Does your home look Waldorf inspired?

[pbresolin]

I was wondering, aside from the play spaces and/or nature table area that you may have that may include natural toys, wood and things from nature, does the rest of your home have a Waldorf inspired feeling? If so, please share some ideas of how and what you have done to get it that way if you feel like doing so. I'm very curious and think this could be an interesting thread!

Trish

[Tashakittie]

Although I am new to Waldorf, as a philosophy it fits right in with our general family life and my beliefs as a nature-loving pagan. I have always been captivated by nature, so have always picked up stuff from the outdoors. Our tiny townhouse is one big play space. We have wooden bowls of rocks and shells around. On the dinner table, on the coffee table, on the art table... we keep a basket of sticks in the wall unit's bottom shelf. We keep candles on the dinner table. Our patio is beautiful, with as many plants as my lovely dh can handle taking care of. We don't have a designated nature table, i think of it as having a few nature tables. Along with our rocks and shells, we also keep seasonal things- acorns in a bowl, autumn leaves. Perennial bamboo everywhere we can... DS's artwork on many of the walls, my art on the walls... simplicity is so important, with an emphasis on art and nature. hmmmm hope that helps, lends some ideas!

[counterGOPI]

our home is simple and our things are made from natural materials. our furniture is real wood or wool or cotton. We try to find things that have an 'organic look' rounded edges, etc. nothing to sharp looking...hmmm.. beeswax candles everywhere.... It's kind of hard to describe, especially with a lot of it still in boxes fro mthe move :P


oh, and every room has some sort of ares for my girls. their belongings in every room are with in their reach.

[boatbaby]

Well since our play space is also our living room space is also our family room space is also our dining room space is also my office... yes

Our boat's main salon is where we spend most of our time so it's set up for my son primarily and the other functions work around play or come out when play is through and it's meal time or what have you.

I recently has somebody who doesn't know me come over, take one look inside, and said to me "This looks like a floating Steiner Kindergarten class!" I took that as a compliment.

[pbresolin]

You live on a boat? How awesome is that?!?

Thanks for the replies! I'm trying to visualize. If anybody wants to share some pictures that would be great and keep the ideas coming!

[counterGOPI]

Originally Posted by boatbaby

"This looks like a floating Steiner Kindergarten class!" I took that as a compliment.

I would have too! My girls and I went to the post office the other day and this woman looked at us and said "You must be a Waldorf family" drop: I took that as a compliment, too.

[pbresolin]

I did a search and was reading some past threads and have a question. What's Lazure?

[SageR]

Our home is uncluttered, warm, and cozy. We have lots of natural wood, cotton slipcovers and bedding, houseplants, baskets, candles...this has always been my style though - my tastes are what led me to natural toys, which led me to Waldorf (not the other way around). If another Waldorf family came into our home they would know we are Waldorf inspired, but most people simply think it's nice.

I keep saying I'll share some pictures...someday maybe I will

Originally Posted by pbresolin

I did a search and was reading some past threads and have a question. What's Lazure?

It's a painting technique. Basically paint is rubbed on in layers - it creates a look not unlike wet on wet watercolor painting. It's lovely to look at and apparently quite time consuming to do.

[LuxPerpetua]

I think it's hard to answer because I don't really have in my head what a Waldorf home would look like. We have lots of wooden furniture, many items handmade by my grandfather. I don't think we have has many "clean" visual spaces as what I've seen in some Waldorf home pictures but everything is neat, tidy, and has its place--I just have a lot of antiques and knick-knacks. I've found, though, that these knick-knacks make for some smashing creative play. We have all wooden furniture, but most of it is a darker wood and many of our colors are on the darker side (like forest greens and burgundy and tan), but considering we live where it's pretty cold most of the year, it gives our home a very warm feel. Our main centerpiece in our den is a large aquarium (no TV of course). We have lots of baskets with nature items like sticks, rocks, shells, turkey feathers we found. We also have a large rock collection by our front door on the inside. In the summer we have a garden. We live in a small space so we integrate dd's toys with our living areas, which is something I like because I think she sees the great respect we pay to her things--they are all neat, dusted, and lovingly made or selected. With that said, we don't limit ourselves to just Waldorf-approved toys. She has quality plastic, metal, cloth, and glass things along with wooden ones. We always aim for multi-functional and non-structured. We have lots of felt crafts that we make and change out seasonally. On our den wall, we currently have a large felt tree with leaves falling off, surrounded by a turkey, pumpkins, and a squirrel. We have an entire large wall devoted just to displaying dd's paintings. We have an art wall with paper for whenever dd wants to draw. We have a table that we make seasonal playmats for, but they are as much for display as for play. We have homemade candles and soaps. What we don't have is silk (ethical issues here), wool (allergy issues), or humongo playstands (which my dd would climb as sure as I type this). We do have a wonderful wooden bench that today was a kitty house, and which has been a boat, a carriage, a safari vehicle, a car, a platform for jumping, a dance stage, etc. I also refuse to hang the little Waldorf-approved art cards everywhere. My mother is an artist so I fully believe in owning real art, not reproductions, and I also dislike most of the Waldorf art I've seen.

