I don’t know when exactly I started reading Nester’s blog. I want to say that it was five or six years ago, and when I got to meet her in person at a conference a couple of years after that, I remember thinking, Well. She is just as warm and funny and endearing as I thought she would be.
I love it when that happens.
Myquillyn (that is her real name, though personally I default to “Nester” just about every single time) has such a knack for creating spaces that breathe, for decorating rooms in ways that don’t feel stuffy or overwrought or unusable. I cannot even tell you how many times I’ve gone to her blog in search of inspiration, and a few years ago, when Sister was decorating her newly re-built first floor (it was wiped out in the 2010 Nashville flood), we talked about Nester and her ideas like she was an old friend who would’ve totally gone to all the Nashville-area Home Goods with us if only she hadn’t lived a couple of states away. What I remember more than anything is that Nester’s laid-back, easy, no-fuss approach to decorating made Sister feel less overwhelmed about getting her house back in order, and that, as my mama would say, was such a blessing. No joke.
Well.
This past Friday I spent most of the day trying to finish some writing that I started over a month ago, and by the time I got home late Friday afternoon, I was ready to put on my pajamas and crawl under some covers and watch TV. But then I noticed a cardboard box on the kitchen counter, and when I opened it, I found this little gem.
I told myself that I’d look at it sometime Saturday – but curiosity got the better of me, and I started to read. An hour later I was still sitting at the kitchen table (I hadn’t even changed into my pajamas yet), and I had to force myself to put down the book. Early Saturday morning I picked it up again, and except for about five minutes when I set it down so that I could hang a print in my foyer (the book inspired me to not put it off for one more second), I kept on reading until I finished.
And here’s the thing (I said this on FB yesterday, so forgive me if you’ve read that already and I’m repeating myself). I typically don’t read a lot of home decor books, mainly because I get intimidated and overwhelmed and my perfectionistic side just can’t take it. But Nester’s book is inspiring and honest and gorgeous and real. I actually felt a little sad when the book was over – but then I looked up at my own house and saw all sorts of totally imperfect possibilities. That made me smile.
So. Just because I love this book to pieces and want to share it, I’m giving away three copies of The Nesting Place: It Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect To Be Beautiful. Nobody asked me to do this; I just want to do it because Myquillyn has created something that’s unique and oh-so-special – and I really do think it’s going to be so meaningful to the people who read it. Since the book releases next Tuesday, I’m going to make this giveaway a pretty quick one so that you still have time to order for release day if you don’t win. If you’d like to enter, just leave a comment on this post and tell me your absolute favorite thing about the place where you live.
I’ll use random.org to draw for winners Wednesday night and notify them ASAP via email.
Y’all are going to love this book!
This giveaway is now closed. Winners will be notified via email.
I love the view of the lake from my back porch!
the new kitchen table we just bought – after having the same one for 20+ years!
I love that my husband and I bought our house as our engagement/wedding present to each other and my children. Our house was an ugly duckling on the block and slowly but surely it’s become quite a beautiful swan. We love how our sweat, labor, tears, and lots of hard work have made it into our home sweet home.
My favorite thing about our home is my “gallery wall” above our couch. I love seeing the pictures of my little family every day. To me, it’s perfect.
My family has a lake house where I have been going every summer since I was born. That whole house is my happy place. I feel peace as soon as I walk in the front door.
i love the process and the progress of our current home. it’s a beautiful mess
Lack of storage!
I hit “post” too soon! I meant to say I love the lay out but hate the lack of storage!
Last month we moved into a house built in 1919. It is a dream come true. How do I love it? Let me count the ways… mailbox on the porch complete with walking mailman, church bells heard in the yard, giant pecan trees littering our yard with deliciousness, room for our parents to stay when they visit, a study/school room where the mess can just hang out for a bit, original floors, not-original plumbing and wiring, in-house washer and dryer, and even a garage, for crying out loud. So very thankful for this place that already feels like home.
I love my space because it has great light.
Favorite thing about our farm house: we built it together, with a plan for controlling the mud (for real. like, real mud and manure. a lot of it, times five people and too many cows.)
My favorite thing about our house is that it’s home to our family.
My favorite thing about our home is the beautiful mantel my husband built, and sharing our lives together here.
I love my screened in porch and I intend to enjoy it as soon as the pine spread their pollen and I can wash it all off the porch. Ah, spring!
My favorite part about my house is that I share it with my wonderful family.
My husband just retired from the Navy. We finally built our FOREVER house. It’s the very first house we have ever owned. At one point we had moved 13 times in 16 years. So I love that I can paint whatever color I want. I can hang a wall gallery and not worry about patching nail holes is a year!
I love our master bedroom. It is my retreat from the world!
I love the green and white curtains that I waited a year to buy! I kept waiting for them to go on sale and finally just did it. LOVE!!!
I love the old wood floors, the shady history (as relived by our wonderful neighbors), all the handprints we’ve been privileged to put on the house, and the squirrels chasing one another in the big oak trees.
My favorite thing about my house is that it is in a calm quiet neighborhood with good neighbors.
