10 Ideas for Living a More Elegant Life

My husband mentioned recently, after having his sandwich on one of the melamine plates we keep for the granddaughters that he wished we led a more elegant life.  This got me thinking about what is an elegant life and how I can change things up to make our lives feel more elegant.  I don’t think you have to live in an expensive home or have a huge budget to live an elegant life.

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1.  Make your front door welcoming.  Put up a wreath or swag on the front door.  Decorating your front door and putting out a pretty welcoming doormat make a statement both to guests, and for yourself!  

Snowy Winter Swag

2.  Set a pretty table.  Even if it is just the two of you, which it mostly is for my husband and I, it makes a difference when you sit down to a pretty table for a meal.

 3. Buy yourself fresh flowers.  They don’t have to be expensive, a few blooms from the grocery store is all it takes!  For me, fresh flowers are always an elegant touch, and it is fun to treat yourself, too!  

4. Put out pretty towels or fold your towels pretty.  I am struggling with this one myself, since after showering our towels end up hung on a hook, and don’t look elegant at all.  We will be renovating our bathrooms at some point and I am thinking hard as to how to position towel rods and hooks to make the bathrooms look nicer.  For now, I think I will be buying myself a couple of new bath sheets, something that will help!  

5.  Make your bed every day.  It has been said that making your bed will start your day off well and make you more productive throughout the day.  I choose to believe that whenever you walk by that room, you will get the feeling that you do live an elegant life, like walking into a hotel room with the bed all nicely made.  Add some art like the whale diptych above my bed.  

Coastal cottage master bedroom

6.  Keep clutter at bay.  A cluttered space isn’t an elegant space.  We use baskets and boxes to keep the clutter hidden away.  Look for a unique box that coordinates with your decor. This one sits on a table in our foyer and the mail, keys and sunglasses get tucked in there as soon as we come in the door. 

7.  Add green plants to your interior.  I know there are lots of good reasons for added green plants to your home, it is healthy, they add a bit of something natural and so on, but I think they add elegance to a home, too.  

Casual Coastal Home

8.  This one was contributed by my husband…NEVER serve a drink in a plastic glass.  We will have to re-visit this when the pool goes into the back yard!  

Champagne is always a good idea!

9.  At least on occasion, serve up those snacks in a pretty dish instead of just opening up the jar of nuts or bag of chips and sticking your hand in!  

Ladies luncheon tablescape

10.  Get yourself some pretty notecards and take the time to handwrite a note now and then.  It doesn’t have to be a thank you or an invitation, it can simply be a “hello, I thought of you”.  I am not sure there is anything more elegant than writing or receiving a hand written note!

Do you want to live a more elegant life?  Might you incorporate some of these ideas?  I have already put some of these into practice and plan on getting those new bath towels this week!  Let me know what you think makes for a more elegant life!  I love to hear from you!

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27 Comments

      1. I read a lot of lifestyle blogs, and I’m always amused by those directing you how to make a guest room cozy. I always wonder to myself how many days out of the year the homeowner actually has guests. They are willing to deck out their guest room with high-end soaps, and lotions, and big fluffy towels, comfortable terry cloth bath robes, beautiful throws, chocolates on the night table, a lovely pitcher of water, everything to make a person feel welcome and important. But the fact is, no one is more important in the home than those who live there every day. So it’s crucial, I think, to treat yourself as well as you would treat a guest. Put the fragments of soap away, and get out those high-end luxury bars. Don’t save anything for good, get it out and use it yourself. Drink wine from the cut glass wine glasses, use the best dishes on the table, put a beautiful pitcher of water next to your night table along with a luscious piece of chocolate. Do for yourself at least what you would do for someone who may only be in your home a day or two. Life is too short to not treat yourself as well as you possibly can.

  1. Chloe , This makes me think of things that I should do, I love your pretty table sitting and putting the nuts in a pretty dish . I do have a lot of pretty old fancy dishes that my mom had and never use them. Thank you for opening my mine up to such pretty details to do around the home.

    1. I am so glad you enjoyed the post, and I hope it inspires you to use your mother’s fancy dishes more this year! So often these nice things sit in our cabinets only to be brought out once a year. Why not make the everyday a little more special?

  2. My husband is always going for the inelegant life! ha, he loves melamine plates, I have to force him to use ceramic! I guess we do live an elegant life, I do all these things, it’s just playing house fun to me!

  3. I love all of the above and I practice (most of) them daily. What I would add, I will simply call “Choose beautiful.” Whatever it is you think you need, choose one that is attractive as well as functional. Also, use the beautiful every day. Don’t wait for special occasions to use the fine china – use it today, just because. And finally, corral clutter as you said, so it doesn’t prevent you from choosing and using the beautiful! You can’t set a pretty table if the table is covered in piles of paperwork!

