turned horizontally to accommodate dining for four to six, and still have room to move around. Two additional chairs are out of the way, upstairs, for when needed.

Our dining room is furnished with most everything we already had in prior homes. It's being used for both dining and sitting. There is a functional gas log fireplace in this space, and it really ups the cozy factor.

Winter 2022 Dining, Sitting Room

Winter 2022 fireplace in dining room

Winter 2022 dining room details

A pair of Ethan Allen lamps and the magnolia oil painting were purchased in late summer and early fall with this house in mind. Again, wood floors are mostly bare, primarily to eliminate trip hazards. Pillow covers coordinate with those in the adjacent family room. The larger of the two lumbar pillows sports a 'spotted' cover, cleverly comprised of a fabric with all the US states' shapes. A few collectibles are displayed sparingly on surfaces.

As I said at the beginning of this post, if there's just one impression or takeaway I hope you realize today, it's that you needn't hurry to make your home your own version of cozy. Your home is not defined by others, it's yours to define. You decide when to decorate, when to organize, when to purge, or when to pile things on. 

In the past few years with three homes, I've learned a few key things: 

• Having a lot of stuff was overwhelming when it came time to purge for a downsize; 
• I still had a lot of stuff even when we downsized to less than half of our square footage and needed a storage unit. I wrote an entire post on this and my purge, and you can read it here; 
• Being in a situation where the entire house is not filled with furniture is refreshing; 
• Once you decide you need a few key furniture and/or decor items, estate sales are an excellent source, especially in times of a pandemic. Lead times for buying such things new are ridiculous, due to ongoing supply chain interruptions; 
• Cozy comes quickly with pillows, throws and functional furniture. 

I think Mr. P. is finally having an influence on me. Having less stuff - bare necessities if you want to call it - can be okay (he's always been this way). I know one thing - it makes cleaning a lot easier. I don't know about you, but that gives me a sense of relief, and that's enough to feel all warm and cozy in and of itself!  However, don't mess with me and my love of dishes. 😜

Thanks for joining me today for my home tour in this Winter Transitions blog hop. Just below are the links of those participating today. Enjoy your next visit on the hop with Coco at the Crowned Goat. 

My Thrift Store Addiction

Panoply (you are here!)

The Crowned Goat

Exquisitely Unremarkable

Shiplap and Shells

Open Doors Open Hearts

I hope you'll leave a comment to let me know you visited here today. I'd love for you to become a friend of Panoply and subscribe to my blog for updates as I share my new home and garden in coming posts!

(A special thanks to Suzanne of Pieced Pastimes' Saturday Sparks Link Party #457 , to Amber of Follow the Yellow Brick Home's All About Home Link Party #127  and to Debra of Common Ground's All About Home Link Party #127, Bev from The Eclectic Red Barn's Thursday's Favorite Things Party, and Barbara from French Ethereal's Share Your Style #333 for featuring this post!)

Rita C. at Panoply

Parties I Share With: Pieced Pastimes, Love Your Creativity, BNOTP, All About Home Common Ground, All About Home Follow the Yellow Brick Home, A Stroll Thru Life, My Wee Abode, Thistle Key Lane, Bluesky at Home, Zucchini Sisters, French Ethereal SYS, Happiness is Homemade, Traffic Jam Weekend, Katherine's Corner TFT, Grace at Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, Our Hopeful Home, Karin's Kottage, My Hubbard Home FWF, County Road 407 Farmhouse Friday