Finding Contentment with our Homes

Hello Friends!

Do you struggle with finding contentment in your home? Perhaps you are in a season of life where your living room is covered with toddler toys, or the room makeovers you’ve been dreaming to accomplish haven’t found room yet in the budget to be completed? I would be lying if I told you that I’ve never struggled with this feeling – I completely have. Friend, I am no stranger to these feelings, I only know how real they can be and how loud they can get inside our heads. I have definitely struggled with these feelings more than once over the past 10 years – almost 20 if I’m thinking back to my first apartment, and over the past almost two decades, I’ve learned a few ways to fight back the feelings of discontentment and to fall in love with the four walls that surround me once again. 

Let’s dive in ~

I’ll be honest, sometimes it feels like everyone else in the world is renovating their homes, or building their dream homes – except for me. One quick scroll on Instagram, and suddenly you can feel like the only one who is not refreshing their home in one way or another. It’s easy to get sucked into watching someone do home renovations – I get it, I love me a good before & after! But if we aren’t careful what started out as inspiration can quickly turn into comparison. And that my friend can become a breeding ground for discontentment.

Moving doesn’t always solve this problem. And sometimes it’s not even an option. Neither does having a bigger budget or acquiring more stuff. 

Nope this is a matter of the heart, changing our thought process, and finding contentment with our homes regardless of our means. And that’s a lifestyle that can be carried over from place to place, no matter where you call home or what season of life you may find yourself in. 

So first, we need to do a heart check.

What are we allowing to influence us? Are the accounts I’m following giving me inspiration and leaving me feeling encouraged, or are they sowing seeds of discontentment? Do a quick heart check. How do you feel after you get off of social media? If you find yourself with feelings of the later – take a break. Don’t allow yourself to get sucked into the comparison trap that everyone else has the money for amazing renovations and you don’t. Walk away from the screen and go put away all that laundry you just did, because it removes visual clutter, and blesses your family more than you know (I’m talking to myself here).

The next thing I do is – Clean, Clean, and Clean some more!

Every time I have found myself in a slump of feeling discontent with our home, I needed to change the narrative that was going on inside my head. It’s easy to not love our homes when they are messy, or in need of a deep cleaning. It’s funny how the way we care for our homes can really impact our moods while we are in them. Anytime I found myself grumbling or complaining about the state of our home (or the lack there of), a quick power cleaning session would instantly fill my heart with gratitude for the home the we did have. It took my attention off of what I didn’t have, and helped me focus on all that I did. Not to mention it’s FREE, and you feel a million times better when your house is clean.

DIY Hanging Basket

Re-arrange / Refresh / Shop your Home

There is nothing like a good furniture re-arranging session to put that spark back in your heart for your home. Sometimes all that’s needed is a quick furniture switch-eroo. I’ve swapped out night stands, played musical chairs, and even rearranged all the furniture in an entire room by myself, and nothing makes me feel prouder of my home, then after I try a new furniture layout. Don’t have furniture that could be easily swapped around – that’s ok. How about your curtains, or throw pillows? Sometimes even just swapping around your smaller decor breathes live into not only your spaces, but your hearts too. Take a minute and walk around your home, and look for pieces that you can “shop” to switch things up.

Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate your storage systems or how well a piece of furniture is working for you in it’s current location. Do you remember a couple of years ago, when I swapped out the bench for an antique dresser in the kitchen of our previous home?

For years we used the bench as a place for our toddlers to sit while we tied their shoes, and placed crates underneath to hold all of our shoes. This worked great for years, until our kids grew and no longer needed our help tying their shoes. What they did need was help reaching the bin at the top of the closet that held all their hats and gloves every time they wanted to go out and play in the snow. Having that bin on the top shelf in a closet wasn’t serving our family well, so by replacing the bench in our kitchen with a small dresser, I was able to utilize the drawers to hold their hats and gloves, that they could now reach whenever they needed them.

One tiny change at a time.

I am a big believer in the power of paint. Some times when I’m fighting discontentment with my home, I find I need to pour a little love back into it. When I’m feeling a little less than happy with my spaces, sometimes I just need to make one tiny change. Never underestimate the power of paint that can transform a room in a day. Or maybe it’s breathing new life into a piece of furniture? Or painting some new artwork for you walls? I have been known to paint a lamp or two from time to time, especially when there was no extra room in the budget to go get new ones because I “felt like it”. I think it’s natural for our feelings to grow a little stale with our homes, if we haven’t spent anytime tending to it lately. And I’m not just referring to the mundane chores. I’m talking about the kind of tending where we work with our hands, hearts invested, and pour a little love back into our spaces. Do a craft, or tackle a small DIY. When we take the time to nurture our homes, we end up creating spaces that nurture us back in return.

DIY Painted Lamps

You might not be able to afford that whole room makeover, but when is the last time you gave all your trim work a fresh coat of paint? I do this every couple of years, and I am always amazed at how every time it allows our home feel brand new again.

See my tips and favorite trim paint HERE.

Ditch the Clutter!

If you are finding yourself feeling stuck with your homes decor, try putting away all the extra, and living in a blank space for a little bit. This always helps me when I’m not loving a space so much anymore, to remove all the clutter, and see it with a fresh set of eyes. Take time to go through drawers, and organize any of the clutter that has accumulated over the past year (or years). I like to do this on a regular basis because I’ve found that I when I don’t, the clutter will pile up quickly. Go through drawers and bins, identify what to keep, what you no longer use or need. If you have a spot where clutter seems to accumulate quickly – i.e. “the drop zone”, figure out creative storage solutions, so that things no longer pile up there. Even those spaces that don’t have a purpose, because otherwise they become a catch all for the things we don’t know what to do with, and that only ends up creating more clutter for us to deal with down the road.

My favorite trick is to go around the house and throw everything in a box. Then I put the box on my table, and go through it one piece at a time, ensuring the items inside it get put away or are properly dealt with. You can even do this for each kid, if they are prone to leaving stuff lying around as well. Just don’t forget to go through the box, because then you will end up with a hubby who isn’t too impressed by your so called “purging” method.

I hope you find these tips helpful, they really are my tried and true ways I go about fighting discontentment and finding things about our home I love.

If you loved this post, then you will for sure love my NEW book, available now, The Gift of Home.