HOUSE TOUR _ This Traditional Cottage Is Cozy, Collected, and Full of Heart

Today we're in Bethlehem, PA, visiting Linda Harbricht at her cozy cottage, beautifully decorated for autumn. I just love the change of seasons. I would never want to live without them. And I really love that the interior of the home reflects what's going on outside. A fan of seasonal design, Linda changes her decor throughout the year. And she's even found clever hacks to store all her seasonal pieces. This is what I call my painting garage. I switch out my paintings for all the seasons, so I have to find a place to store them. At the beginning of every season, I go in there and dig out all the ones for winter or whatever. Layered, welcoming, and cozy, Linda's home feels like a warm hug. But it's not just beautifully decorated. It's a space she truly loves to be in. When I come in here, especially on a winter morning, and I know I have days full of work here, I never mind coming in. I feel like there's so much to look at and enjoy and be surrounded by, and even just the lighting sometimes. I turn the lights on and they slowly come up and I think, you know, showtime. To watch Linda's full episode ad-free, scan the QR code or click join below. Hi, Homeworthy. I'm Linda. Welcome to my home in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Come on in. You're watching Homeworthy, where we believe every home has a story. Hi, I'm Linda Harbrecht. I'm a freelance writer and a former writer and editor, and I live in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. This house is right down the street from where we lived before. It's kind of crazy that we only moved a few blocks. But this was a neighborhood that I used to walk in when we were at our last house. And I always kind of was drawn to it. It had some interesting architectural details or features. It has kind of a fanciful, you know, fairytale-type roofline in a few areas. It had a Dutch door. It had a screen porch. I love the setting. We had kind of a warm neighborhood feel in the front and in the back. It's kind of more woodsy and quiet and private. So it was like the best of all worlds. It was not for sale. So it came on the market early 2020, and I had only seen it from the outside. And then, of course, I saw the realtor pictures, but you know how that goes sometimes, the camera angles and stuff. You really don't have a feel for the place. And when we walked in, I just thought, oh, my gosh, it's huge. I mean, I never had rooms this big to work with. It was a matter of kind of, you know, cozying it up, bringing the walls in, making it feel a little cozier, I guess, for lack of a better word. So that was kind of my first thought, kind of walking around and thinking, I can do this, I can do that. I can put wallpaper here. We had these enormous windows to play with, with all this sunlight streaming in, which gives you a great view of the garden. Great place to watch the seasons change. There was so much about it that was appealing. So this is our living room. This was obviously one of the first rooms that we saw when we looked at the place. And my first thought was, oh, my God, it is enormous. I don't even know what I could do with a room like this. And the previous owner had fewer pieces of furniture, and they were a larger scale. So I was trying to imagine what our pieces would look like here. And the first thing that I thought that I might want to do is to put in the bookshelves here as sort of a counterweight to the fireplace, because the fireplace is such a significant feature in this room. When we first got here, the fireplace around had sort of a swirly, shiny stucco thing that I felt like didn't look as old as I wanted it to look. So we were able to find some salvaged brick, and they cut it down and redid that whole thing. So that adds, I think, a little bit more warmth to it. The mantel changes with the seasons with everyone else. Right now, we have sort of this autumnal landscape up here. But there's a winterscape in winter, and there's a seascape in summer. You can just imagine old candlesticks that we've just collected along the way and always enjoyed, like the mirrored sconces. We had a set of electrified mirror sconces that we left in one of our previous homes, and I still regret it. And at least I was able to find some with a candle. I get so many questions about this coffee table. Whenever people ask about it, I don't even know what to tell them. I found it at an antique show many, many years ago. I can't even remember where, but it was exactly what I wanted. I just wanted an old table that was cut down. And it's just perfect for the space, and I think it adds a lot of warmth. And I never see anything else that I would want more. And it still has marks from our dogs over the years and teeth marks. And it's just really just a sweet little old piece that, you know, I think adds like a little warmth and charm to this space. So for autumn, just added this block print quill with autumnal colors. And I mentioned that I always have like a lot of mossy green. And these pillows, when I saw this pattern from