{Giveaway is Closed}
What makes a house truly a home?
It’s not always buying the latest trend or popular things of the moment, decorating a home merely to make it beautiful. But more so, it’s surrounding yourself with the things that make you and your family feel comfortable, loved and special. We all have those fond memories and family treasures that we want to surround ourselves with.
If you enjoy family photographs, heirlooms, and having special things around your home that express who you and your family are, you’ll enjoy this book.
Written by Monica Rich Kosann, it’s a beautiful book filled with treasured memories of her spaces, as well as many of her clients. Monica is a nationally recognized fine-art portrait photographer who has worked with many prestigious families and celebrities, as well as a designer of jewelry and home accessories. Her work has been profiled extensively in national print, such as Town & Country and Elle Decor, as well as television media.
Photos from Monica’s website, Fine Art of Family. Monica believes that we should all live with what we love and find ways to incorporate those things into our daily fabric of life. I couldn’t agree more. 
{Photo: Monica Rich Kosann}
Instead of hiding away the family photos, Monica has clever ideas for displaying them stylishly and showing them off to visitors, without having them in the way. I love her ideas on grouping silver frames with cherished family photos. 
I too, love to display family photos. We have them sprinkled around the house, from the master bedroom, to the living room, my office and my husband’s office, with our family members displayed and enjoyed every day.
Monica also believes in living with and loving collections by displaying them in an artful manner to enjoy every single day. I couldn’t agree more. I enjoy my plate and dish collection grouped on a wall or on the sideboard. That’s living with what you love. 
Insulators grouped together make a collection in that beautiful shade of turquoise.
Did you know that 3 or more of something is a collection? Begin with a few and build from there. So what is it that catches your eye? Collect it and have fun displaying that collection. 
Pretty books grouped together can be enjoyed as beauty or literature. 
A basket of shells and driftwood captures memories from our visit to the beach one summer. Priceless and sweet memories of walking on the beach, picking up every one of these salty treasures.
Monica sent me my very own copy to treasure and she has generously offered to give a book to my readers too ($30 value), so if you’d like a copy for yourself, just leave a comment on this post, telling me what your favorite treasured collection for your home might be.
What is that special thing that you love and are living with too? Cherished family heirlooms, family photos, or pieces that you have collected yourself?
Are you living with what you love? I hope you are!
{Giveaway will be open until Saturday evening.}
That looks like a lovely book!! I am sure it is filled with ideas !
Head vases! I love the pretty little lady heads, popular in the ’50’s, and have about 50 of them displayed in the corner cabinet of our family room. That book looks yummy and I’d love to win it! Thank you, Rhoda!
I have several collections that I really enjoy, but my favorite is a porcelain dog collection that once belonged to my Dad. My Mom gave it to me after he passed away, and I cherish it (and display it!). Some of the little dogs were his as a young boy, and I love to imagine him playing with them.
One of my favorite collections is my family quilts from both my family & my husband’s. I love using them.
Three hobnailed vases are my favorite heirloom. My father always came in from outdoors with some flower or branch and mom put them in one of these small tabletop vases. I know I got my love of vignettes from seeing something always on display in these vases. Everytime I put a stem in one I think wistfully of them. Peggy from PA
Would love to win a copy! I have a collection of my late grandmother’s china that I’m still trying to figure out how to incorporate/display the best way.
I have a collection of small porcelain shoes that I absolutely adore! My first shoe was a gift from my aunt when I was a child. It was not a porcelain one though. It was a tacky plastic shoe with small colored sea shells glued to it…..at the time I thought it was the most beautiful shoe in the world. I still have it and am very sentimental about it even though it is UGLY. HA. One more thing worth noting….when I met my husband-to-be, he had a collection of shoes that his grandmother had given him. I knew then he was the one!
I love really old pictures of my family members in their teen years….especially my grandparents’ teen years.
I have momentos, photos, letters, handmade vintage baby dressetc., from my grandparents that I would love to be able to display creatively. I hope to win this book! It’s been on my wishlist for months.
This seems to be my current crisis. I have too many collections and I can’t seem to pare down and so I don’t have the joy of seeing them because there are too many. I have and love: quilts my mother made, pottery, white ironstone pitchers, jadite dishes, old baskets, handmade candles, paintings, etc. I need help. I want to learn to let go so I can enjoy what I have.
Would love to have this book; it looks divine!! One of the things I collect are angels…of all sorts, materials, styles, etc…and they are displayed thruout our home. Additionally, I began years ago collecting Nativity sets and during the holidays, every room in our home has at least one on display.
I have a family collection of angel figurines that I absolutely cherish.
i love this post. it may be my favorite of all;& there are several that i just thought were favorites. what is building a home about if not about love? as well as what expresses you to your treasured guests whom
you share your home with from time to time. that is the ONLY thing that is most valuable – love. so why not fill it with expressions that reflect back on the nester ? smile – i love photos diplayed in vignettes along with treasures of all types of value that have been loved on by meaningful people in my life. if you are looking at Mary Carol Garrity ‘s style – you are looking at old & new, trash & treasure.
hugs, p
I worked in a spinning yarn mill for 26 years, then they announced in Nov. 2009 that they were shutting down the mill.
I was always drawn to spinning bobbins due to the history I share with them. I found my first one in a can of sliver about 20 years ago and was hooked. I love to find the ones with painted tops – this was done so they could tell the yarn apart – I can only imagine who touched and worked with these bobbins in a yarn mill so many years ago.
This looks like a great book! I collect several things but right now I would have to say my favorite is a collection of vintage, silver-plate Ronson table lighters. I have about 15 or so and try to keep them shining all the time! This is a great give-a-way!
Family photos from yesteryear and current – I love watching families across generations, makes me all daydreamy to look at old photos, and wondrous of the passing of time! Also seashell/seaglass from various trips to the beach (we live in the Midwest, so this type of thing seems so special and rare in our home). And I have a beautiful collection of femine ceramic hinged boxes, which I display on one of my mother’s old mirrored trays that I remember her displaying perfumes on when I was a child. Collections are so special & unique, I enjoyed reading everyone’s responses!
What beautiful photos! I love displaying photographs, I have some beautiful old photos from the early 1900s – 1950s. I have packed many of them away for safety since Katrina, but I am begining to bring them out again.
I collect books. My small house is overflowing with books but I know someday I’ll have a library with built-in bookshelves that can comfortably hold my collection. Most of my books have some sort of memory connected with them, either I was reading it on a trip or I used to listen to a certain CD or band while I was reading that book and the two are linked, or I can remember the person who gave me the book or recommended it.
and… love what you have. thanks for sharing!
I would love to be living with MORE of what I love. But, I do proudly display a painting done by my grandmother. I also live with (and use regularly) her old cooking gadgets. I think of her much more than if I just had them displayed on a kitchen shelf! She is still alive, and I love talking about our fun kitchen memories.