The Danish word Hygge (hu-gah) is a feeling or mood that comes from taking genuine pleasure in making ordinary everyday things simply extraordinary; whether it’s using real lights on a Christmas tree or breaking out the good wine when friends come over. It’s about owning things you only truly love or that inspire, being present in yourself and your life, putting effort into your home without being Martha Stewart or buying a bed in a bag. It’s about being conscious and authentic from home to work to friends to celebrations and making all events {no matter how big or small, mundane or exciting} matter. Words like cosiness, security, familiarity, comfort, reassurance, fellowship, simpleness and living well are often used to describe the idea of Hygge. Learn more.
About Alex Beauchamp
An Aquarius who doesn’t believe in astrology, Alex is passionate about sharing information, living well, and dresses (not necessarily in that order). Her bike is her preferred mode of transportation, as is good linens over jewellery and baking to cooking. She gardens for the cut flowers (peonies, tuberose, sweet peas), shops only when necessary, and dreams about sleeping for more than four hours at a time. She adores Thursdays, small houses (1000sf is her best friend), tea, hats and glossy home mags.
She grew up on a farm in a small town in a family that was as creative as they were practical. Her clothes were hand made, toys were built out of wood, vegetables were grown in the yard not because it was hip but because that’s what one did. She was a tomboy who loved pretty things too. This meant she fished in petticoats, played sports in skirts, built forts then decorated with linens and helped her parents renovate houses by choosing paint colours and carpet.
She’s also passionate about travel; her own began at the age of 18, living in France, Denmark, New Zealand, Cayman Islands, UK, and Canada. In 1999 Alex immigrated to America and lived all over it: Franklin Tennessee, Bowling Green Kentucky, Seattle Washington, Austin Texas, Philadelphia Pennsylvania and Santa Monica California.
Currently, she resides in a very hygge 1920′s restored cottage by the beach in Santa Barbara, California.
Other sites by Alex
I created my first web site in 1995 and have been a staple online ever since, creating award-winning online community driven sites that connect, inspire & encourage idea sharing.
Girl at Play: My company since 2001. It began as a way to chronicle how I left a corporate job to be creatively self-employed.
Girls Got Gumption: Showcasing over 30 women who run creative businesses with Q&A’s to answer just how they do it.
Anywhere Everywhere: Personal travel site with some articles from my travel writing days.
Pet the Pretty Things: Favourite product finds of mine.
Giving Back
This site is about connecting people to ideas, to living well, and to each other. And an important component of that is giving back to charities I believe in. I’m so passionate about Direct Relief, an organization that’s been providing urgent and ongoing medical global aid since 1948, that in November 2011 I began working with them officially. Any Amazon.com link kickbacks, any fundraisers, will always go to Direct Relief. Of course, you’re welcome to donate directly, too!
How the House is Run
Hygge House was designed, coded, and implemented by me and a lot of tea. It’s hosted on the very amazing, wonderful, easy, inexpensive company, Dreamhost. I’ve used them since 1998 for several major web sites and can’t say enough about their service. They truly make it easy to sign up, register your domain and then host your site. They even have one-click install for WordPress which is fabulous because WordPress is what I use to run this site.
Disclosure
Hygge House is not a job for me – it’s a personal project that I do because I enjoy it. I began blogging long before you could make money and get free stuff so that’s never been my motivation. I also am not paid to write posts or talk about products – this is an ad free blog. If I share something I like, you can trust that I really do.
Copyright & Pintrest
I believe in originality and ownership of work which is why 99% of the content is by me and the 1% comes from friends who are credited. Please do not use images and/or text without permission. I’ve disabled Pintrest because I do not agree with their policies.