William Sonoma Home, I was so excited about them because I love mossy green and brown. I love that sort of woodsy combination. The sofa I've had recovered, I can't even tell you how many times. It is so old, but it's the right scale for an older home with smaller rooms. And every time I think about getting a new sofa, even if I look at the measurements, the scale is so off that it's just easier to have this recovered and have new cushions made or whatever. But I get a lot of questions about that on Instagram, too, and I don't know what to tell people. It's just a million years old. Velvet Chairs bought these, well, it's probably about 10 years ago or so. And in the cooler months, they stay green velvet. And in the warmer months, they are covered with a ticking stripe. And it just changes the look of the room so much. It's like an instantaneous go from like winter to spring look and vice versa. When I take them off in fall, it's just the room is instantly warmed up. So this was a tall case cloth that was purchased at an auction and it needed exterior refurbishing. It needed to have the interior done with reproduction parts that mirrored the original parts. And I found an artist. I can't remember where I found her. I found her through Early American Life magazine, but she was able to hand paint a face for us. And because sheep are such a typical motif, we asked if she could include our two Shelties up there. They're gone now, but it's just a sweet little reminder of them. And I think she did a lovely job with that. I appreciate the fact that the molting was original to the home and that nobody changed it over the years. And I think it adds a little more heft to that area and creates more of a focal point when you're sitting in this room. Dresser was the first piece that I got from Everything But The House. Never purchased anything from them before. When it was delivered, it was one of those times when I was even happier when I saw it in person. And it's perfect. I just store a lot of entertaining supplies in there. The Federal Mirror was my mother-in-law's, and I love that. That never goes away. That stays up in every season. And the corner cupboard, something I found at an antique shop. Many of these are very large in scale, and this was a more modestly sized one. And it's another place that just gets, you know, changed with the seasons. I probably change it six or seven times over the course of the year. This is an Ikea chair with a cover by BEMS, B-E-M-Z. This is a Susani quilt. And a couple years ago, I just started getting really fascinated with Susanis because of, like, the rich coloration and the texture and the pomegranate pattern, which is very typical. And I really just like it paired with this, which is an acorn pillow from Tea & Table that I purchased through Larger Cross, a shop in New Jersey, Old Rick, New Jersey. Beautiful store. And this is a painting by my friend, Diane Hutchinson. And above that is just a nautical plate. But the brown and white Staffordshire, I think, is nice for fall and winter. These bookshelves were built by a friend of mine, kitchen and cabinetry designer, who's done a couple other bookshelves for us and a kitchen in another home as well. And again, it just adds some counterweight to the heft of the fireplace here. And it does include our TV, which I don't love, but you got to have one. And it was one of the only things that my husband really wanted when we moved, which was an opportunity to have, like, a larger TV. So here it is. And this is the room that we spend a lot of time in. This is the room where we watch TV. We don't have a family room. This is it. So this is where it all happens. This chair, it's been in so many houses, our house, my sister's house, everyone else, you know, when they needed a chair. I found it on the side of the road for $25, I think, back in the 70s. Someone was emptying out their mother's house, and they just put a sign on it, $25. So it's been recovered and upholstered and slip-covered multiple times. But it's a well-made, sturdy chair. And more often than not, it's just a place for us to have a pillow or something to display. When we first saw this home, we looked at it on a really sunny January day, and the sun at the end of the day comes pouring in through this window and the large window in the next room. And it really was a great selling point. And obviously, it's a great view of a garden. Again, when we moved in, there wasn't much in the backyard, but even just seeing the trees and the yard was a selling point for us. This desk is a sea captain's desk that we found through D.C. Kingswood at the Fairfield Antique and Design Center in Connecticut. We often stop there on the way up to Cape Cod. And my sister saw this one tucked under some other things, and I'm so glad she did because I just love it. I just love having it in the corner, and I love that I know its provenance. I love the little cubby holes and just a place to tuck things. This painting is kind of unusual for me because I normally have landscapes, but this one of a woman reading just really appealed to me. I love the