Lately I’ve been eyeing the fiddle-leaf fig trees on all the design and style blogs that I obsessively read. I have a serious black thumb and can rarely keep even succulents alive for long…however, I think a giant house plant could change all that.

Creating an inviting home is challenging. I spent countless hours rearranging furniture and painted many rooms this summer, but I still feel like our house is missing that “aahhh, so cozy” factor.

I have friends over often, but I usually end up wondering if I could have done something differently to make the guests feel more welcome and comfortable. I used to scoff at this whole notion of “entertaining,” but I’m realizing that it’s actually quite a valuable skill. I’d like to work on making sure that people feel at ease and nurtured when they come to my house. It doesn’t require anything special, I know this. I think it has to start with loving your home and wanting to share it with others in a relaxed way. Something for me to chew on.

In addition to scoring a fiddle-leaf fig tree, I have some goals for this fall to make our home look better and cozier, and I’m feeling pretty ambitious:

1. Paint the living room
2. Paint the kitchen
3. Add more art to the walls
4. Add pretty textiles
5. Buy fresh flowers often
6. Get the fugly window treatment situation under control (seriously, none of the rooms have any decent window coverings and it drives me batty)

I’m off to hunt down easy tutorials for DIY roman shades!