The house the garden grows into

Moths fly in through the open windows, sometimes flies, sometimes something I’d rather not identify. Spiders appear in the corners. The cats bring their own ideas about how to spend the day, the dog has his, the child has hers, and apparently the plants feel they have something to say too.

And all around the house, the garden keeps growing. Vines wind their way around the walls, glimpses of our house appear between the trees, and the boundary between what is “outside” and what is “inside” is sometimes very much open to interpretation.

My home isn’t spotless. And I like it that way.

A Pinterest-perfect home is beautiful because nothing happens in it. My home is beautiful precisely because so much happens in it.

Of course, I know that a Pinterest-perfect home is just a photograph — a single moment, carefully staged and framed. We have no idea what’s happening just outside the frame, or sometimes even behind the camera.

In fact, we’re seeing more and more photos that reveal that other side too: things pushed out of the way, piles of stuff, and everything that had to be cleared from the shot to create that one perfect picture.

But isn’t that how it works in real life too? When we visit someone’s home, we usually see it at one particular moment — one that has, more often than not, been prepared for our arrival. It’s only as we get to know people better that we begin to see what their everyday life really looks like.

And the more life there is in a home, the harder it is to keep things perfect. Pets, children, a garden, hobbies, friends, projects, everyday chores. Something is always being worked on, something is waiting to be cleaned up, and something has been put down “just for a moment” — a moment that somehow turned into three days.

And I think that’s probably what most homes where real life happens actually look like.

There’s no one right way to run a home.

And yet, for years, we’ve learned to judge each other by what our homes look like. As if there were some right level of tidiness, some right way to arrange our spaces, and some right way to take care of a home.

But why, really?

Just because something matters to me doesn’t mean it has to matter to someone else. One person might have a perfectly manicured garden, another a half-wild jungle. One might have an empty kitchen counter, another books, toys and a coffee cup left behind. One home might look like it came straight out of a catalogue, while another is full of things that each have a story to tell.

And I don’t see why we should consider one better than the other.

So what does that look like in our home?

In our home, the line between indoors and the garden is pretty blurry.

The garden doesn’t exactly stop at the doorstep. Sometimes spiders, moths, flies and even snails make their way inside — and every now and then, a mouse does too. Keeping the line between “we live close to nature” and “I really don’t want that in my bed” can take quite a bit of work. 😉

But we’ve learned to live alongside all the creatures that make their homes around us.

And I think that’s one of the things I love most about our home.

In the morning, when I’m having coffee on the terrace or we’re having breakfast, I can look over the fence and see deer wandering across the field. Sometimes a fox slips by. Sometimes a hedgehog comes to visit the garden.

We have a hornet’s nest under the roof — slightly less romantic. 😄 But there are also wild bees, bumblebees, grasshoppers, bats, pigeons, owls, buzzards, kites, swifts, swallows… and countless other creatures living around us.

For a while, we kept bees in our own hives too, and I hope we’ll get back to it someday. It’s a fascinating hobby, though definitely not an easy one.

Every now and then, a bird flies in through our large terrace windows. It gets confused and, instead of heading into the garden, ends up inside the house. It usually lands on one of our potted plants, leaves behind a few feathers and, of course, a few other little souvenirs. 😄

This is not a house that’s cut off from the world.

It’s a home that the outside world sometimes simply finds its way into.

Our home is also a reflection of the way we live.

We both have far too many interests, passions and ideas. We enjoy different kinds of sports, I’ve been exploring my creative side for years, and now I’m building a business around some of those interests. My husband makes his own wine and mead, so we have grapevines in the garden, equipment in the basement and a little home production setup. We’ve even tried growing mushrooms. Maybe we’ll get it right someday.

One of those unexpected guests.

On top of that, there are the bees, fishing, hiking, climbing, skiing, cycling, and all the gear that comes with all those things. And now there’s also a child, with her own ideas, interests and need to create.

We want everyone to have a little space of their own at home. And I think that’s probably why we’ve ended up surrounded by this kind of organised chaos.

The stuff is there.

A lot of stuff.

Some things have their own place, others are waiting for us to find them a better one, and some are simply lying wherever they were last needed. Every now and then, we have a big tidying-up session and, for a little while, everything looks great. 😉

Of course, we also have those places that are probably best left unopened when guests are around.

But I don’t think every object in our home needs to sit perfectly on its designated shelf, preferably with a label explaining what it’s for.

What matters more to us is being able to find what we need when we need it.

Because this home isn’t a storage space for things that are meant to look good. It’s a place where we try things, learn, create, rest and live.

This home is simply alive.

It’s home to people, animals, plants, our things, our ideas and all the projects we’re working on — or planning to start.

Life comes in from the garden and flows back out again. 

And I think that’s exactly why I don’t want this home to be perfect.