soft colors. I remember seeing it at an antique mall, and it was one of those places where there were a lot of partitions, and I practically knocked over the partition getting to it. And I was so happy to see the price tag that it was affordable. I couldn't wait to get it home. That's the only portrait I have in the entire house. The rest are all landscapes. But I love it, and I love it there. And this is the dining room where we spend a lot of time. This is the main area for entertaining these two rooms. I know a lot of houses, and even some of the houses that we had, dining rooms are an overlooked spot. And I have to say that the way that this house is laid out, that this is a room that does get used very often. It's not just a pass-through space. And I love the view out the windows. Framed with curtains that were made from Jenny Stephens Hoppock fabric in the hydrangea pattern. And just added these not too long ago that don't really obstruct the light. And the table set for a fall dinner in a favorite combination of mossy green and sort of this aubergine tone for this time of year, which I always feel kind of mirrors the rosy tones in the hydrangeas. And a little bit of rose peeking out in some of the dahlias as well. I love setting the table. I think it's another creative enterprise. It's a great way to play with patterns. Nothing that even has to be permanent. It's another great way to bring seasonal colors in and ingredients. I like mixing things up. I like having layers. I often say, like, you know, go vertical when it comes to some of these things. These are antique cabbage plates, scalloped ironstone plates that I got from Chelsea Forge, which is an antique and design shop not too far from here in Finesville, New Jersey. Mismatched glassware. The linen napkins, as I said, in an aubergine that picks up some of the colors in the ornamental cabbage and on the hydrangea. Lanterns are from Nantucket Looms in Nantucket. We were there one weekend, and I saw them, and I loved that they were, like, a smaller, narrower size and that they would fit a smaller house because so often some of these are such a large scale. And I didn't buy them, and I regretted it and instantly came home and ordered them. And I'm so glad I did because they don't even make them anymore. And I get so many questions about it, and I wish I could find other ones for people because the narrow shape is really unusual. Tablecloth is a block print pattern. Love block print. It's from 9 and 16. The table itself, you can't see underneath it, is a tiger maple that I recently purchased at an auction. I love an oval shape. I feel like it's the ideal shape because nobody feels too far away when you're having a conversation. Nobody's at the end of the table. It's just easy for everybody to communicate with one another. And just added a couple other things like green and white pumpkins. Again, I love those colors for this time of year. And as I move into fall, it'll go more toward the more traditional autumnal colors. But for right now, this looks like this time of year to me. This is a pine hutch. I wanted one for the longest time and just couldn't find one. I mean, scale is always a problem because many of these things are so big. And it just, if I would have had something large in this space, it would have just overwhelmed the other pieces. So I did what I don't normally do, which is be patient. And I did eventually find one online, and I kind of bought it on a wing and a prayer, and they delivered it, and I was so thrilled with it. I just love the finish on it. Of course, the plates get changed constantly. Right now, I'm just kind of keeping it calm. But I have turkey plates for November, and then I put some sort of holiday plate, and then usually I go back to white ironstone in January and then start working in spring colors throughout the year. Botanical prints, which I also love. They're kind of sprinkled around the house. And just a hanging plate is something that you see everywhere around here, but another thing that can be easily changed in and out for the seasons. And these chairs from Serena and Lily that I originally bought to use in the kitchen around our table, and then I ended up getting Hitchcock chairs. But I like the idea that it brings some texture. It continues this sort of honey-colored tone of the pieces here. The wallpaper is a William Morris pattern. It's called Pure Acorn in sisal is the color that we used. And because the room, again, it was one of those rooms that felt like kind of large and open and to kind of bring it in a little bit, we had this wainscoting added, and I wanted to keep it kind of a neutral background so that when I do change things with the seasons, there won't be a lot of clashing colors. And I think it's just enough tone-on-tone pattern here and kind of also just brings the walls in a little bit, cozies it up. It's nice at nighttime. It reflects light nicely, sort of a warm, sort of golden tone. This chest was purchased at Chelsea Forge, a many antique and design place in Finesville, New Jersey, many, many, many years ago. It's another place