Giving birth to a book

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Architecture, author, book, Construction, Design, Family, Gardens, Home, Houses, Housewarming, Humor, kitchen, Memories

Working with a graphic artist to design a cover for your book is a bit like giving birth to a child: After months of effort, you hope it will be reasonably attractive when it‘s delivered.
I’m a writer (not an artist) who recognizes her design limitations. Trying to convey a sense of contentment, encouragement and happiness at home on an 8-by-5 inch book isn’t easy. The cover has to speak to potential readers…beg them to pick it up and look inside.
I’m delighted to say my new book does just that. After a flurry of emails – both photographs and text – graphic artist Kristin Johnson did an amazing job of selecting just the right image and type font. (Don’t you love finding the authors’ names hiding under the bed?!)
I hope this book and its cover will speak to you, too. “Pick me up…look inside.”

Sweet Beams: Inspiring everyone who lives under a new roof! also is available on amazon.com.

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Generosity

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Conversation, Homes, kitchen

• 
• It is a generous act of service to prepare and offer food.
• Invite someone over to eat with you on a regular basis – not for a social extravaganza, but for the celebration of friendship and life.

Gathering around an open flame

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Conversation, cooking, Home, Homeowner, Housewarming, kitchen

                           At heart, we are all kitchen dwellers.

 

   Since time began, human beings have thrived by gathering around an open flame. With its sweet smells, its gentle crackling sound and its mesmerizing flicker, the cooking fire provided warmth, conversation and a delicious dinner all in one –ask any camper!

 We are still drawn to the fire, though now it may have evolved into a rather sophisticated convection oven. Conversation flows easily around a kitchen table,  from topic to topic…one plate to the next.

 Reflect for a moment on the entertainment mystery of all time:  Why does the center of any party always gravitate to the kitchen?

Kitchen tips

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Family, fellowship, kitchen, Memories, New Home, Table

 

 

• Remember the great moments in the kitchens of your life…food prepared for you or by you, fellowship with your friends and your family.
• Choose kitchen cabinets like furniture, deliberately. Design low cabinets for children. They can pick out their own cereal and learn to put away dishes.
•  Make your kitchen big enough to hold a table – a place for kids’ construction projects as well as a place for guests to make memories. 
•  Most home accidents happen in the kitchen. Keep a first aid kit there.

 

 Excerpted from Home: Celebrating the Spaces of Your Heart, written by Renee Garrison and Tom Szumlic