Do not build a house tabula rasa and then purchase possessions to put inside it. All of your purchases will be one-era items, and they will look as though you purchased them only for the sake of filling in empty spaces.

Before building a house, start collecting favorite pieces--some of them will date back to your childhood--including furniture and art. Your house will then be built to contain those pieces.

The history of your house does not begin when it is built. It is the possessions you amassed and treasured, and especially the people who live in it, that give it its history.