restoring a lot of entertainment supplies, and I do love this sort of honey-colored wood, the tone of this wood. I was number one for the grayish tones. I always liked the warmer tones, and I know that went out of style. Now I hear it's back, which, great, you know. I liked it when it wasn't, and that's kind of how I always operated with this sort of thing. If it really appealed to me, if it went with the kinds of things I liked, I really didn't care what the trend was. This autumnal landscape, again, is one of the first things that goes up. I usually start switching things out for autumn in late August, and it's one of those things that changes the room almost instantly. Another wing-back chair just tucked into the corner here with a throw from Jenny Steffens-Hobbick, JSH Designs, and a pillow cover from 9in16. Just got this from Shop Terrain, and this is a foot bath from Larger Cross in New Jersey, and a toll tray, again, another thing that you see throughout the house. I just love a touch of black in a room. I always say it acts like punctuation, and a toll tray with a shell pattern was unusual. I found that at Fairfield Antique and Design Center not too long ago. This is the most recent piece that we added, and this is from Canvas and Cargo. Found it at a vintage fair, a vintage market this past April or May, I believe it was, and it's another place to contain all sorts of entertainment supplies. I love table linens, and I have so many of them. You'll see them in different places throughout the house, but it's a nice way of organizing them, so we're always ready to go. I found a scalloped rug, well, maybe eight or nine years ago now, and I ended up buying it from a place in England, and it was before I saw them anywhere else. Now they're all over Etsy, and this, I have to say, is an Etsy one because the other one kind of got threadbare, but I love a touch of scallop here and there, and the green is just another way of sort of adding some definition to the space. And this is our kitchen. When we first saw the house, it did have the original cabinetry that was painted white wood with black strap hinges, and at some point, someone had put down a tile floor that was black and white, so there was a lot of black and white when you walked in, and also there was a peninsula that came out here, and the refrigerator was here, and when the door was open, you couldn't, anyway, it was not a convenient space, so we just wanted to go back to something. This is very similar to the kitchen that we had in our last home, which is simple shaker cabinetry painted a neutral color. It's maritime white by Benjamin Moore. Cherry countertops, which are kind of, I think, a humble element, but I like the way it adds like a degree of warmth to the space. Copper cookware. I love to polish the copper. This was actually my sister's plate rack, another area to display seasonal plates. Right now, I have these German plates, these French plates, these Cornish ware plates. I have a little bit of my Corn Magellica pattern out here. My collection is bigger, but I kind of like it for this time of year, so I winnowed it down to just a few pieces to have out here on the windowsill, and I love having the deep windowsill. This is a little kitchen nook. Very typical of the kind of spaces that the builder had in many of his homes, and I just love, you know, the coziness of it. I found this tiny little table in the antique place in Cape Cod. Recently switched out these Hitchcock chairs. This is a bench from Ballard with a couple pillows that I found at a thrift shop in Nantucket. On the wall here are some botanicals that I'd been carrying from house to house, didn't really have a space for them, and finally thought, oh, I think they would work here, and they do. I like the way they look here, and I remember trying to figure out the math on getting these all straight, and I still have a headache thinking about it, but it worked out. This was a table that my sister used for a while, and then she gave back to me, and then I went back to her, and now it's back here again. We use it as a temporary workspace or island, and here are some open shelves. I remember when I was talking to the kitchen designer about it, I said, am I like the last person on earth to finally get open shelves, and she said, no, no, no, they're still popular. I mean, I don't know if they are or they aren't. Again, it's just a place for displaying things, and I usually have them more colorful, but I was reading a design book by Josh Young. It's called The Artful Home, and I was so inspired by his clean style that I kind of decided to just take everything down and just go all white, all white and glass and clean. I do collect antique breadboards. This isn't all of them, but when you don't have a huge house and you like collecting things, I find that it's best to sort of contain them so that they're just not all over the place and to not feel like I have to display every single piece I have all the time. So I just have a few of them here, and I like the look of this warmth wood, warm wood. And this is a plate rack that I found