Creating Home: How To Make Your Space A Place You Love

Creating Home: How to make your space a place you love

5 min read by Megan Rea

You and I were made to crave home. How do I know this?

Because we have moved 5x in 2 years and I never realized how important home was until I didn’t have one.

On March 5th, 2019 being equal parts exhausted and excited, we turned the page or key as it were, on the next chapter of our adventure. Chris and I walked through the door of our home and could actually, wait for it, live there now. Surreal.

It was wonderful

and overwhelming

and dance party-inducing

and a lesson-filled reality check once you realize Chip and Joanna haven’t done all the heavy lifting for you. What in the world.

Our journey to “create home” again has been just that, a journey. And much like everything in this life, also a metaphor for the way the Lord works and all He teaches us about faith and provision along the way. So. Many. Lessons.

Without sounding weirdly overly spiritual, the Lord truly became our home; our single constant when we knew everything else had to be handled loosely.

I could recount with tears, the faithfulness of God as Chris, and I slowly relinquished control and took part in something only God could unfold, and only God could’ve known we needed.

We discovered a lot about ourselves over those 24 months, but one universal lesson stands out above the rest: You and I were made to crave home; we were created to know the peace that comes when you have a place where you belong.

And this longing, sure it’s temporarily met through the place we share our meals and lay our heads, but at our core, our longing for home will only fully be realized once we get to Heaven.

We were fashioned with eternity in mind, and somewhere in our souls, we know that. So we set up little samples of Heaven here on earth through the love and care and attention we give our home and our people. Because creating spaces where you belong is more important to your soul than you realize. It foreshadows what is to come.

[bctt tweet=”Creating spaces where you belong is more important to your soul than you realize. It foreshadows what is to come. #nosmalllife #creatinghome #livealifeworthcelebrating” username=”NoSmallLife”]

The problem, is that most of us aren’t all that confident to do it on our own. We think we need to host an HGTV show or have an unlimited expense account at West Elm to create the type of space that feels like “us.”

Good news though, neither of those things are true!

(READ: However if someone, anyone, from West Elm happens to be reading this, I will HAPPILY give it a shot. Ahem)

You know what you need to create a home that feels like you? Confidence AND…just a little insight from all my imperfect trial and error.

So, I thought hard and whittled down 24 months of 8 million micro decisions, countless stress dreams about hideous tile and 1007 texts to our good friend Melissa… into 9 key, insider tips.

Aren’t you a lucky duck?

[bctt tweet=”Want to create a home that actually feels like you? A space you LOVE and can’t wait to spend time in? Here’s where to begin: #nosmalllife #livealifeworthcelebrating #creatinghome” username=”NoSmallLife”]

Want to create a home that actually feels like you? A space you LOVE and can’t wait to spend time in? Here’s where to begin:

 

1. Start Small

And by that I mean pick a room. Just one. I know. You want to redo it all. You will, but not at once. I’ve tried. That is a recipe for crazy and zero significant progress.

What room needs your attention the most?

Got it? Let’s move on.

 

2. Clear your space

    When you’ve looked at your room one way for so long, it’s nearly impossible to envision it any other way without resetting it to zero. (And no, I didn’t come to this conclusion on my own, I gleaned it from this awesome book, and if you’re already feeling overwhelmed, gift it to yourself right now. It’s. Wonderful.) Don’t believe the lie that you’re not creative and other people are better at this than you. Other people just haven’t been staring at your tired gallery wall for the past 6 years. So clear your space. Take the art down, put all your precious tchotchkes in a box and take a look at everything with fresh eyes.

 

3. Let yourself dream

Answer these 2 questions for me:

How do you want your space to feel? Fun? Energetic? Serene? Funky? Inspiring? Relaxing?

How do you want your space to function? Let’s say you’re doing an office. The worst thing you could do is head straight to Office Max. Don’t do that. Think about your space first. What kind of storage do you need? How much space do you need for files? Need a place to hide your laptop case so it doesn’t end up chillin on your kitchen table every night? In an ideal world, how could this space serve you well and make life simpler?

