How to Create a Home You Love
Cultivating a Gracious, Warm Space for Yourself and Others
One of life’s many pleasures is homemaking. Cultivating a comfortable and welcoming place to love the people in your life is an amazing gift. It’s somewhat surprising that beautifying a home has the potential to be very fulfilling. I think it has to do with the fact that we are designed to love beauty and order and be creative, not to mention that homemaking is a great way to fulfill our calling to love and nurture others.
Unfortunately, for many of us, homemaking can also feel like a burden. There are many possible reasons for this: we may not know our style, we might have very little money to spend on non-essentials, or we may be comparing ourselves to our friends who have different lifestyles and giftings, or worse, the impossible social media standards we see on Pinterest and Instagram.
Thankfully, we don’t have to live dissatisfied with our homemaking skills. Below are five tips on how to create a home that we love and can use to glorify God.
#1 - Cut out Comparison and Cultivate Contentment
It might sound odd to start with this tip, but bear with me. Creating a welcoming, gracious home starts with a heart that is centered in gratitude and contentment.
We need to recognize that comparison is damaging both to our hearts and our home. It’s so tempting to compare our homes to those of our friends or to the beautiful social media pages we follow. But if we stop to think about it, we know it’s bad for our hearts and can lead to covetousness. When we’re not content, we tend to become sour and ungrateful, and that’s not good for us or our families.
If you are a homemaker (whether it’s your full time occupation or not), your attitude sets the tone for your home. A woman who is grateful is gracious and warm; that’s just how it is. There are women who are poor, but have beautiful homes because of the warmth of their hearts. And there are wealthy women with homes I wouldn’t want to set foot in.
If covetousness is a struggle for you, know that you’re not alone. It’s common. Thankfully we have a savior who is ready and willing to help us in our weakness! Hebrews 2:18 says “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
Cultivate contentment inside your heart about your space and the things you own. The peace that results will relieve your heart of so much tension, leaving room for creativity and love for ourselves and others.
#2 - Clean and Tidy Goes a Long Way
Having a perfectly decorated house is fun, but it’s honestly not as important as having a place that is tidy and clean. Flawless interior design should just be extra toppings on the cake!
Keeping your home clean and chaos-free will make it feel more peaceful and inviting both for yourself and the people you live with, as well as your guests. You might be surprised how much more you love your home when it’s tidy and clean!
The key to a consistently tidy home is to have reasonable organization and cleaning routines. Minimalistic decor can also help, since it lends itself to keeping extraneous items put away.
#3 - Develop Your Own Decor Style
Decorating is one of the most fun steps to cultivating a beautiful, inviting home! Developing your own interior design styles can be a challenge, but here are a few tips to get started:
Ask yourself these questions:
1.”What would make my home feel more comfortable/homey?”:
Does it need curtains? Throw pillows or a blanket? More fun mugs? Something to dress up some empty spots? Is there enough light?
2. “What items would beautify my home?”:
Would plants look good with my decor? How about wall art or framed photos? Maybe a pretty lamp or a large area rug?
If you want more ideas for developing your home decor style, click on the button below to go to an article dedicated to that topic.
I hope these tips are helpful to you. God bless you as you seek to create a gracious, warm space to bless both yourself and others!
