How to Make Your Home an Expression of YOU

We all dream of having Better Homes and Garden Home. Or maybe a Martha Stewart-looking house. Or maybe even a House Beautiful home.

Whatever dream we may have as we peruse through magazines, we can easily lose sight of what we truly want our homes to be. Maybe we want our homes to be a place of peace. Of rest. Of refreshment.

Have you ever wondered if your home REALLY looked like those in BHG? They are often staged. They are set up to “look good” in a magazine. But imagine when the family comes home – do you think that it still looks like it did in the magazine? I doubt it.

Think about all of the cleaning – the picking up and putting back down it would take to dust one of those homes. Imagine the need for storage after each season is complete? Imagine how many times you’d have to say “don’t touch” to your children? Would you spend more time being paranoid about it looking perfect, than actually enjoying it?

What if you looked at your home as a place to define who you are? What if when others visited, they could walk through your home and find out what you truly value in life? Where your beliefs are? What if each room defined those very things?

Over the past couple of years, I have really tried to put this to the test. I don’t want anything in my home to be a contradiction to what I believe in or value. I don’t want to own something that costs more than I would ever pay for it myself because I don’t value high-priced possessions. We desire to live a simple life. Our faith in Christ is what drives what we have in our home – we have pictures with Bible verses on them. We have crosses to remind us of His sacrifice. We have a Bible always sitting on our kitchen table, to remind us to devotions at mealtime. We use pictures we have taken of nature and excursions to decorate.

What story does your home tell?

How to Make Your Home an Expression of YOU:
1. Decorate with personal items – pictures, memorabilia, favorite books.
2. Only buy furniture that can actually be used and you don’t mind if it gets destroyed by your family.
3. Don’t buy something that you will regret if it breaks or gets dirty – a home is meant to be lived in.
4. Fill your cupboards with foods you would eat on a normal basis – don’t buy ingredients you never heard of just to be like the magazines.
5. Because you sleep in your bed at least 7-8 hours a day (at least you should be), make it COMFORTABLE instead of pretty. If you can accomplish both, go for it!
6. Only keep movies and cds that reflect your values.
7. Hang pictures on your refrigerator of those you cherish or projects your kids are proud of.
8. Keep books on your coffee table that you think others should pick up and read to influence their life
9. Don’t own things that are MORE than what you can afford – or things that you feel are only buying into American dream.
10. What are your beliefs? How are they represented in your home?
11. How many of one thing do you have? Do you own more of something than you would like to own? Such a computers? Video games? Books?

A Home Golden Rule: Don’t let anything in come into your home that contradicts your family values.

Let your HOME tell others who you are!