at Chelsea Forge, and, you know, it's kind of an awkward space here. It's like this L-shaped area, and you can't really have a piece of furniture, and the only thing that I could possibly put here was a narrow plate rack, and I was lucky enough to find one. Welcome to the garden. This is a nice little sitting spot. You can watch all sorts of activity going on out here in the garden. Found this at a flea market, and it was just like $10 or something, but it's a great way to contain a lot of gardening tools. This is a faux bois planter from Terrain. Also Terrain. Wonderful gardening tools from Terrain. This is a vintage patio set that matches that vintage patio set that we've had for years and years and years and just painted it different colors. The four-square garden that we added a few years ago after we had the upstairs room done, there were some, you know, overgrown old bushes, you know, nothing that was worth really preserving, so we decided to use this space, and also it's a way of containing gardens. We keep them safe from deer. We did end up getting a deer fence because after three years of trial and error, mostly error, we figured out that the only way that we were going to be able to have a garden at all would be to contain it in the back, so we had the ornamental wooden fencing added there. Our neighbors have a deer fence, so we're taking care of on that part. It runs along the back of the property kind of into that woodland area, and then we have it on this side sandwiched between shrubs up and down that section so that you don't really see it, and it's made a world of difference because things are allowed to at least grow a root system and start flourishing, but the other problem that we had in this garden is the black walnut trees, of which there are several, and even those that fell still have a root system that affects the soil, and anything that isn't a native plant won't grow, so again, it's been very problematic. I mean, I've learned a lot about gardening more so in five years than this place that I had in any other garden because in other gardens you just planted things and they grew or they didn't, but that was the end of it. This one has been very challenging because of both the deer and the black walnut trees, so we had to have a barrier put down underneath this so that the black walnut roots won't reach that. It's a traditional colonial garden with flowers and herbs and vegetables all kind of jumbled up in there together, but I like it, and they're all in raised beds that have willow panels on the outside that are also from shop terrain, and we did at one point bring in, well, actually a couple points, bring in an expert in woodland gardens and in native plants, and she's helped us quite a bit, and she's responsible for sort of creating that swath over there, which is only a couple years old now, but we'll fill in. It's still a work in progress. Found this at the Luckett Store Spring Market this past year, a galvanized top table just to keep some of these plants. They do so much better outside in this moist air in the warmer months, and they're going to struggle a bit when we bring them in, but at least for the time being, they're happy and healthy. I'd probably describe my design style as English country cottage, maybe somewhat traditional with a little twist, very country home, maybe a touch of New England coastal, and definitely tied into the seasons, and I know that sounds like a mishmash, and it probably is, but I think that's what it is. One of the things that I do every year, well, throughout the year, is change with the seasons. I change the paintings, the pillows, the throws, plates, some decorative objects. I just love the change of seasons. I would never want to live without them, and I really love that the interior or the home reflects what's going on outside, and that it kind of feels seamless, especially when we have such a view of everything that's going on out there. So for fall, I use deeper colors. I love moss green, which I consider a neutral. I love block prints. I like having them in sort of autumnal tones. The pillows all reflect fall themes. Acorns, the paintings are all at least in tonality. In summertime, I have ticking striped slipcovers on the green velvet chairs. When they come off, it feels like autumn almost immediately. It changes the whole look and feel of the room to be more comforting, more sumptuous, cozier, I think. We have fires throughout the season, candles lit constantly, the flowers all reflect the season. This is the foyer. We recently had this paper put up. It's another William Morris, and it's called Sweet Meadow. And I never saw it in green, and when I saw a picture of it online, I tried to hunt down the source, and I could only find it at one place, which was Wallpaper Direct. And I was so excited when this went up. I remember when the first roll went up. I just knew it was going to completely transform the space, and it does. And it's kind of counterintuitive because sometimes you think small space, small pattern, but there isn't, again, it's a space where there isn't a whole lot