Melissa Michaels
About the Author

Melissa Michaels is the NY Times Bestselling author of Love The Home You Have and The Inspired Room book. Her blog, The Inspired Room, was voted Better Homes & Gardens Readers' Favorite decorating blog in 2014 and 2015. Melissa is a church planter's wife and a mom to three human kids and...

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
Find more at DaySpring.com
(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
DaySpring.com
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Comments

  1. Melissa,
    Your post this morning was reinforcement that I need an attitude adjustment. Instead of grumbling about cleaning my home (after 30+ years of cleaning my own home, I’m over it), I need to thank God for my home and that I am still, for the most part, physically able to clean it. I will have to try the 15 min. cleaning frenzy because I find myself like a deer caught in the headlights, not knowing where to begin. May my home and my heart be a reflection of God’s love for me.
    Blessings,
    Bev

    • Thank you Bev, I know what you mean about getting “over it” when it comes to cleaning! After awhile it can feel so tiring! Maybe a little music will help inspire you to keep on going! 🙂

  2. Yes Melissa,
    I needed this post. I have 4 boys and have always thought oh well it is what it is.
    Now I see how I can be actually make it a beautiful home to glorify God and a blessing to others. Joining the challenge to make my home a blessing.

    • YAY, I’m glad. It is worth it and I hope you feel inspired. 🙂 Thank you!!

  3. Hi Melissa,

    Thank-you for sharing these helpful tips. I agree it brings some peace of mind and shows appreciation for the home that we are blessed with.

  4. “The love we show our home should be a reflection of gratitude to God for what we have. Our home is a gift.” What a powerful statement! I am blessed.

  5. Yep, I needed this post today. Sometimes I find it too easy to wish I had others’ homes or decorating styles. I used to do something similar to cleaning frenzies. I think it’s time to renew that habit. You’re right. I always feel better when my home looks neater.

    Thanks for helping me shift my perspective, Melissa!

    • Sure, I am the same way. It’s easy to get out of the rut and just wish you had someone else’s house! It really changes my own perspective when I start showing a little more love for the home I have. 🙂 Thanks for your comment, Jeanne!

  6. Great ideas! Any suggestions for a woman in a wheelchair with little energy and even less money? Step 1 A Cleaning Frenzy is not a possibility anymore. With less money, hiring help can’t happen either. My husband (of almost 30 yrs) works hard at his job, but has no sense of cleanliness and no idea how to clean a thing. I prefer not to give up, yet see no other option?

    • I think your attitude to not give up is wonderful! I think starting with what you can do is the best answer for any of us.

      If you can clear off your nightstand, dust off an end table, or empty a drawer or print off a pretty picture you like from the internet and pin it to a wall, or make a list of everything you are grateful for and put it on a mirror or in a journal. Those are little steps that start to help us feel better and more inspired to show love for our home.

      Maybe your little steps will inspire your husband to help you too! I know at our house when one of us starts tidying up, the other often jumps in and does a little something too just because it’s inspiring to see people taking care of a home.

      Maybe you could start by asking your husband to bring home a bouquet of spring flowers for your newly dusted and cleared nightstand!

      I hope you find a few ways to start the process of loving your home more in ways you can!

      • Thank you for your suggestions.
        Yes, simple things like clearing my nightstand and listing in a journal are things I can do. In fact ,I already have kept many journals over 41 yrs, since I started walking with Jesus.

        When I was younger and able to clean, I too, hoped it might inspire both my husband and daughter to join in.
        Sadly, that was not to be.

        Now that I have moved with my husband to a new home in a new State . . . my health has declined and my husband fails to remember simple requests, such as “Please take out the trash”.
        So my point is: I am on my own in a home I did not choose, in a place I do not know,
        Loving this house (which does not at all feel like a home) will not be easy.

  7. Love all these points! I got married about a year ago and moved into my husband’s home. It has taken time to begin to feel like it’s our home and it makes me especially love the points you made even more since I think it will help in loving it and feeling like home.

  8. I feel like this almost everyday, I’m a stay at home mom of a two year old and I clean everyday (usually the same thing as the day before) and often feel like the whole house will never get done. I started working one room at a time and getting to the point I was happy with it, then the next day I would pick up anything my son drug out in the room I cleaned and start working on another room. Its so much easier to keep a house clean than it is to clean a dirty house. So I clean a room everyday and add a new room the next day and so on and eventually every room in the house will only need tidying up not actually cleaned.

  9. I also like to make a list of everything I want to get done that day and as I get it done I mark it off. It helps keep me focused knowing what I have to get done that day and then when I mark something off it makes me feel accomplished and like Im getting closer to my goal for the day.

  10. Melissa,
    I know I am blessed to have the home I live in. Sure it needs repairs, but in time when the money is there we will complete them. I love the idea of a cleaning frenzy. I love listening to music and doing just about anything! Perhaps new traditions would be just the thing to spruce my spirits up as well as my house.
    Blessings 🙂

  11. To me it’s also like: why do I have to live this big? When sooo many people in the world don’t even have a home…

  12. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ENCOURAGING ME TODAY. IT IS JUST WHAT I NEEDED. GOD IS SO GOOD TO US. I AM VERY THANKFUL FOR MY HOME AND ALL HE HAS BLESSED US WITH. GOD BLESS YOU.

  13. Now that my husband is dead I have to continue making a home even without him around. Sad and difficult

  14. I often feel despair about the condition of my room. Thanks for the confidence boosting. Will certainly try these tips. Lord help me!

    • I’m sorry you are going through a rough time! I hope the tips (and my book if you get a chance to look for it!) might be of help and encouragement to you. Take care!

  15. Just wanted to let you know how well this blessed my soul. I tried so hard just the other day to explain to my husband how I felt about our home. How it seemed I could not seem to get our surroundings clean, warm, inviting and comfortable. Step 1. Is about to get extreme. The rest will fall into place. I’ve always known our home is a blessing from God, so there is no lacking there. Again thank you so much!