Aah... so you did get an ice blue carpet after all Ingrid?.. I remember on another forum here recommending to you that colour, but if I recall you rejected the idea at the time, favouring something else, but that to my eyes looks what I would call 'ice blue'... thinking that with your continuous heat, it would cool down your room somewhat... incidentally, I prefer the top photo as I like the ethnic rug, the colours match other items in your room, the bottom photo without the rug, just seems a touch bare..

Whatever, I shall pop round tomorrow for tea, - white no sugar - but please make sure your rattlesnakes are tucked up in bed before I arrive... thanks...

Beautiful room by the way...

The rattlesnakes are at the neighbor's and I'll change it all back to version one if you'll visit. Now I'm curious: What will I find when I visit you? I'm sure the interior will be just as beautiful as the garden. (The carpet is actually a not very dark gray.)

Absolutely charming! I love the picture, upper right, in the top picture and the modern area rug under the coffee table. You do have exquisite taste. I'd have to clean first before any picture here. You are so artistic. Everything is beautiful. I know your husband is lucky to have you.

My vote goes to #1 as well although I'm not really qualified to judge. My 'decor' seems to be bibliophilic with lavish sprinklings of my granddaughters' (she's 15 now) paintings & drawings right from when she first started. Also family photos & souvenirs like the Russian samovar my daughter brought me back from Siberia many years ago. You'd think it a horrid hodgepodge, your interior shots are always so serene, I admire them.

So beautiful. I generally prefer the first pic, but like the 2nd table and little dog? next to the sofa instead of the side table.

Pretty living room, Ingrid..

My living room is a currently a mess, as Kalliope is rearranging stuff, carrying stuff from her old place (where her daughter now lives) and also carrying stuff from my deceased mother's place which is up for sale. I have no saying in this and I keep my mouth shut...

A couple of pictures I just took. You can see the mess. Rugs are in storage for the summer.

You can't see the spider webs in the pictures, but they're there, doesn't matter how often you remove them. I don't care if your home is a hodge-podge or not tidy or clean; it's the personality of it I'm interested in, so smithdale please don't hesitate to post your rooms.

Nik, you have a very comfortable and lived-in home which I know I'd feel at home in. You seem to have some collections of things, which I always like in a home.

vaporvac, that little figure is an antique (or more probably vintage) Chinese pillow in the shape of a baby boy and I also like it better than the stool.

It pains me to show this, but this is the room we really hang out in. I left everything in its messy state, I know it's awful. The really horrible side belongs to my honey; the one with the unfinished Pepsi is just marginally neater. Jason always sits between us.

Here's another shot of the new version where you can see the carpet has just gone for a short walk. By the way, I asked my friends on the design forum just a while ago which version they preferred and of the twelve that have answered so far all twelve said they liks the first version much better!

Ah, gracious living......

And turning my head and snapping a couple of pics. As you can see, I'm not much of a decorator...house is kinda like the garden...just a hodgepodge of stuff thrown together

I finally got off the couch...lol...so here are a couple of the guest room with my grandmother's milk glass

Very civilized, Ingrid. I have always liked your china and pictures. Here I live with a couple of trolls and am half a troll myself, so our house is a mess; also, we're at that level of income where we have to make choices as to where our money goes, and that's not into furniture. I don't regret that, because things like plants and books and starving-student-style vacations and sending DD to university matter more to me than furniture, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate good furniture and a nice house. Our decor sounds like it resembles smithdale's, though I bet she's neater.

Ingrid, your living room looks like those in the issue of House&Garden I borrowed from the local library yesterday! I love this country house look but it's not for me. My house is too small for moving furniture about and a lot of it is too heavy to move, pieces from my husband's grandparents. The only things we can move are pictures, curtains and cushions that we change after the seasons. I think you have seen the book room already, I published another photo of it on the Reader's Paradise forum years ago. I took the photo of the living room today, all others were Christmas photos with "action figures".

The north kitchen window

The basement work room

This basement room used to be the garage, a stupid 50'ies idea. My husband calls it the "garagery" because we overwinter plants here. We store garden furniture and sow seeds. The overhead lamp can be lowered. The work table is less cluttered than usual because the photo is from October.

The blue foot stool is American and the cushion on the floor is Greek. The round brass lamp is Indian, brought home in two halves in a rucksack.Our house is full of travel souvenirs.

Ooooh, Marianne. I just love the book room.

Nik, a wise and well considered choice.