of room here to put anything. So we're down to, you know, this like demi-loon table, a small chair, and this antique shopping cart, which sometimes holds flowers and right now is like holding a stack of blankets. But we only have a couple pieces of art in here, and I feel like the pattern does, like, all the work. And I feel like as soon as you walk in, it's very warm and welcoming and kind of unusual. And one or two people have said, do you think you're going to get tired of this? Because it is kind of a big pattern, and if I get tired of it, I'll change it. But I don't think so. I really, really like it. And I like the way it looks with artwork, although I'm trying to be very particular and judicious about what I put up. So underneath this sisal rug is flagstone, and it was kind of a busy pattern. And I know it was original to the home, and I really didn't want to remove that. So what we did was we ordered the sisal and just had it placed, and it's not glued, so it can be easily removed. But I just feel like it sort of calms the whole place down. You know, instead of having a lot of pattern on the floor with a stone or anything like that, it's just a neutral background and, you know, lets some of these other small pieces have their moment in the sun. And here's our tiny little powder room. I had a couple rolls of Colfax and Fowler bowwood paper, and I'm just thrilled that I was able to use them in here. The previous owner had a larger vanity. We removed those fixtures, put in smaller ones, and we had the original tile glazed, just glazed white, so it would be a neutral background. But it's a sweet little spot. I've been a writer and an editor for my entire career. I retired from a university in 2020, and I've been a freelance writer and editor since then. And somewhere along the line, I discovered Instagram as sort of a creative outlet. And during COVID, it became even more of a way to connect with kindred spirits all around the world who are dealing with the same thing. And I've been so inspired by so many people that I follow, and it's become a really fulfilling and rewarding creative outlet to feature the home and to celebrate the seasons and do all the things I normally did, but to share it with people. I actually started my Instagram account, I think, late 2018 or somewhere around there. We were living right down the street at a little English-style stone cottage built by the same builder that built this home. You know, I kind of tiptoed into it, you know, not really being certain of what I was doing. And some people reached out early on and were very supportive, and I just continued to do more and more of it, and it grew. And in the middle of it, you know, when we decided to move, I thought, oh, well, there goes that, because everyone was so used to that house. But it really became a creative enterprise to share the process of this house, too, because when we first saw it, it was very different. You know, making it our own and kind of incorporating our style into this house was kind of a long but rewarding process, and it was really interesting to share it with people. And I got a lot of great advice, and I got a lot of inspiration from others as well. This is the library, which the previous owner directly before us used as an office space, and I use it as an office space as well. We went with a deep, saturated green color. It's one of the only rooms we've ever done like that, where all the woodwork was painted the same color. And so we have bookshelves here, bookshelves in the living room, bookshelves going up the steps, bookshelves in another bedroom. Never have a problem filling them, but never have too many of them either. When I first saw the house, I thought that this was probably not the best use of the space because it has slanted panels here, and I just thought, oh my gosh, you could fit so many more books if they were just regular shelves. But I really love being able to display different books, and I change them out for the seasons. I just love looking at books when I walk in and then seeing different ones throughout the year. I do collect some silhouettes. I have this pair here and some behind over there. And this was a bamboo chest that I saw in the antique shop. It was covered with leopard wallpaper, and I remember putting it, you know, grabbing it, putting it in the front seat, and I was like pulling the wallpaper off it as I was driving home. But it's a great little place to keep a lot of just special items. I don't know what else or where else I would put some of these things. But, for example, you know, this little book that my artist friend, Diane Hutchinson, made for me. And it just houses just all kinds of, you know, just sweet little things. I don't know, like a little pair of child shoes. I don't know where else I would put something like this. Some bits of pottery, bird's nest, copper luster, a little rabbit, old books, tiny little painting. It's just a nice place to have things that, like a little cabinet of curiosities. And this is an old immigrant trunk that I found at a local antique shop, and it's my gift center. When