[henny penny]

I love this thread! Our home does look Waldorf inspired and always has, even before children and our involvement in our waldorf school. Our small home is free from clutter and we use only natural materials for our furnishings; wool rugs on the hardwood floors, antique or vintage furniture made from real woods like cherry and walnut (no pressboard!) and the walls are a muted blue and green throughout the house. Visually it is very calming. We have no curtains or blinds on our large windows so nature is really a part of our indoor spaces. We have very few "decorations" and those we have are things like (for autumn) acorns, leaves, an arrangement of twigs in a vase, beeswax candles. We use very little electric light since the natural light flows right in and we often use just candles in the evening. Everything has a place in our house and that helps a lot with eliminating visual clutter. I work hard to continually prune what isn't beautiful, useful, or sentimental. If it doesn't meet those requirements, it goes to live elsewhere! Oh, and a big one; no electronics are visible. We have a stereo in an old pie safe, and an unused tv behind cabinet doors. In the kitchen I keep the electric (blender, food processor, etc) in a cabinet and have spare countertops with just a bowl for fresh fruit and few glass jars for flour, beans, etc. And our old fashioned manual kitchen scale which is always in use by ds!
Full disclosure: we do have one room that I can't get a handle on- the small study were I have my computer ! I'm getting a laptop for Christmas so will be getting rid of the only visible screen in the house and I'm investing in a filing system for my "pile".

[Gunter]

i don't know what to compare my house to in regards to this thread. like, i am not sure what would make it waldorfy exactly. and, maybe that is b/c we aren't involved in a waldorf school or have any really waldorf following (for lack of a better word, sorry) friends. so, the only images i see are online and then, it's usually playrooms. our playroom is great but the other parts of the house may or may not follow as a waldorf inspired house would. these are good thoughts though and i am certainly curious.

i agree with what SageR said about waldorf being appealing sort of as a natural extension of the life she was already leading. some parts appeal to me deeply and other parts are far from my lifestyle.

our house is solar and on almost an acre. we have big open windows on the entire southside. we moved downstairs for living and the upstairs became a guest room and a studio/open sort of space. i like the simplicity of living on one floor with fewer rooms. we're not fans of plastic so there is a lot of wood furniture and toys, beeswax candles and for modeling. the centerpiece of our living space is a woodstove. our artwork is mainly nikki mcclure and elsasser, with some photos i took and postcards while we traveled internationally. recently, i covered the bookcases with fabric to eliminate the visual clutter of book titles. we don't have TV and the laptop can stay shut. the learning tower in the kitchen makes life with two young babes wonderful. they can stir and mix, wash dishes and hands, and get plates easily.

right now, the oven light is one of the most kid-friendly items in our house! ha ha. they love to watch bread rise or anything bake. it's a fabulous diversion if we need a change of scenery.

i do have a stack of books, magazines and notebooks next to the chair with a lamp as i do lots of studying there. a basket to contain it all would probably be better. at least one of the books is "heaven on earth"! hee hee

[ecoteat]

My house doesn't have a specifically "Waldorf-y" look, but it is certainly compatible with it. It was built in 1720 and most of our furniture is from the 1800s or replicas of things from that time or earlier. The electric wall sconces are make to look like colonial candle sconces. We always have a fire going somewhere--we heat and cook (in the winter) with wood in our 3 fireplaces and 2 woodstoves and eat dinner by candlelight most nights. The antiquity of our home has no logical place for obvious digital media or unnatural materials. (We do have an excellent stereo system with tiny surround sound speakers hiding between the living room beams, though!) We live in the middle of our 80 acres of forest and dd is very much an outdoors girl. I would like our living spaces to be more organized and dd's play areas to have less clutter, though.

[MommyKelly]

Originally Posted by ecoteat

My house doesn't have a specifically "Waldorf-y" look, but it is certainly compatible with it. It was built in 1720 and most of our furniture is from the 1800s or replicas of things from that time or earlier. The electric wall sconces are make to look like colonial candle sconces. We always have a fire going somewhere--we heat and cook (in the winter) with wood in our 3 fireplaces and 2 woodstoves and eat dinner by candlelight most nights. The antiquity of our home has no logical place for obvious digital media or unnatural materials. (We do have an excellent stereo system with tiny surround sound speakers hiding between the living room beams, though!) We live in the middle of our 80 acres of forest and dd is very much an outdoors girl. I would like our living spaces to be more organized and dd's play areas to have less clutter, though.

Your home sounds amazing!

