Nesting includes creating family friendly environments for our own family members and for visiting family and friends. A nest feels safe and comfortable to us, the creators of the nest. A nest also feels warm, inviting, and safe to those who live with us, and those who visit.
Family friendly nests range from traditional furnishings and décor to contemporary and every decorating style that can be imagined. Family friendly nests include spaces for conversations, meal-making and shared meals, game-playing, media interactions, craft projects, and quiet reflection or reading activities. No matter the square footage of our nests, these activity spaces can be incorporated into our homes.
We don’t have a dedicated family room. Our living room serves as a family room as well as the space in which we host guests. The coffee table between wing-back chairs and in front of the little-used fireplace (child with asthma) serves as a coffee table on top and on the shelf beneath, storage for our dozens of games that get played by family members and sometimes visitors too.
Our dining room table serves as a meal gathering place, a book club meeting site, a project space, homework completion space, Lego® building space, craft and sewing space, and an extension of the kitchen for such projects as cupcake decorating. Family friendly dining tables are flexible enough to accommodate many activities each day.
The yard xeriscape (landscaping that needs less water than grass) also includes family friendly spaces: swing for two by the driveway; bench for two to watch hummingbirds at the garden feeder; and a six-person patio table for lemonade and meal conversations. Arbors, a walking path, and flowers a plenty create a family friendly nature experience.
Family friendly nesting can exist throughout your home and yard or be one dedicated portion of your space. The key is to feel good in your indoor and outdoor spaces and to be inviting to those whom you call your family and friends.
Nesting is about the objects and experiences that create a sense of home. Without home, it is difficult to maintain health, find joy, or to be productive during our workdays. Enjoy the Nesting series of blogs on your search for a deep sense of home. –Jana
Jana Kemp
