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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  1. 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!

  2. 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.

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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! 🙂

  6. 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!

  7. 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! ^_^

  8. 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

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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!

  12. 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

  13. 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.

  14. 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

  15. 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

  16. 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.