Oh, gee. I don’t think I have a favorite place. Maybe my bedroom when I can manage to keep it tidy. Oh, I know! My three dogs.
I am centrally located to my kids….it means so much to be near them! Pick me!
My favorite part of the house is the living room; we have shared so many laughs there. We read, do Bible Study, and relax with our two beloved felines. But, my husband makes my house my home.
thanks for having a giveaway. love the nester! favorite part about where i live is it’s next door to my church/faith family, it’s where my peeps hang out, my pups snooze all day, my neighbors of 14 years know me and check on me daily, and i’m really really close to alot of antique/junk/reclaimed ‘stuff’ stores — and 10 minutes from a target. it’s just the perfect place :)
I love our open floor plan and that I can be in the kitchen making dinner while still engaged with what my kids are doing in the living room. I also like my kitchen counters – I followed a tutorial for building them out of soapstone tiles and they turned out wonderfully!
I love my small dining room. It’s a beutiful shade of green with white wainscoting and chair rails. I happened to find the perfect window panels and artwork on markdown at Target and it completed the look of the room! The only other items in the room are my dining room set, one large house plant and a small cabinet with a few pieces of china. It’s my least cluttered room and it gives me such peace when I walk through it.
I love that we have a great round wooden table that can fit 6 normally and 12 with the extensions in. We love have dinner parties. It’s also pretty awesome that we 15 minutes from the beach!
My red comfy couch. :)
My favorite thing about my house is that it is on a quiet, tree-lined street filled with homes built between 1910 and 1950. It’s so peaceful here.
My people.
We’ve outgrown our home, but I just can’t list it. It is where we brought our babies home, had nurseries, and played in the culdesac during carefree days. I am currently trying to organize the chaos that is life lived out day to day.
The potential!
My fave thing about our home is that it is a safe haven for our family…no matter where we live.
Love the huge bar in the kitchen where we cook and do homework and throw in the occasional board game. (and it has great storage underneath it!!!).
My favorite thing about where I live is not my house, but the people and critters with whom I share it.
Love that our house is colorful and cozy but most of all that that it is a safe haven for my family to call home.
My favorite part is the huge backyard…with a built in half basketball court that we use all the time.
My favorite place is sitting in the living room looking out at the blue sky and all the different greens in the back yard.
My absolute favourite thing about our beautiful Australian house is that my husband, my puppy and I have made it our own. Whether it’s a little bit of painting, decorating or a whole garden makeover, we have built this together and so now our house is our home and it has so much of us in it – btw VERY excited about this book’
My century old home!
My favorite thing about the townhouse I rent is the two huge windows on the front. Love the light I get!
I love the people I share it with:-).
Other than the fact that it is my home, the thing I love most about where I live is that it’s by the sea.
My bedroom is my favorite place. A place to retreat and feel safe after a long hard day.
I love the views out of my kitchen window. Beautiful sunsets, mountains and lots of deer!
I love that i’m in the South. For a glorious 3 more months. Then I’ll have to find something new to love ;)
I love where I live because this is where my family is!
Love my front porch! Love sitting there and watching life in the neighborhood!
Even though we live “in town” we have an acre of woods for the kids to have adventures.
I love the fact that we all live here, at the present time. My son will be leaving for college soon, and I treasure the moments we are all together in our home. Wish it could last forever……
I love that we have a house and am grateful for that. My favorite thing about it is that my family shares it with me!! Thank you for doing the give-away.
My favorite part of our home is how it makes me feel after a long day at work, cozy and comfy!
My favorite thing about my home is that it is a work in progress, and thanks to blogs like Nester’s , I am finally ok with that.
I know it sounds like a cliche, but my absolute favorite thing about the place where I live is the people I share it with, especially a certain 3 1/2 month old miracle baby!
My favorite place is our home filled with love and sweet neighbors all around a rare thing these days
Well, it’s a tie between the sun room (where we watch the most amazing sunsets every night) or my sewing room (because it’s my very own room).
I love that my home has alot of light. It brightens my mood!
My favorite thing is the view! It drew me in the first time I walked in the door… and still does.
We are getting read for a first communion here and I just keep thinking, Man, this house needs help. I love what we have but not how we have it–does that make sense? Anyway–I need some inspiration, stat. Thanks!
I love a number of things about my home but, most of all, I love the memories that my husband, son, and I have created here!
Despite not being truly ours, I love that things in our apartment will be fixed for free whenever we need. Oh, and that cute husband I share it with :)
A year ago we bought a second home in AZ to spend more time with our quickly growing grandchildren since we retired. When we returned to our ‘real’ home after the winter in AZ last year, I looked at all our stuff and realized that it was packed with all sorts of special mementos. It’s like a museum of our thirty years together…sigh…so I don’t want to displace anything.
Our little winter home though is a blank slate and that makes me so happy! I would love to have this book for ideas about simple, durable decorating on a shoestring for this new home where we’ll host family gatherings in our retirement years.
My favorite part about my home is the beautiful mountain views from the front and back porches. You can even see the huge Roanoke star from the deck!
I love that I have a window by my kitchen- I didn’t in my old apartment!
I love that my sweet family is near me. And the foothills of the beautiful Smokey Mountains are the view from my back porch.