 

 

4. Gather Inspo

This is the fun part. This is where everyone wants to start. But you can’t because if you start here, you may end up with a cool room, but it will be someone else’s cool room suited for their family and not yours. That being said, gather inspo like it’s your job, and because it’s 2019, make it easier on yourself and do it digitally. I think Pinterest is the easiest way, BUT you do you.

Like I said, THIS is the fun part. Create a Pin board exclusively for your one room and start adding ANYTHING to it that catches your eye. Don’t edit yourself. That comes later. Don’t worry if you’re redoing a laundry room and you’re in LUV with a picture of a kitchen. Add it to your board. Trust me. Add it all. It will make sense.

 

 

5. Now it’s time to narrow

Ok, let’s take a look at that board and if you need to, phone a friend. My hunch is you’ll see a theme emerging. What’s similar about many of the things you’ve pinned? Is your board loaded with dark cabinets? Airy open spaces? Round light fixtures? All. the. Plants? Once you see all the similarities rising to the surface, good news, you just found your style.

 

 

6. Picture taking, Decision Making & Measure Taking

Now that you have all this new found info, it’s time to start making decisions.  Not time to go shopping. Did all the spaces you pinned have an accent wall and white furniture? Great! And because you’ve already answered the questions from step 3, you’re well on your way to designing a well thought out room.  Now, take pictures of your room from every angle and measure your space so everything WILL function well. Because if you have a giant room and a 2×3 rug, said rug will be sad and lonely. Don’t be the victim of a lonely rug. Know what will work before you start looking.

 

 

7. Stay focused on what you’re looking for

Now, it’s time for the shopping stage. And I know you want to buy everything at once and just be done with it already. Some people can do that. They’re called Unicorns. For the rest of us, trying to look at everything you need at once is a recipe for design ADD. I know this. I have this. You’ll spread yourself too thin. You’ll get overwhelmed, and you friend, will come home with a candle. And probably a pair of shoes. That doesn’t help your laundry room. Do yourself a favor and if you’re going light fixture shopping, stay in your lane man. It’s not time to look at artwork. And don’t worry. You have your Pin boards to refer to constantly. Everything will play nice together in the end. But for the love of your sanity, try and stay focused.

Also, for the record, I am terrible at this 🙂 Experience is a fantastic teacher.

 

 

8. Bring Pics with you

Whoever can tell me how in the world we shopped for ANYTHING before we had camera /smartphones gets a 1000 points.  I can’t tell you how many times I fell in love with something at the store, pulled up a picture of my room or my Pinterest board and put the cute little thing back on the shelf. You will save yourself SO much time, headache, and returns by doing this.  Because whether you are scrolling online or perusing through the aisles of HomeGoods, a navy and orange fuzzy blanket may catch your eye, it may want to jump in your cart and you will fall victim to it until you pull up pics to your room or pics of your Pinterest board and see that it won’t play nice in your room.

 

 

9. It’s ok to be a beginner

You know how you become confident at something? By actually stepping out and doing it.  Much like you had zero clue how to actually drive until you got behind the wheel of the car, you learn by trying, trusting, and taking a few risks here and there. (You know, just save your receipts 😉 ) Go slow. Give yourself the grace-filled permission to be a beginner. And starting now, only allow into your home what you love.  It’s not someone else’s place.  There are no designer police who will scold you on your bedding choice. YOU can create a space that gives your soul and your people life and joy.

Trust your gut.

And remember, this home, your 4 walls, it’s not meant to be perfect.  Let’s save that perfection for our eternal home. Instead, when you lessen the pressure and begin to see your current space as a gift and an opportunity to bring a little ‘rough draft’ of Heaven to earth, you’re freeing yourself to actually do what you were meant to do in your home.

Rest and enjoy it.

Note: Chris Rea, you have full permission to remind me of all of my words when I forget them and get all stressy in approximately 27 minutes. 🙂

On this journey with you: Go forth, be confident, and for the love of throw pillows, take LOTS of pictures.

And like I said, this book (Cozy Minimalist Home) is a great resource too!

Until next time,

Meg

P.S.Want more home posts? Check them all out here!

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