Chris and I love to have people over a couple times a week. Greta goes to bed pretty early, and Chris will cook up a storm and we'll talk or play games (or watch The Bachelor/ette--guilty!). Since we moved into our house 2+ years ago, we have been brainstorming a way to keep a record of the people--family, new friends or lifers--we have welcomed into our home. We went back and forth from a wall or canvas with signatures and messages (couldn't sustain long term), to snapping a photo with everyone (wouldn't want our camera-shy friends to feel uncomfortable) and then we realized how many friends have come and gone--I mean, really cool people that may never make it our way again--during all that wasted brainstorming time. So we ordered a guest book.
After a thorough search through a lot of too-extravagant-for-our-wants weddingish guest books, and a few straight-from-the-beach or meant-for-a-lodge travel guest books, I found this simple, leather guest book from Graphic Image
and it was exactly what we were looking for, with a few extra details that make it really special, like having our name embossed on the front.
And those gilt pages! Inside, the pages are simply lined, no extra words--another score. Chris's parents came our way on their way to Arizona last week and were our very first signatures with a date. Since then, a couple more friends have added their name to the book.
They had a lot of different colors of leather, but we went with "British Tan" to add some warmth to our coffee table--although I was this close to navy blue. We hope it inspires us to continue inviting people into our home for years to come. Would you, or do you have a guest book? I feel like it would make a great house-warming, or even wedding gift!
Ps. Graphic Image is offering 15% off orders using code CLOVESJ throught July 1st.
What do you think?
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What a great read - I’ll be sharing with my husband. This is appreciated!
Pretoria
Is that box table from West Elm? and if so, how in the heck do you keep it clean???
Erin. You just made my day. It's a copycat I DIYed here: Copy-Cat Whitewashed Coffee TableAnd I just wipe it down. No problems.
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We have people paint a 6x6 wood square and put it on our garage. Very fun to see what people paint!
I would've never have thought of doing something like this! What a wonderful and sentimental way to remember people and get togethers. Maybe I should do it to deter my hermit like ways!
Julia, I love this (just like everything you guys do!).
My roommate and best friend from college had this in our home! It was our first apartment together - just the two of us - and we made a guest book for our friends to sign. Of course you can imagine how hilarious some of the signatures/messages were on late nights - between sleep deprivation or too much fun, it was a book full of wonderful memories!
Sadly, it was one of the things I lost in that F@#$&#! flood a few years back. We treasured that thing.
What an interesting idea! I've never seen this done before but it's really cute. We don't have people stay often but we do throw a lot of parties and potlucks...maybe we can do something similar but have our guests bring a recipe card (since most of our gatherings are food related) of the meal they brought over.
We're house hunting for our first home and I love the idea of buying myself one as a housewarming present! We visited distant relatives who receive all sorts of foreign visitors a couple of summers ago, and they had a visitors book, which I love signing. I think it will be so cool to reminisce 20 or 30 years down the line about the various visits you had from friends and family!
I also love MKB's parents rule of anyone who shares a meal should sign the book - although we have a lot of people over for dinner. Perhaps we'll stick to overnight guests...
So fun! My parents have had a guest book the entire 47 years of their marriage. The best part is looking back and seeing changes in the signatures of us five kids, and the now twelve grandchildren! My parents' rule was that anyone who shared a meal at our house signed the guest book (when we remembered). It really is a tradition for the years, and so much fun to look back at the many happy memories.
What a fun idea! Now I want to visit! ;) it looks like we are making our way back to American Fork at the end of July. I'm thinking we should get together! My girlies would love to play with Greta!
No way!!! I'm so excited! We'll definitely get our girls together.
My house would be so stinkin' clean if I had people over that often. Instead we only have visitors a couple of times a month and our vacuuming schedule definitely reflects that.
You know...it really DOES help us keep things tidy. People are coming over! Grab the vacuum!
LOVE this!! I love having people over/throwing parties/etc. If we ever get our den/living room done, I would love to have this out on our coffee table.
Actually, this might be a fabulous Fathers Day/Birthday present for my FIL too! He's verrrrryyy into Facebook (in the annoying way), but he loves loves when his kids & their friends come over to his house. I could definitely see him making us all sign it.
Hahaha. Your father-in-law sounds a lot like my dad, minus the Facebook part.
This is so fun!! What a great idea.
My Aunt in Florida has kept a guest book for years. Another thing she does is when she has overnight guests, she displays photos of that person and their family in the guest bedroom to help them feel like the space is truly their own for the time they are staying. I have started doing both. loving your blog - it keeps me inspired!
Linda, what a special idea! I'm definitely going to do that the next time we have overnight guests. Love it!
I love that idea! We don't have people over all that often, but we are moving to a city that's a huge tourist attraction, so we're expecting quite a few visitors in our new place once we're settled. I might need to steal this!
Oooo, do it! We'd love to live in a bigger city again one day. Best of luck to you!