It is GOOD stuff, and gives the reader a moment to ponder what it really means to be creating a beautiful and enjoyable home, a haven filled with love and reflecting what your family is all about.
If our hearts find REST in our homes, then "nesting" just follows. It becomes our shelter, a place to live, grow, and thrive. Memories and Moments...big and small, are woven together here.
“It seems to me that whether it is recognized or not, there is a terrific frustration which increases in intensity and harmfulness as time goes on, when people are always daydreaming of the kind of place in which they would like to live, yet never making the place where they do live into anything artistically satisfying to them. Always to dream of a cottage by a brook while never doing anything to the stuffy house in the city is to waste creativity in this very basic area, and to hinder future creativity by not allowing it to grow and develop through use."
So your kitchen isn't dreamy and big...with the latest upgrades and beautiful finishes and newest gadgets....
COLOR!!! Tap in to your own likes and preferences and play...
A house or an apartment is just an empty BOX... waiting for YOU to come in and put your unique stamp on it!! NOT somebody else's look...YOUR look.
“Interior decoration is not just one's artistic efforts, but it is that which your home (even if it is just a room) is. If you are 'decorating' with clothes draped on every chair, with scratched and broken furniture- it is still your interior decoration! Your home expresses you to other people, and they cannot see or feel your daydreams of what you expect to make in that misty future, when all the circumstances are what you think they must be before you will find it worthwhile to start. You have started, whether you recognize that fact or not! "
You are expressing a special love to your family when you seek to bring beauty and warmth into the home. Making the living space of your house a comfort to enter into from the outside world.
FLOWERS!!! Use Mother Nature's bounty! Bring it IN!
“I often advise young brides who are traveling during their first weeks or months of marriage to start "homemaking" in a hotel, even if they are there for only a night, rather than groaning about having to "wait so long to have a home". How? ...Your own cloth, your own candlestick, just one rose or daffodil is enough to make a difference... You will be surprised how much difference it makes to have done something to make a room your home, even for one night.”
Sometimes just the smallest addition...one item can warm up a space or nook...
PILLOWS!!!
MUSIC!!! “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” ~ Plato
LIGHTS!!! "Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light shining somewhere nearby." ~Ruth E. Renkel
WORDS!!! "Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones." ~Proverbs 16:24
FOOD!!! “Enchant, stay beautiful and graceful, but do this, eat well. Bring the same consideration to the preparation of your food as you devote to your appearance. Let your dinner be a poem, like your dress.” ~ Charles Pierre Monselet
“Is a Christian- one who communicates daily with the Creator- to divorce himself from the things God created and intended man to have, and which demonstrate the fact that man has been made in the image of God? In other words, are we who have been made in the image of our creator to be less creative than those who do not know the Creator? The Christian should have more vividly expressed creativity in his daily life.”
ONE OF A KIND YOU!!! "Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it." ~ PS. 139:14
Play.
Dream.
Create.
Transform.
Combine.
Envision.
Overlap.
Your Home is Your playground. Your haven. Your fort. Your escape. Your voice. Your spirit...creating a SAFE place...a doorway to rooms where loved ones can let their hair down...be themselves...express their feelings...be confident to to be unique...to claim their own little spot of comfort and peace....
“We foolish mortals sometimes live through years not realizing how short life is, and that TODAY is your life.”
God bless any who have stopped by today...most certainly this post went a wee bit long...but my thoughts and heart are in it. Truly a woman holds the power to build up or tear down her home...even affecting future generations!
"Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands." Proverbs 14:1
Cherish and Spoil your husband.
Love and Empower your children.
Fluff and Fill your home with laughter, wisdom, and kindness.
You are created by an AWESOME and MAGNIFICENT Creator...there is NO OTHER. Fulfill your task for this short time on Earth. Eternity will come soon enough!
Accept and BE who YOU Are...A beautiful woman. Be strong. Be creative. Let your God-given beauty and gifts show in all the ways you express yourself. God gets the glory and you get the joy.
AND OF COURSE....BE THRIFTY!!!
8 comments:
Love this post! Truer than true words and advice. I have always been a nester, by heart.
But, by far, the most wonderful, beautiful, most magnificent things in my home are not the things I have created- they are the ones I share this space with...they make it all come together and shine like a new penny.
Happy day to you, Julie- you always make me smile!
You've done some lovely things to your home. I like the signs which are so meaningful. I like nesting, and I also like travel. Winter is a good time for nesting. Cuppa coffee, cuppa tea, cranberry muffin...nesting is good.
Hugs, Beth
Oh Julie - what a wonderful, much needed admonishment to us all! Preach is sista! Love it all!
LOVE!! Everything you say is so true and I love the examples you showed to illustrate the message (I always enjoy seeing your lovely home).
Oh what a wonderful post! Truths spoken from your heart. I love making my nest my own style. We can change our homes with very little money. A small inexpensive home can feel like a castle when filled with love. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and all of these lovely pictures. Hugs to you my friend.
I love the fun spirit
that you brought to
this post, Julie!
I am finding as I get
older and my chicks
are moving closer to
the edge of the nest,
that what I want first
and foremost is comfort.
Just like with my clothing,
I will no longer bring
anything into home decor
that is more about looks
than comfort. I want to
be able to sink down anywhere
and feel comfortable, be
able to put my feet up,
and for things not to be
too "precious." I find that
I only display things that
have real meaning to me
or someone in the family.
This, to me, makes it a
real haven from the world : )
Love all of your ideas, and
your "nest!"
Happy Tuesday,
xo Suzanne
Okay, so this post makes me happy. Maybe I'm not quite the dismal failure I think I am when it comes to nesting my home. :-) I have read this book a few times myself and love it and am inspired by it. My home will never be as beautifully decorated as yours but I'm reminded that I can continue to do some of the smaller things you suggest. You're the best, Julie!
Julie, this is truly an inspiring post! You've had such an influence on me when it comes to feathering the nest. I've learned clear to the core that it really isn't about having the latest things, but how we use what we have to make a haven for our dear family...mine being for my hubby. It's about having out our favorite things...and the food and the music and the lighting...they are all so inspiring and have a great deal to do with setting the mood for calm and peace! Love you, Girlfriend! xoxo
Post a Comment