I love that our house backs up to our neighborhood park. I was able to watch my husband and daughter fly a kite from my back porch.
I love that my house is old and full of character.
Oh what a fun giveaway! What I love most about my place is the insane amount of wall space! And my big ole front windows. I totally dig the natural light :)
I love that our house is just the right size for our family, yet my husband & I continue to have renovation ideas to make it even better. I don’t know when we’ll ever renovate, but it’s always fun (to me) to discuss the possibilities with him.
My house holds up well to all my boys throw at it. Literally.
My favorite thing about my home is that is where my family is. I also love the view of the woods from our many windows!
One of my favorite things about my home is our governor’s driveway. I have a large family and we are always coming and going. It is so nice to just pull in the driveway and head out again quickly.
My favorite thing, besides the toddler-inflicted scratches on my vintage wood nightstand is our entry hallway…it’s papered from top to bottom with pages from an old hymnal and we sing our way down the hall and it is good.
I’m thinking that maybe the thing I love about my crooked little house is the fact that it is crooked. (The joys of owning an older home). This presents lots of opportunities for me to be creative with furniture arrangement. I am learning to embrace the Nester’s philosophy about it not having to be perfect to be beautiful. I started reading the Nester in 2008 and somewhere along the line I found you via her. So glad I did. You are both on the list of the three or so blogs that I always read the minute they show up on my reader – sometimes I don’t even wait for the reader – I just check in to see if there is something new.
My favorite is our claw foot tub a gift from a complete stranger…sigh.
I love that my house is filled with the people I love the most and is located in my favorite area in the world … The SC Lowcountry!
My favorite part of my home is that there are beachy things all around in middle of landlocked Tennessee. And that my husband (he’s great, too, SMILE), tolerates it and even feeds into it. :-)
I love my house so much. Sometimes I just look around and say happily to myself, “This is my house.”
I love the coziness of my home. It is less than a thousand square feet.
27 years here – 3 children left marks behind. I see answered prayers and reminders of God’s blessings all around me.
I love the afternoon when the setting sun shines in the living room and my people and I relax in our cozy home.
my favorite part about my home is the kitchen table when all my boys are sitting around it and theres a lot of laughter
Congratulations on being one of the first to read the book. Lucky you! I enjoyed your write up on it, thanks for sharing. My fave thing about my home is my kitchen, the heart of all our family gatherings….and some tasty treats come out of there aw well.
Lisa
My favorite thing about where I live is my little red barn in my backyard. It is adorable. I have an old black painted door hung on the side of it. It has a beautiful yellow vine growing beside it and a raised bed vegetable garden too.
My home is on a cul-de-sac with lots of kids for my girl to play with. I’m thankful we have a large playroom for rainy days and an open dining/family room
I adore our house because of all the sweet life that our family of three shares there. My favorite thing is a tie between my baby girl’s nursery and our deck (that my husband and father in-law built the summer after our wedding). :)
My favorite thing about my home are the large windows that let me look out into my wooded yard.
What I love the most about our home is that is it filled with a lifetime of memories.
I love looking out my sunroom and seeing the lake in my backyard!
It’s easy for me to say what I like most about my house. I live in the woods on six acres. I love the view from every single window, door and porch swing. Trees, gorgeous dogwoods, beautiful fall leaves, bare winter limbs and spring buds! God is an awesome creator!
I live in MidMissouri in a beautiful walkout basement apartment in a home i share with my daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter (10), and grandson (6). I love their footsteps on the stairs, coming down to share with me the cardinals on our bird feeder, the playful squirrels and rabbits in our large backyard, and the deer and today’s wild turkey in the woods beyond our fence! I am blessed indeed!
The person I share my apartment with Рmy fianc̩.
My favorite place is my living room couch. I have a nest of pillows and I love to just relax there!!
What I love most about where I live is who I share it with, my husband and 4 kids.
I love my house because we have lived in it for 25 years. My boys grew up here. It has been a baby house, a toddler house, a middle school boys’ clubhouse, a high school party house, a drop-out-of-college refuge, a starving musician’s studio, the set for so many films I can’t count. An empty nest. A place for the grand kids to play and sleep over. But now it’s time for a makeover, and Nester’s book is just the right inspiration!
My front porch with my retro aqua blue glider.
The size…we recently downsized and every time I pull in the driveway I think, “I really like this house!” We’re on one floor now with an awesome floor plan. Grateful would be an understatement.
My favorite thing about the house that I live in is that my guests often comment that it is “homey” and makes them feel comfortable and welcomed each time they visit. :)
If you had asked me this last week, I’d have said I’m really loving my just professionally cleaned carpet. Then someone let the puppy in…… This week I’m liking the big backyard and that it’s a meeting spot for the neighbor boys to gather for an impromptu softball game…every single night.
I love sitting by the pond in our backyard. Next to it stands a very twisted oak tree covered in Spanish moss, and two Poinciana trees flutter in the breeze right above it, their branches intertwined. Certain times of year, you can smell the jasmine or the orange blossoms, depending what’s blooming. It’s the perfect place to sit and unwind with my favorite people and pup.