  4. I love all of these ideas, Chloe. What a fun post. I follow most of them, but I don’t do well with plants. I have one small one that I’ve managed to keep alive since last spring, so maybe there’s hope! I can’t imagine not making our bed every day-I’m I got that from my mother. I like the idea of thinking of these things that I routinely do as elegant! I’m going to share that with my husband! 🙂

  5. Thank you for this great reminder that true homemaking is about making a welcoming home for our loved ones, not the neighbors. 🙂 Everyone wants to feel welcomed into their own home, to feel glad to come home. In the hurry of our lives sometimes we forget and your tips don’t take a lot of work. Julie W.

  6. I do all these things too Chloe, and it doesn’t take much effort. It brings to mind a beautiful negligee my late husband bought me…many many years ago…..it was so beautiful in a pale lavender and when I tried it on for him…it made me feel like a queen with all of its billowing and flowing chiffon….and then I put it away for a special occasion. Still wrapped in the pretty tissue because I wanted to protect it. When he died and I was going through my things to straighten and clean out…I saw the negligee, still wrapped in tissue. He never got to see me wear it and it made me realize that life is for living today. Use that special china or that special negligee as we never know what a day will bring.

    1. Oh Kari, what a poignant story. My husband was on a plane on his way to New York City on 9-11 and I changed a lot of my thinking that day, since you are so right, we never know what tomorrow will bring. I may just make that my new mantra….”wear the negligee today”! I love preparing a special meal that I usually only do for company just for the two of us, after all, we are worth every bit of that effort, too!

  7. A lovely roundup of good ideas. I enjoyed your post. Especially about the stationary. I love stationary, and writing and receiving thank u notes is becoming passé. Don’t think a text or email cuts it.

  8. Chloe, I guess we live more elegantly than I realized. It is like you said, it doesn’t have to be expensive, but it is more about taking the time. My husband loves to drink tea and I have to force him not to use a large styrofoam cup!

  9. Chloe, I have a couple of suggestions for how to live a with elegance every day. We have used only cloth napkins for the entire thirty-five years we have been married. It feels like a luxury every day. The second thought is about the towels, we replaced our hooks in the bathroom with a hanging towel heater. this makes it possible to arrange the towels in a pretty way but it is also wonderful to dry off with warm towels when I get out of the shower.

    1. Oh Anne! What lovely ideas you shared! I forgot all about cloth napkins! My husband and I mostly use cloth napkins, but I do admit to using paper on occasion, too! We will be renovating all of the bathrooms in our home over time, and I love that idea, and besides, who doesn’t love having a nice warm towel to dry off with! Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting!

  10. Chloe, I do so agree with you and the lady who said do it for yourself! I had neighbors once who had the most beautiful dining room and she said they only used it once a year. All that beauty to waste! I then and the decided to use MY beautiful dining room every day! When I designed my “new old house” I purposely did not make an eat in kitchen so everyone would sit in that most beautiful dining room! And I feel ever so elegant sitting there even in garden clothes eating a sandwich and chips! Love your posts! Kelli

  11. Hi Chloe, we are retired and always use cloth napkins and I did change my china years ago…I got rid of the everyday stuff and replaced it with my good china. I use my dishwasher for all of the dishes but their is one set of water goblets that are hand painted and I do not put them thru the cycle…I actually wash them by hand. I don’t mind that because the enjoyment we get from the setting of the table and actually using a table cloth blows my friends and family’s mind. I don’t care what they say because I do the washing and ironing with pride…there are no yellow faded lines on my linens because “I use them”.

  12. could not agree more with the post and comments. when my mother in law passed away we found the special gold and green glasses her mother had displayed in a hutch forever. grandma never used them and my mother in law never did either. we made drinks that night and filled the glasses and have used them ever since. that nightie story, though, REALLY got to me! I used to go to a lot trouble making special evenings to keep the romance alive in our marriage when the kids were little but have become so lazy now that we are empty nesters.

  13. Easy and affordable ideas, thank you. I refuse to sleep in a bed that hasn’t been made. It’s the first thing that I do in the morning. Another favorite of mine is making sure my home smells good. I use room sprays ( not the Glade Kind), diffusers and candles. Recently, I decided to start using a tablecloth on our glass kitchen table and it changes the eating experience.

  14. What wonderful ideas Chloe and so true. These touches do make a difference and can make for a more elegant life. I would love to use fresh flowers and, although I have baskets throughout the room, I could definitely work a little hard on hiding the clutter! Great article and tips.

  15. Elegant, romantic and whimsical describe my newly redecorated French Normandy home: new wallpaper in EVERY room, tied to gather with my fav soft teals, pinks and whites, handcrafted teal mermaid tail backsplash is beautiful with my swirled brown granite, almond wraparound cabinets w/ pink/gold/ivory ceramic pulls, blush velvet stttols, chairs, oversized teal floral Anthro sofa in bug kitchen, antiques, traditional elements go together. I tucked jeweled trinket boxes around for the children to find and have Mackenzie reindeer all around. I am a Maximalistbut no clutter.It is most importantly, so ME!

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