[Melaniee]

Well my home is a cookie-cutter 60's tract home on a postage stamp of land, but we try. I try to have nature displays set up here and there, but recently up out of our wool-loving puppy's reach. Seriously, this dog favors beeswax and wool when she's sneaking away with the children's things. A Waldorf Dog! I try to keep things simple and not over-clutter (ahem, except my office which is where everything lands that isn't cluttering up the rest of the home!).

I always wonder what people who may be over think of our playstands. LOL.

[annettemarie]

It's definitely something I'm working on. It has its moments, but I don't feel like it's where I want it to be. I love the inspiration I get from the photos I see!

The Waldorf doggie is cracking me up, LOL!

[waldorfknitmama]

Originally Posted by ecoteat

My house doesn't have a specifically "Waldorf-y" look, but it is certainly compatible with it. It was built in 1720 and most of our furniture is from the 1800s or replicas of things from that time or earlier. The electric wall sconces are make to look like colonial candle sconces. We always have a fire going somewhere--we heat and cook (in the winter) with wood in our 3 fireplaces and 2 woodstoves and eat dinner by candlelight most nights. The antiquity of our home has no logical place for obvious digital media or unnatural materials. (We do have an excellent stereo system with tiny surround sound speakers hiding between the living room beams, though!) We live in the middle of our 80 acres of forest and dd is very much an outdoors girl. I would like our living spaces to be more organized and dd's play areas to have less clutter, though.

Where in the world do you live???? Your home sounds so amazing and wonderful!!! And 80 acres???? Unbelievable!!!!!

[kittywitty]

Originally Posted by ecoteat

My house doesn't have a specifically "Waldorf-y" look, but it is certainly compatible with it. It was built in 1720 and most of our furniture is from the 1800s or replicas of things from that time or earlier. The electric wall sconces are make to look like colonial candle sconces. We always have a fire going somewhere--we heat and cook (in the winter) with wood in our 3 fireplaces and 2 woodstoves and eat dinner by candlelight most nights. The antiquity of our home has no logical place for obvious digital media or unnatural materials. (We do have an excellent stereo system with tiny surround sound speakers hiding between the living room beams, though!) We live in the middle of our 80 acres of forest and dd is very much an outdoors girl. I would like our living spaces to be more organized and dd's play areas to have less clutter, though.

Right now I am just dying of jealousy. Dying. Feel like selling around the $70k price range?

[AngelBee]

I want pictures!

[Melaniee]

Apparently not enough when we're still getting disney character gifts from dear friends.

[accountclosed3]

no, lol! but, we might look more waldorf-y in the future.

first, in the now:

1. we have a tv and use it. we watch movies about once a week (usually after the baby is asleep), and i like to watch The Biggest Loser. otherwise, it's off or we play CDs through the dvd player through it (no stereo).

2. the house was decorated with my mother's heavy influence. we prefer the swedish clean/modern/natural, while my mother is hard-core Traditional Home. so, we ended up with her choices because i was young and wanted to please her. (she literally said "that's ugly" to my design plan, and then said "you should do this, then you'll have a real, nice home that you can be proud of." so, yeah, i made her proud.)

3. we have natural toys and a few non-natural ones that have snuck in. we keep toys to a minimum here, in general, and so it's not overwhelming. our play area is in our living room, and it gets picked up every time hawk sleeps (nap time and bed time). it's pretty easy to pick up--two baskets of stuff one for soft toys and one for the blocks, stacking rings, etc.

second, in the future in NZ:

when we first move there, our home will not be waldorf inspired because we will be housesitting for a while. and, we may then also rent a furnished place--so we wouldn't really have much choice on what is there.

but, when we have our own place...

1. we will not have a TV, but rather will use a projection system for movies. we don't watch TV really anyway (save my "show" and i suppose i can let it go), so that' not with our computer to play a movie onto the wall.

we love movies and my husband is working to be a professional screenwriter. movies are just part of our lives.

2. we will buy sustainable, natural, organic furnishings in the swedish/modern style. it's what we like. so, it may not look at all waldorf, since their style tends to be a little more "folk-sy" than the swedish-modern style. but, where they have commonalities are on comfort, ease, and clean, organized, multi-use spaces. so, in that way, it will be waldorf.

my mother will HATE it and so will my MIL.

3. depending upon our circumstance, we will either have a biodynamic/permaculture garden or we will join a community garden. but, we will be gardening! if we join the community garden, we will likely have some potted plants (herbs) at home, too, either way.

4. we still plan to keep toys to a minimum, and keep them in the main living space. it inspires me to keep cleaning and organizing, and it makes a nice place where we can work/play together.

5. we want to have other friends/families over for play dates both structured (music nights) and untructured (kids play, parents chat). we know a number of waldorf-families where we are going, and so we would like to invite them to join us for fun!

so, we may never look normally waldorf, but we are inspired by it.