I find things for people, it goes in there until it's time for a birthday or the holidays or whatever it is. This, the desk is actually an old, well, we use it as a kitchen island in one of our previous homes. The chair is a recent find. I was looking for something that was like a really small scale. And I just waited again for the right piece to come by instead of buying the wrong thing four times. And these are both 9 and 16 patterns. And this piece in particular is by Elizabeth Endrist, an artist that I discovered through her mother, M.O. Endrist, on Instagram. And I love her style. It's very different than anything else I have, but I think she's enormously talented. And I'm thrilled to just have a little piece of it here. Way out of the sconces, above the bookshelves, I like the sort of dramatic effect it creates. And I like the sort of golden hue that it casts on everything. When I come in here, especially like on a winter morning, and I know I have like days full of work here, I never mind coming in. I feel like there's so much to look at and enjoy and be surrounded by. And, you know, even just the lighting sometimes. I turn the lights on and they slowly come up and I think, you know, showtime. When we first looked at the home, I was really excited that it had a screened-in porch. At one point, we thought about kind of maybe converting it to a conservatory space. Because I thought, you know, if you had like big paned windows and you drove up at night and you'd see like a little golden light inside, and it would be like this glimmering little cube. And, I don't know, at some point we thought, a screened porch is like such a wonderful addition to the house. You really appreciate it because you can't use it all the time. And we do spend a lot of time out here. Found this antique set at a antique set of Lloyd Lou Wicker, oh my gosh, back in the 80s or whatever. Another old table that was cut down. That piece was a primitive hutch that I'm so glad I got because it was one of the spaces that just, I mean, it was kind of a corner that really needed something and I wasn't quite sure what it was. And when I saw that chest and I pondered it for a couple months before I ended up, you know, deciding to get it. But it's a great place for displaying, you know, garden-related items and baskets. And again, a lot of these things change with the season, so it always feels like a little bit different. And here's another eating area. And we do enjoy this space quite a bit. I have a lot of baskets and just thought that rather than have them just sitting in the attic, you know, we can hang them from that bamboo rod and kind of enjoy them. I like seeing the texture. I just like seeing the things that, you know, we collect. And this painting was bought at an auction. It was painted by a painter from New Jersey, now gone. His name was George Holloway. And he was so prolific that they were selling the paintings in packs of four at the end of his estate sale. And I really, really wanted this. I only saw it online. And when I went to pick it up, I loved it. And I just love the colors for fall. When we got the house, it was one of those old, you know, rickety ceiling fans that kind of felt like might fall on you. And I tried to find something that, you know, would kind of go with this space and did find this one with soft lighting inside and a really whisper quiet fan. And it's really nice. It's a nice addition. And we had the beadboard added not too long ago when we had this room just refreshed, just painted, had the molding added. The beadboard painted like a haint blue color. It's called Sherwin-Williams Soar, which I think adds to sort of the old-fashioned porch feel. And this is the primary bedroom, which we had added maybe three years after we moved in. This was raw attic space. And I remember when we looked at the house, the realtor said, well, you're ready to go. You can refinish that area. It's got the plumbing and it's got the electrical. And it was still like, and she was right. But it was a major, major undertaking. We got called a week before Christmas. And the contractor said, hey, we're going to have a string of really nice days. Why don't we take the roof off? And then we can extend it. Then we can get it covered. And then we'll be ready to work all winter, which I thought didn't sound like a great idea. But they were right. They were able to do it. And they started the week before Christmas and we moved in Easter week. So it took about three months or so. But wallpaper is another one of those patterns that, like, as soon as I saw it, I knew I was going to love it. It's from Tebow. And it's the cornwall pattern. And again, I just was looking for something, you know, considered neutral, green and beige, little curtains that match. This is the four-poster bed that we had downstairs, moved up here with some of the other pieces of furniture. The big feature in here is the window seat. We tried to replicate as best as we could with windows that aren't old, that look and feel of, like, the large windows that we have downstairs. And it's great to have this