Introduction

Hi. My name is Jana. Now that my children aren't little babies any more, I decided to switch from a mommy blog to a blog about the one member of my family who will never be able to read what I am writing about it...my house! I've been reading mommy blogs for years but it's been only recently that I realized there was a whole world of people who are as house obsessed as I am and like to talk about it!!! Yay for that!!! I only wish I had discovered this other world when we were in the process of building our home 2 years ago. It might have turned out differently. But then again, maybe not. I like to comment on other design blogs but never felt quite right linking to my mommy blog so Less and Bigger was born...

A little about me, I am an interior designer turned mommy and book keeper. I have a degree in interior design and am NCIDQ certified and worked as a full time interior designer for 6 years. Currently I work for our 2 family businesses that are not design related but I have done design work on the side for myself as well as friends and family for the last 7 years. My husband and I have contracted the building of 2 homes ourselves. One was just a practice home and we sold it. The second one we built as a dream home of sorts (I say of sorts because I can dream really big but can't necessarily finance it!)and plan to live here until our children aged 5 and 7 are grown. I have never lived in a home for more than 5 years so this is hard for me to even imagine! The building process and moving can be exhausting but it's like childbirth, you soon forget the pain and are ready to do it all over again! But, hubby says no so I'll just keep decorating, moving things around and dreaming of my first remodel! We hope to put in a pool next summer so that's been keeping me busy.

I chose the name Less and Bigger because it's kind of my unoffical mantra that can be applied to so many situations. I don't like a lot of stuff so I always try to fill my spaces with less and bigger accessories.... When I was planning the design of our home, I didn't want a bunch of small, useless formal rooms, I wanted less and bigger rooms.... When we moved I wanted to move into a bigger house with less stuff so I got rid of a ton.... I live in a smallish city with limited shopping resources for quality home furnishings and antiques and it's easy to want to just buy whatever to fill a space and I'm trying to live by the idea of buying less stuff of a higher quality even if it takes longer to feel like the house is complete. (This is hard for me, I want it done now with no empty spaces glaring at me!) There are endless applications but I'll stop there!

We've been in our home now for about 18 months and still I feel a little more settled everyday. Making a house a home is a huge undertaking! I was thinking about this the other day, our cleaning lady comes every 2 weeks and I think every time she comes there is something new or different in our house. Whether I've brought in a piece of furniture or hung drapery or moved something, it's always changing and evolving. I hope to chronicle that evolution on this blog and I hope you'll join me! At the very least, when I comment on a post out there in the blog world I now have a calling card!