Does your home make you happy? Not just happy in the “wow, I am so happy I made this look pretty” sort of way, but the “I am so blessed in life” God-given happiness sort of way. This kind of happiness at home doesn’t necessarily come from having beautiful things or the perfect circumstances as much as it depends on creating a home full of meaning. There is a big difference.
Creating a home that brings us joy and happiness requires surrounding ourselves with layers of memories and reminders of blessings– not just random objects. When everything was bought to simply to serve a purpose or to fill a space, and nothing was collected through a meaningful life, a home feels flat and one dimensional.
A surface-decorated home misses out on the soul stories, the memories, the hope, inspiration and deeper meaning that can only come through recognizing God’s abundant blessing in our life and displaying it all around us. Seeing those reminders can change our day and even our heart as we focus on what matters most to us.
What are some practical ways you can create a home that reflects your blessings?
Here are some inspiration posts:
Decorating with Memories of Family Vacations
Frame Maps of Places You’ve Been (great for military or missionary families too!)
Surround Yourself with Special Family Photos
Live with What You Love
Join me over at The Inspired Room where we dive deep into creating meaningful homes!
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I love this post….I love that you bring it back down to not being picture-perfect, magazine, clean/stylish home,but one filled with love and memories. Ours is filled with yard sale furniture (some)….but, lots of furniture from my Mother’s home….all that was hers…I can sit on, look at, hold in my hands and hear her voice….and my children can hear her and remember time with Nana before the hospital…before she went to her eternal home…..
Some days, I long for ‘new’….but, then, the past would not be in the present…an ever-reminder of the future…..our eternal home, our true purpose here……
Thank you!
YES! I love that!!
Melissa, I love how you make simple the special things we could easily miss.
(And I love seeing your home sprinkled with DaySpring!!) 🙂
xo
Thank you. I needed this today!
Thank you for reminding me that my simple home is so lovely because it is layered with memories and meaning. We are blessed indeed to enjoy a safe and peaceful place to dwell.
It is easy to forget what really makes our homes beautiful, especially online when we can quickly feel inadequate with what we have!
LOVE THIS!
My home is filled with “hand-me-downs” from our family which remind me who surrounds us!
Laughter trumps dishes!
Play RULES the school!
& Art comes before “Clean-up”!
or so I TRY!
With Joy, Carey
Love that motto! 😉 Perfect!
Better “love filled” than “Martha Stewart” filled. A home is where the heart is. I love visiting homes where pictures fill the walls, pictures of faith, family and fun. I love fridges full of family and thoughts. Making a “house” a “home” what a wonderful post.
Blessings,
Jan
You put the Blessings Unlimited Memo Board on the wall! Brilliant! I am making a note to do the very same thing in my home! 🙂
It is one of my FAVORITE things in my house. Seriously. I love it and use it all the time!
I love finding pieces or prints that reflect how we feel about each other, our faith, our convictions… I no longer buy meaningless prints or words. Only what we truly believe and live by go into our home. And it makes it a very loving home!
Yes, I agree!! Meaningful art can bring so much depth to our life!
All of the “big” things in our home have been given to us. One might think that we’d end up with a hodge podge of odd pieces, but the Lord is THE best interior designer and our living room looks like it goes quite well together. All browns. The dining room was one set initially. Now the chairs don’t match the table, but neither do they look horrible together. So, looking around my home I literally SEE blessings! Can’t get much better than that! ^_^
You are blessed. Much of what I have was given to me too and I am so grateful God always provides!
[…] Creating a Home that Reflects Our Blessings […]
Love this Melissa, beautiful.
I have a Red Letter Words print in almost every room of my house. I love them because they’re beautiful and they give me a truth-boost when I need it most! Melissa, you are lovely and you help us make our lives that way too! XOXO
This is beautiful and well said. My husband and I have been building a home in our little one-bedrom-apartment since we got married a bit over 2 years ago. Sadly in those 2 years we have battled infertility and experienced the crushing sadness of a miscarriage and also dealt with financial strains that came along with all of that. But God is good indeed and has truly made our home a sanctuary and it is here where he has healed my heart and spoken sweetly to my broken aching places.
Our home is filled with hand-me-down furniture from family members that each tells it’s own story and heirloom antiques from grandparents who aren’t with us anymore. It’s a real comfort to me to have familiar things surrounding me that are beautiful, meaningful and that have stood the test of time. It’s not about spending a lot of money or keeping up with the latest trends, but using what you have and putting your heart and creativity into making your home truly feel like home and an expression of who you are.
Hi Carrie, I’m so sorry about your miscarriage. I know that pain . Hugs and prayers for you.
I feel like I work too much and am running to much that the house is never put together long enough to enjoy…working on that…not having necessarily the best things but a warm and inviting place to have people in and for my family to relax.
Melissa, you always give me great decorating inspiration. After reading your posts, I look around my house and think, “Hmmmm…what could I do a little better?” And this post today has me kickin’ that up a notch and thinking intentionally about what I put in my home.
You are brilliant!
Aw, well that is so sweet of you but I just feel blessed to be able to enjoy my home and find joy in sharing it 😉
This article made me think, my family should sit down and figure out what each letter of our last name should stand for and put it where we can all see it like on our chalkboard. Thank you for the reminder to make our homes lovely but not just with decor.
Blessings,
Mel
Please feel free to stop by: Trailing After God
So well said, Melissa ~ you echoed my heart! I posted about this earlier this week myself. Decor is a reflection of our hearts and what’s important to us, not the latest and greatest. Check it out if you have time and thank you for sharing this message!
http://www.fancylittlethings.com/2011/04/decor-its-personal-special-guest-post/
My home is my special place to renew, rest, and revive myself. It is not the “things” that surround me, it is the sweet presence of God that makes my home a soft place to land each and every day. Thank you for your posts, your words and your pictures.
[…] Does your home make you happy? […]
Very thoughtful post. Thanks Melissa!
Melissa,
A wonderful post. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you are renovating and each project leads to another project (not cosmetic but structural ones). It’s not until I stop looking at the mess — when I am in my beautiful gardens or walking around the six acre property to the river — that I am reminded how blessed I am to live here. It’s a home decorated with lots of love.
Your Friend,
Deborah
What a great post and so true!! I remember our pastor gave a sermon where he talked about happiness coming from the word happening, it is a momentary thing but with God in our lives we can have pure JOY which can only come from him and it is lasting!! I have never forgotten that, Kathysue
I’ve been reflecting on House Envy recently. We stayed at our lovely (Christian) friends house (the vicarage) in a beautiful little rural village and it came home to me how so often we envy other people’s houses, never content with our own. We came back from our house-sitting holiday and felt rather cramped in our own place afterwards but challenged, not just to envy other people’s houses and their ‘Things’ but really work at making our own place somewhere we are happy and comfortable to be, changing the things we don’t like but also making a conscious effort to be content with where we are and what we have.
[…] Does your home make you happy? […]