From A House to A Home: Great Ideas for Decorating the Home, Feeding the Family and Making the Most of Time-Off

by Jemima Mills

No matter how much life changes, one thing remains a comforting the family. Strengthen the bond between generations and turn family time into quality time with these innovative ideas for group activities. Make meals the anchor of daily life...even if busy schedules won't allow everyone to come together every day. Recipes for quick, wholesome foods let you focus on each other, not cooking, while delicious-sounding snacks (like "the best apple pie ever!") and elaborate dinners for more leisurely moments will entice everyone to the table. Turn off that TV and have some family fun with creative playtime suggestions for all ages. Try out holiday beach and country pursuits (including ones for those rainy days), and see how to give everyone that quiet "time out" we all occasionally need. And, don't forget the toys, stories, and rituals that make bathtime and bedtime something special enough for children to remember always!

Genres: Nonfiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2000

Reviews

[Sheila]

I had read this book looking for decorating ideas and I was disappointed. Most of the pictures are extremely cluttered and from a very large home. One idea was to put an armchair in the kitchen so guests could chat with you in comfort while you cook - most people I know don't have that kind of room in their kitchen. The recipe for hot chocolate was to melt a chocolate bar and add a pint of milk - not a very inspiring idea.

[Elisa Garza]

Love this quote from it: "That house was a perfect house, whether you like food or sleep, or storytelling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all. Merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear and sadness." J.R.R. Tolkien

[Linda]

I read this book under a slightly different title: From a House to a Home: Simple Ideas and Projects to Enrich Everyday Family Life. Perhaps mine was the British version?

This would have been a good book for me, maybe back in the 2000s. Definitely geared toward families with children. Also, I felt, more applicable to UK families. Some good, basic ideas, but I think any book of this nature, to be effective these days, would need to more strongly counteract the omnipresence of smart phones, tablets, laptops, smart TVs, etc... The author does mention how to turn off the TV to do more family-togetherness projects, but I think today's parents would best benefit from more concrete ways to limit the encroachment of technology on family life.

[Rachel]

I loved looking at the pictures of families relaxing in their homes. This book is less about stylish design than about making a house into a comfortable place to be, and a natural place for the members of the family to do their favorite activities--just what I was looking for. It inspired me to a morning of moving furniture around and making more open spaces and more cozy nooks.

[Lisa Hurst]

This is one of my favorite books. I have two very busy kids, a house full of pets and plants, and this book affirms that having a house that actually looks like you live in it is okay.