Home x

When we first got married we didn't have much money left over to set up a home. I was also only 20 (yes, 20) and, to be honest, home decor was not on my list of interests. We quickly went out and bought enough Ikea furniture to keep us going; begging and borrowing the things we couldn't afford to buy. I did make an effort to make the house look nice (a pot plant here, a feature wall there); but I didn't give much thought as to what I liked.

At the moment we are going through a bit of an uncertain stage for various reasons and it means that for now we will be staying in our current house. In one way this isn't so great as it is a small 2 bedroom house with only one living area which doesn't leave much space for our 2 children to spread themselves around in. In another way it's great: we love the area where we live - the school we are hoping for Chloe to go to is nearby, there's a fun park, lovely neighbours etc. We have never had trouble here and I would love to stay in this neighbourhood.

Staying in this house has made me all the more determined to make it feel like 'home'. We have embarked upon several projects in the last year; most notably upcycling a sideboard and creating a 'favourite poem canvas' for our living room. I'm not the most crafty person but enjoy simple home-improvement projects. I love having compliments on things we have worked on ourselves. It's also a fun activity to do with J in the evenings.

Our next task is to paint the living room and up the stairs. We are thinking of doing two adjoining walls in a grey/green or duck egg blue colour with the rest white. We will then replace our dark curtains to bring more light into the room too.

I'm already feeling so much more satisfied with our home now that there are a few more personal touches and we have replaced some of the furniture that felt impersonal and bought for convenience not style. And I should mention that this has all been done very cheaply! If you work on something yourself you have the pleasure of creating something unique and getting it a lot more cheaply!

I realise this post is probably stating the obvious and many people do projects like this all the time and it's no big deal to them. I wanted to share because I am trying to change my mindset about 'needing' a new house and being content. This verse has been challenging me recently:

But godliness with contentment is great gain

1Tim 6:6

I know that at the right time God will provide a new house for us but until then I need to be content with where we are. One way I can do that is by making it a place where my family can express themselves and feel relaxed.