Simple Beauty

So how do we create beautiful spaces that are also simple, both to set up and to maintain? I don’t know about you, but when I look at home decor books, blogs, and Instagram accounts, more often than not they don’t feel very simple. Making major updates to your home– such as flooring replacement, wall coverings, and kitchen remodels– is great, and there is definitely a time and place for it, but it often feels impractical when we are in the seasons where we most need beauty in our home. Let’s turn instead to what some of our favorite literary mamas did to make their homes beautiful. I love to think about how Laura describes Ma’s homemaking in the Little House books, or the love Marmee pours into her home environment in Little Women. Ma and Marmee weren’t doing great house remodels and updates; they were adding small, simple things to their daily life that made a rich home environment for their children to grow up in. Here are some examples:

1. Light a candle everyday. I’m better at this in some seasons more than others, but when I do it consistently, I’m always amazed at how it changes the way I view my home. Lighting a candle in the morning can set the tone for a great morning of homeschool. Or try lighting a candle in the evening once you’ve cleaned the kitchen after dinner. Becky Rapinchuk, author of Clean Mama’s Guide To a Peaceful Home, says a lit candle in the kitchen is her family’s cue that the kitchen is closed for the night (in other words, no more midnight snacks 😉).

2. Bring some life inside. Think fresh flowers, houseplants, or a windowsill herb garden in your kitchen. I think most of us feel guilty buying a bouquet of supermarket flowers for no reason, and I’m definitely not saying you should splurge on this regularly, especially if you’re on a tight budget, but give yourself permission to indulge in one every now and then. Or go the super frugal route and grow your own flowers! Instead of filling your front flower beds with ground cover and mulch, consider growing cutting flowers instead to supply your bouquets. 

3. Learn to thrift wisely. Thrift stores and antique stores can be wonderful places to find hidden gems for your home. A few keys to making this work: 1) go regularly; the more often you go, the more easily you will find exactly what you’re looking for. 2) Look for specific things you need; thrifting can easily become a trap to spend way too much money and bring too much clutter into your home if you buy any and everything that’s a good deal. 3) Learn to DIY your finds; I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not very good at this, but I am trying to learn. Paint and new hardware can transform a lot of cheap finds.

4. Consider how you can make everyday things beautiful. The kitchen is a great area to try out this strategy; consider displaying wooden cutting boards and spoons, beautiful dish towels, or your favorite dishes. Open shelving can help to make this more practical, or consider what things you use daily and find pretty versions of them to live on your counters. Little things like seeing all my favorite coffee mugs on a mug rack always make me happy in my kitchen. The Ingalls family were masters of this. Ma didn’t just make butter; she pressed it in a mold so it would have a beautiful design. Pa didn’t just build her a plain shelf when she needed one; he carved a beautiful design into it. If something is worth taking up space in your house, then it’s worth finding a way to make it pretty.

5. Learn to make things yourself for your home. Again, this is an area I’m slowly improving in, but there’s something truly satisfying in sewing your own pillow covers or curtains, or molding your own candles or soaps. Even cooking and baking things from scratch adds a certain type of beauty to your home. Our houses truly begin to feel like a home when we invest time in making them lovely. 

None of these things are life-changing; I’m not going to tell you that if you do them your home is going to end up looking like your favorite designer’s spaces do online. BUT I’m betting if you begin investing small bits of time in your home doing these sorts of things, you WILL begin to truly love your home. Meanwhile, I’ll be over here practicing these things myself in my own home; together, let’s work at making our homes into a life-giving place to be!