Good morning readers and happy Monday! I have a morning flight to catch in a moment, but I wanted to jump online and share a space with you in southern Germany owned and decorated by blogger and married mother of two boys, Nadine from Herz Allerliebst. She is inspired by the brightness and easiness of homes in Northern Europe but also love ethnic touches from places like Asia and Northern Africa and a good mix of old and new. She loves a simple, clean style with mostly white and a hint of color along with bold black so the look doesn't appear too sweet. Some of the best designers working today swear by adding black (or a dark gray) whenever you notice your palette has become a bit too soft - it definitely works.

It's important that we decorate our home with heart and when it comes to the homes of others, while we have opinions, it's not our place to judge them as being "good" or "bad" in my opinion -- unless they are asking for advice of course and then it's always kind to use tact and motivate them to decorate from the heart a little more. But this "decorating from the heart", what does that really mean, anyway? To me it means to avoid the ever popular "all or nothing" mentality -- try to avoid feeling a rush to get everything finished the moment you embark on a decorating project. Decorating should be an organic process, it takes time, just as falling in love with a person takes time. You have to learn how you'll use each room, see where you tend to gravitate to the most, what you use the space for (it can change according to the season), etc. Allowing our home to grow along with us and our unique personality and needs is so important. Decorating with heart means that you want to infuse your space with your life and passions and not simply copy what you've seen elsewhere or buy everything from a single catalog or store. It's curating, collecting, cherishing, editing, upcycling, recycling, and most of all -- being kind to yourself and have confidence in your decisions because if you are overly critical about your choices you can quickly lose the joy that should go into decorating.

Nadine loves to decorate and is inspired by other blogs, magazines and books on the subject, "There are so many wonderful ideas which inspire me but I'm also inspired by my boys (they like painting and tinkering and I like decorating our home with their work), nature (each season has its special items and it is wonderful for me to fill our home with nature) and my mum (we are both a bit crazy about decoration)," says Nadine. I asked her a question though that I always love to ask home owners, what makes a house a home, and she told me, "When you can feel that the people living there put their thoughts and heart into it and this has nothing to do with style or money. It is important to feel comfortable with your style." Ah yes, feeling comfortable with your style, in other words decorating takes confidence. That is a great reminder, Nadine!

What does decorating with heart mean to YOU?

To see more of Nadine's home, visit her blog and enjoy!

(images: herz allerliebst)