Cath

Thank you all for sharing your homes here. To me they're all beautiful because they reflect who you are and how you like to live. Marlorena, I know I would like your house, in spite of your caveats. You've spent your money where it matters the most, and I admire your choices. Marianne, I really like your home, especially the warmth, since when I think Scandinavian that decor style often looks cold and minimal to me, but I imagine more are like yours, warm and inviting, and cultured. Pat, at least your toes are painted; mine are purple at the moment. I have to say I've never seen a room like yours, with stairs going up to the TV. Thank goodness for remote control. People used to collect milk glass a lot more than they do now, and I love the nostalgic feel of your guest bedroom.

Looking forward to more pictures, please.

Most Swedish homes are not minimalist. I think most are like ours, a mix of old and modern. Some heirlooms, some Ikea. I remember when my husband, an only child, inherited furniture from his mother, his maternal grandparents and his paternal grandfather who all died the same year. Our very simple student home was suddenly filled with old furniture, a very heavy untuned piano, chintzy sofas, a rococo style chest of drawers with a marble top and much more. I cried till 2 o'clock that first night after the movers had come. When my husband dreamed one night that he put an axe to that chest we decided to sell as much as possible. It was a relief although we were unlucky that the owners of the auctioneering firm were crooks who cheated their customers, even the police that had left them some goods to be sold. They got 3 years in prison. We don't regret our losses. We like the things we kept.

Our house was the same, Mariannese. Our house was in "move-in condition" and we are still fixing things up. We used to haunt thrift and second hand stores. Then then they all died at once it seemed and left us stuff -- which was sad, really.

Love the acrobatic cat... Did she break many?

It's amazing how careful many cats are. I've never had a single piece of porcelain broken in spite of having had three different cats since I began collecting. We always adopted older cats; it might have been a different story with kittens!

Our cat was an outdoor cat that we took in from the back yard and she was very experienced in balancing on the tops of chain-link fencing and the like. My heart was in my mouth when this picture was taken, though. You can see my reflection in the corner of the mirror looking apprehensive. We then blocked her route from the top of the cookbook shelf with one of Grandma's tureens and she lost interest in going up there. Thank heavens. We need to replace that shelf with something a bit steadier, now that my husband has learned how to use a hammer drill.

My living areas are furnished plainly, and darkly, to cope with 2 males - a busy husband who works with dogs, and a Greyhound.... minimalism is my favoured mode of attack.. clutter has no place... it is not furnished to my taste, but out of necessity..

....my own private space is this window seat where I plan my next garden assault, or what roses I fancy having next year...and some of my best roses are within view... I do enjoy this when it's pouring with rain against the window and I have no excuse to go outside... the rosy cushions with the Union Jack pattern, were hand made... I don't have much else to offer interior wise at the current time..

You have a lovely rosy corner, both the stylish curtain and the cushions. I was trying to figure out how the Swedish flag would work with a rosy fabric but it is impossible to visualize. Blue and yellow is not a subtle combination and yellow roses would make it worse!

Marianne the book room! I was a literature major and keep plotting a wall of built ins but this house needs a kitchen so... priorities. I too change things constantly. My husband is a methodical, orderly soul and it makes him nuts when he comes home to a green living room when he left a blue one in the morning but he's a good sport. I tend to change things in the house when the weather gets too cold to garden band leave things alone in the summer. Different angles of the living room:

I'll post a picture of the guest room/husband's study in the basement although it's a bit over the top with garden pictures etc. I used to collect fabrics, china and anything else patterned with tools, watering cans etc and keep much of it in this room. The room is too small to show more than part of the window wall in one shot. There's a double bunk bed in the way.

All of your homes are so lovely! Ingrid, after looking at your photos, I think that you do not live in my former in-laws previous home. It was nearly 30 years ago though, so things do change. I will not be showing any pictures of my homes interior. After being an empty nester for a while, I now have both sons at home again. This has put a serious wrinkle in my plans. With the heat and the boys, things are not currently picture worthy. This too shall pass......... Lisa

Another fun thread, Ingrid! I am enjoying the glimpses into everyone's "interior life." :-) I, too, vote for image number one with its vibrant colors.

I searched my phone and found three random shots of our house in the photo library. Joining in the share.... Carol

Lego table and all. I hunted for photos of the shelves which store our 2000-3000 books but don't seem to have any on my phone.

My parents' 1970s lamp I inherited is awaiting rewiring and new shade. And the collie.