view of the garden. First thing that I do in the morning is come over and just see what's what, see what's changed, especially in spring when things start to come out pretty quickly. So the ceiling beams, I originally thought that we would be able to have, like, sort of an open space up here with just the beams, the original beams going across it. And because of zoning laws, building codes, we weren't able to. So what the contractors did was save the original beams, put in the ceiling and then put them up, you know, just as a decorative accent, which I think adds, you know, some charm to the room and I think adds to the cozy. The candle lamps, my brother-in-law made them from barley twist candlesticks, antique candlesticks that I found on Facebook Marketplace. And I know I mentioned Facebook Marketplace a couple of times and I really don't get that many things from it. But every now and then, you know, you find something great. Another piece of vintage wicker rocker that we had. Had a lot of questions about this. This is a Juliet patterned quilt from Pottery Barn, an old Pottery Barn pillow. Had this olive green velvet pillow made from Etsy, someone on Etsy. And I love a touch of bamboo, have a little bamboo table here, have a bamboo table downstairs and a couple of rooms. And that was just an old table that we had at different houses. And this is our tiny little bathroom space. We didn't want to change the roof line in the front. So rather than go with a full bathroom, we just have a half bathroom here. And again, another William Morris pattern, just an old French bamboo mirror. The tiniest sink that we could find with a sink skirt. It's too small for anything other than a hamper and a vintage towel rack on the door. And that's about it for here. And this is a sweet little painting by Elizabeth Endres. I think it's called Garden View and it's one of the only paintings that I have of hers other than a couple of small ones. And I mentioned her before. I just love her style. But it's called Garden View, which is what I feel like I have from this room. So I thought it was appropriate here and I love seeing it when I wake up. This is what I call my painting garage. I told you I switch out my paintings for all the seasons, so I have to find a place to store them. At the beginning of every season, I go in there and I dig out all the ones for winter or whatever. But this was just going to be empty space and I asked the contractor if he could carve it out. So this is my little paintings garage and I'm just so happy to have it. It comes in so handy. I don't even know where I would put these things if I didn't have this. Like when I was sorting out the paintings and putting things in there, I had so many things that we were just storing and it dawned on me that they could be out. So we just got out the hammer and the nails and went a little crazy. And I don't even know if you notice them after a while, but at least they're out. At least they're out and they're being seen. And this was just a little bit of utilitarian storage space that was part of the attic entrance. And just had it cleaned up, had the paneling added and it's another space for books. What gives a home soul is when you walk into a place and you instantly have a sense of the people who dwell within it. That it feels like you can tell their personality, maybe the books that they read, the hobbies that they have. I love walking into someone else's house and feeling like they have a very unique personality. And it shows that it's not a cookie cutter house, it's not a decorated home, it's not a home that looks like every other home. It can have trendy things and it can have nice pieces and it can look great, but it should feel warm and genuine and unique and individual to the people who live there. The word home to me means, when I think about it, I think it's a few things. Number one is of course like a sanctuary, a place of comfort. It's the place, it's the reward at the end of the day for me. If I wake up in the morning and I have a particularly busy day, I mentally go through everything I have to do until I can get back home again. And that's the reward, when I can be back here. And a comfort, you know, throughout the year. I mean even simple things like nice sheets or comfy throws and comforters. Being able to make a fire. I mean the simplest things sometimes I think add so much to our daily existence. I also think of it as kind of a creative outlet. For me it's been a creative outlet, particularly once I got on Instagram and started sharing things and seeing what other people were doing. I love the idea of being able to see a space and imagine what it could be and then bringing that to fruition. I think that is so rewarding. And then to be able to enjoy it every day. It's just, it's a great feeling. Homeworthy, it was great showing you around our home in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. But I want to get out and enjoy some of this weather. So I'll see you next time. Thanks for watching. Be sure to go to homeworthy.com for exclusive content, shopping guides and so much more.