Now you can see. Now you know. Now it’s clear why those first steps that told who you are and where you’re going with your home were so important.

It was in a coffee shop that we were first introduced a couple years ago. There we stood, on the fringe of the bustling room, chatting about the upcoming mountain festival where he'd be mountain bike racing, and where I'd trail raced a couple years running.

Are there pages full in that notebook of yours, the one that bears your house’s address and contains its strengths and deficiencies? If our houses are becoming home, this is where to start.

When we think of home, we often think of the home that’s tucked into our dreams; that one-day house that has all the right things, all the right spaces, and all the right feelings.

Perhaps you’ll dive right in and begin with the contents of an entire room. Maybe you’ll edit your shoe collection. Or, in the tiniest of baby steps, you’ll begin with your pencil cup.

“Do you like blue cheese?” Becca, the cheesemonger asked as I stood at the cheese counter

I’ve just pulled this veggie quiche from the oven and it’s now cooling on the table.

Something about the simplicity of the wood in its natural state. As if there was no stain, no varnish, no layers. Naked and beautiful.

This is how it begins. Brainstorming the mood, of a space. Imagining the feeling of it.

Since early spring, I’ve been wanting to show you this. How the wild violas have found a place between the flagstones on the terrace.

It seems this photo has made the rounds since I published it a couple years ago. The idea of hanging art on the face of a bookcase is intriguing.

Seldom in life is everything in our homes, our gardens, our property, our environment perfect or exactly how we wish it to be.