For some reason I took a photo of the hallway. Note the reminder sign for our daughter on the exterior door. Our home is plastered with these! The house was a fixer when we bought it 15 years ago. I have yet to fill in the holes from the hinges where we turned around the bathroom door so it no longer slams outward into passers by in the thoroughfare. Also note the duct taped door handle. Ha, ha! I'll be getting right on that task....

I love the oil lamp and carpet -- and everything! Dog. Curtains. Large mirror. I can feel the book vibe. (I also avoided pictures of our books -- fraught subject)

How nice to see all these great new spaces. Marlorena, that lovely corner is exactly how I visualized your home. I think this typifies your taste, even if other parts are by necessity more spare. Cassandra, your home is lovely, and the shot with the boys so sweet. This is a happy home, that's obvious. Marianne, I adore seeing pictures grouped together, and that is a charming room; I would happily be a guest there.

One of the main loves of my life.

Almost forgot to add my husband's photomontage. Our walls are covered with it!

I found a few more, this time including a few more presentable books -- i.e., on shelves not in piles on the floor. Dining room. Cookbook shelf & some CDS and wine from a wine club. It's too much, I know. I'm not sure what rose that pink one is: Yolande? Yellow = Golden Wings. These were in our phone from 2016.

A regal collie, Carol, and how cute the way his/her face is divided in two. You have an exotic-looking, beautiful home. Foreign travels, perhaps? The photo montages are quite special.

monarda, from the fireplace I gather than you have a charming vintage home. I'm always glad that they still exist, and haven't been razed or gutted. And no, you can never have too many books, they furnish a home beautifully. Love that little glimpse of you in the last picture!

I am out of town and these are a couple of photos I found on my iPhone. Not even close to the exquisite taste of all of you who posted your beautiful interiors and my house is still a work in progress as it has been my home for only 4 years and I've been working mostly on the garden :-)

I call this the sun room where I love to listen to my beloved opera records and read about roses and gardening (and I've just noticed GS Thomas' 'The Rose Book' on the small table which I must have been reading at that time):

The sitting room downstairs from 2 different angles. Now this one needs some rearranging and one day I might ask for your talented eyes to give me some advice.

Now those are some nice book shelves, vesfl -- and yes, you can have too many books, alas, alas, though I would not have believed it before I met my husband and found we shared a mutual joy in frequenting second-hand book stores. (I will never sell W.H. Hudson, though.)

We have bookshelves in most of the rooms of the house, some freestanding, some built-in. Here are my favorites, my study/sewing room and a window seat with bookshelves.

I find it strangely moving to see all these interiors of people who love the things of this earth -- including books

I agree with your lovely comment, monarda.

Nicely said, monarda. And thank you, Ingrid, for this lovely idea that let us walk, so to speak, through these beautiful interiors.

Monarda, I only know W H Hudson as the author of Green Mansions. I had no idea he had written enough books to comprise that beautiful set that graces your mantel.

monarda, I have the same embroidered cushion with the green velvet back. If it's from Ikea?

Rosylady, your house is a dream! As for the kitchen, there really are no words, except to say how right you were right about the French doors. Would love to see more of your house. I love the simplicity of the dining room.

So interesting to see people's homes. What a beautiful home Rosylady. I am very partial to old homes. I especially love the wooden ceiling in the kitchen, and I would have been absolutely with you on the french doors into the garden. Mine is also a work in progress, though mainly just to keep it standing. I might tidy up a bit later on, and take a couple of photos.

Rosylady, I love every detail of your kitchen from the built in dining nook to the doors that lead to your garden. Can't imagine why people tried to talk you out of them. How else would you step out to the herb garden to pick some thyme or basil?

Thanks for your kind comments. It means a lot to me because we went through a very long (4 years), very painful renovation and I am glad it turned out the way I was hoping it would. Labor of love does not even begin to describe the process :)

I have really enjoyed seeing everyone's homes! It seems that peoples' homes rather match their gardens. I suppose antique rose lovers also love antique furniture and collecting in general.

As for the books, I LOVE seeing everyone's book collections and libraries. To me, a house is not a home without books. I have a large collection of books as well, but they are scattered around the house in various small bookcases. I would really like to have a library or bookroom ala mariannese. I thought about lining my music room with books, but that's not good for acoustics..... I must find a spot!

and to marlorena....I adore your rosy Union Jack pillows! swoon!