10 Ways to Learn to Love Your Home
Each of us gets to chose our own happiness. That means we get to decide to be happy no matter where we are in our life journey.
This also applies to where we live. So many times I’ve heard of families drowning under their mortgage because they needed a four bedroom, four and a half bath, 3,000 square foot home. Even after getting what they wanted, they still weren’t happy.
Home is where you make it.
We have lived in our 1100 square foot home for almost 20 years. We have raised two boys and a dog here. We have added on and made improvements.
We went from 1000 down to 800 square feet, sleeping in the dining room while the renovations happened. We learned to love each other a lot more. And we love our home. Here are a few things you can do to learn to love your home.
Declutter
Clutter will not only make your house feel smaller, it will make your house look smaller, too. Too many appliances on the counter tops and too many pieces of furniture will make the walls feel like they are closing in. Instead, chose only the things that you really need.
Keep up with the decluttering process. Every season, walk through your space and find the things that are broken, misused, or unloved and pass them on to someone else.
Having items that serve more than one purpose does wonders for clutter.
An Instant Pot serves as a slow cooker, pressure cooker, and rice cooker. A foot stool doubles and blanket storage.
Choose the Right Colors
There is a science to colors and room size. Choosing light and airy colors for walls, floors, and furniture will brighten up the space instead of making it feel like a cave.
According to Country Living Magazine white might be the obvious choice for its ability to reflect light but don’t be afraid of color.
Whether you’re looking for the feeling of bright, fun and happy (like the color of sunshine) or cozy, warm, and cuddly (like the color of a warm latte), there’s a color for that. Explore your choices – there are so many. You can always paint over it.
Expand this into furniture, floors and accent pieces. Chose the colors that make you happy to be in that room.
Keep a Clean Space
When your house is small, it takes no time at all to clean. I can have my entire house cleaned (top to bottom) in less than two hours.
If you clean as you go, taking the time to do it in one shot is much less than if you let things pile up.
Having the right tools for the job will make that easier as well.
Items like a chargeable vacuum, microfiber dusters and cloths that only require water, and a spray mop will make house cleaning chores a breeze.
Having pride in a clean house will allow the love to shine through.
Making your bed and doing the laundry will help your home look put together and tidy.
Committing to running the dishwasher every night so waking up to hot coffee and clean counters is an experience to look forward to.
Organization
The chaos of unorganization can cause you to hate your home. Knowing that everything has a place and that the scissors are easily found will give you peace of mind in your small space.
When the junk drawer is overflowing and you can’t even open it, it doesn’t spark joy. When you open the closet doors and things tumble out, this doesn’t provoke happiness.
Having a neat and organized junk drawer and a closet with a designated spot for everything will make you smile when you open it. It will make you proud of your little hose when people see the love you put into it.
Make sure every item that you have and need has a home. Hooks and baskets work brilliantly for this purpose.
Understand Your Season of Life
I remember when my boys were little. it seems that trying to keep toys under control was nearly impossible. Two boys sharing a ten by ten room leaves very little space for toys. We constantly had to cull the toy boxes.
My husband built a Lego table for our enclosed front porch.
But those days have passed. My boys are 19 and 22 now. I sometimes miss the toys.
Understand that this season of life is short and you’re making amazing memories in your little house. Someday you will look back on those times with so much love.
Embrace Creativity
Everyone has it. Even if you think you don’t. Start small. Pain that little sde table. Buy some pillows for the couch.
Not only should you bring those things you love into your home, but you should be intentional. When you live in a small house, everything that comes through the door has to be with purpose.
Personalizing the space is one way to love your house but adding intentional personalization is the whipped cream on top of the apple pie.
Know that the thing that you are adding to your space is something that you love and that will add to the room instead of cluttering it. Use your creativity for good and not for evil.
Bring the Outside In
Open up the curtains, find some great plants, fill a vase with flowers. Bring a touch of nature and smell good into your home.
Adding plants will help with purifying the air. Putting all those chemicals into the atmosphere of the tiny space we spend so much time is can not be healthy. Plants will purify that air to help you sleep and breath better.
Opening up the curtains as much as possible to allow the light into the space will make you smile while you admire your area. It brightens it up and just makes it look happier and brighter.
Add some flowers to a vase on your table. Both Aldi and Trader Joe’s sell bouquets of flowers for real cheap. Check out farmers markets or go out to your yard and cut your own.
Surround Yourself With Photos
Add photos of people and places you love. Frame the best pictures of your babies and hang them. Add photos of your sweetheart when you were young next to your bedside table.
Create a collage of your favorite vacation spots for your stairway.
Hang that picture of you and your grammy that pulls at your heartstrings every time you see it.
Create Peace and Serenity
Form your surroundings into a peaceful getaway. At the end of a busy day, when you walk in the door, you feel calm and relaxed instead of stressed and anxious.
Don’t let things build up or go unfinished. Take care and complete tasks and projects. Finish the moldings around the closet. Go through the pile of papers on the counter. Put away the laundry.
Then light a candle and chose some soft music. Add some essential oils to the diffuser. Remind yourself how much you love your home.
Be Grateful
You have a home. There is a bed to find a peaceful sleep in and a kitchen to cook healthy food in. And it’s your home. Look around. List the things in your home that you are truly grateful for.
Be grateful that you have a shower to wash away the day’s negativity and a stove to boil water for tea.
Be grateful for beds to tuck those babies into and your favorite chair to curl up with a book in.
Be grateful for warmth from the cold and shelter from the rain.
Be grateful for your small house and learn to love your little home.
Be happy. Choose happiness.
Final thoughts on 10 Ways to Learn to Love Your Home
There are many old cheesy statements about home.
Home is where your heart is.
There’s no place like home.
Home is where you make it.
Home is where the wifi connects automatically.
The truth is, you get to choose where you call home. You get to decide if the house you live in is the place you want to give your heart to.
I love my home and the people that I share it with. I have worked hard on making this space one that we can be happy in and proud of. I hope you have found and love these tips and tricks to make your home a place of kindness and joy.