I am a firm believer in your home being a storyteller of your life.
When it comes to home decor and things that are on display in my home, I’m very particular. I like for the walls to tell a story.
I like to be able to look around and see photographs and paintings and treasures that mean something. Things that were picked up on travels or passed down through generations.
I even love to see a wall that doesn’t have anything on it. That white space makes me appreciate all the other furnishings and decorations even more.
I dream of our new home and hope it will feel like a breath of fresh air. That there will be breathing room inside for us to appreciate the things we have.
Todd and I fully intend on weeding through all the stuff when it comes off the truck. We haven’t seen any of these things in over a year. There’s furniture and memories and photos and treasures. But we will also find a lot of things that we haven’t missed at all, that don’t help tell our family story.
Our last home was a little brick bungalow. The rooms were chopped up, but it was cozy. We rarely hosted people at our home, and I frequently apologized for the small rooms and the chopped up flow. Those lies robbed me of my white space.
I have very different ideas now about home and the function of the home and the heart of the home.
I believe that books on a shelf are like little personal trophies. But too many of them can steal your breathing room.
I believe that a home that is surrounded by family photos and framed recipes in your grandmother’s handwriting is full of people who are passionate about family.
I believe that if children live in your house, it’s okay for it to look like children live in your house.
I believe that music should always be playing in the kitchen and that the smells of supper, laundry, and little boys are the smells of home.
I believe in keeping a wall blank until something personal and meaningful grabs your attention as the only thing that can fill that wall.
I believe in allowing friends to see your imperfectly beautiful home when they call and want to stop by to chat.
My hope for our home is that our doors will be open. It will encourage community. Our family table will be open to other families and even college students who need a place to go. I believe in the beauty of hospitality and home that doesn’t come from more things, but comes from love.
And our family story will be told just by looking around the home and by creating that white space, we’re allowing God to move in our home as we build relationships.
This is the 9th post in a series called 31 Days of Creating White Space.
Yes. I grew up in a home where my mom always had to frantically clean whenever someone, even an aunt or uncle, was coming over. My dream is to live in a house that is so “us” that imperfect won’t even cross our minds.
Yes! I love this! Unapologetically personal and home!
yup!
Love everything about this post!! Just remember this when you come for a visit to our “bare” house! 😉 xo
You got it, friend! I expect you to hold strong and not buy things to fill the space “just because.” 🙂
This is a great post Erin 🙂 I never like the look of a home when everything is matchy matchy and too coordinated. It makes the space look like a model home and not a place where actual people live. A home should look like humans live in it, with all their things.
This posts truly hits home. My husband and I are in the process of decorating a home we purchased earlier this year. While the walls may be bare, and some rooms may be empty, we are OK with it. Over time, we will fill the bare walls and rooms with items we truly love; items that tell our story.
I am enjoying this series and look forward to reading it each day!
Thank you, Ashley! So good to see you last night. When we moved into our first little house, a neighbor came over to meet us and she walked in and said, “Wow! Y’all are really rattling around in here, aren’t you?” We had nothing. Just a few pieces of furniture, but entire rooms were bare and empty. And that was okay with us. Over the years we accumulated things and we made the mistake of buying things we didn’t love. And then we were faced with wanting to sell those things so we could buy what we DID want. Not the best decisions. But now we do love our furniture and our art and photos. The mean something and help tell our story.
Love this post. As an introvert I must have my white space to feel at ease, at peace. I do not have clutter or things that do not have a meaning to our family. When on vacation we never bought souvenirs but instead took photos that could be framed and put into scrapbooks and photo albums. When our daughter was in high school we often hosted her cheer leading team for pool parties and sleepovers. I have one wall in the kitchen where I display family photos of vacations, awards etc. above the chair rail…I call it our Wall of Fame. One of the mothers came to pick up her daughter one day and noticed our wall. Knowing that I had been a college instructor and psychologist, she asked where my awards were….I commented that these (my husband and children) were my greatest achievement to date. She looked at me like I had two heads. This was a foreign concept for her – she was still a practicing psychologist – and thought I had foolishly given up my career path to be a SAHM. Now our children are adults and I have gone back to teaching/practicing and I still look at our Wall of Fame everyday and smile….at the sweet memories and with a grateful heart that I was able to be there for it all. White space to me means to get rid of the clutter…..in our minds and in our homes so we can concentrate on what is really special. Less really is more to me.
I feel the same way about artwork. It sometimes takes me forever before putting things on the wall because I don’t want it to be something random. I wait until I find the right things and then go for it! I also love using family pictures to decorate. I’ve been contemplating doing a wall of all the wedding pictures of our family members….we’ll see if it happens, but I love the thought.
I agree so much with the message in your post. So many times we decorate our homes for OTHERS…instead of letting our homes reflect …HIM. And we measure the “things” in our home with the “things” in our neighbors’ homes…which is so silly, because GOD is the One who is writing our stories, and we’re all different! Love your insights!
I’ve always been most comfortable in people’s homes that aren’t perfect! When you don’t have to take your shoes off or use a coaster. And I kind of love when I can see what book they’re in the middle of and what project they have spread across the table. Imperfections make us approachable! I feel that even more now as a mother. I breathe a sigh of relief when I take my daughter into a house that already has toys and crumbs on the floor.