Creating a Beautiful Home

Two years ago today, we moved into this house.

I was thrilled. Though Hubs and I have lived together for several years at that point, we'd never owned any of the (several) houses we'd lived in. In the fourteen months prior to applying for a home loan, we managed to save $18k to add to our original account balance of $10k, making our deposit a very healthy $28k. We did without just about everything to amass those savings, mind you. But it was so worth it.

I remember the phone call that told us our offer had been accepted despite the fact our 'maximum' price was the seller's 'minimum' price. They'd advertised the property with a $20k window, and would absolutely have gotten much more money than we eventually paid because the market was booming in our area at the time. We still can't figure it out. It probably helped that we were pre-approved for finance and could move at whatever timeframe the seller needed, but I like to think there was a little providence involved somewhere :)

We had five weeks to pack up and move, and they were the longest five weeks of my entire life (well, outside of the last five weeks of each pregnancy, at least!). There's nothing like a new house waiting for you at the other end to kickstart a mammoth decluttering enterprise - we purged and cleaned and purged some more. I was positively convinced that I would instantly morph into a Martha Stewart-type woman, who was ridiculously houseproud and would show the new place off to its best advantage.

I did not become that woman.

For the first few months, every time I turned into the driveway I felt truly humbled, that we'd achieved something which had been a goal for what seemed like eons. Every dollar we didn't spend on the nice coffee, the nice spaghetti sauce, yes, even the nice toilet paper (LOL) was one more dollar - one more brick - into this place. The holidays we didn't take during the preceding few years probably paid for the fourth bedroom we desperately needed by that stage.

And then something happened. Over time, I lost focus. I still do what needs to be done about the place, but the pride I felt when I first moved in has mellowed. I don't clean enough. I don't stick to my routines as often as I should. I don't entertain the way I'd like to. Housework makes me feel almost resentful.

This is NOT what I wanted it to be like!

Over the last several days I've discovered several new (and some old) homemaking blogs, most of them Christian, and read with interest. I found one particularly good church website which gave a list of Bible Studies for women on topics such as homemaking, motherhood, beautiful womanhood and marriage. I've come to realise that I need to move my 'rear into gear' over some issues about my home.

Mrs Mabyn Clark, speaking via this article on the LAF website, gave this quote some time back:

"What are the cornerstones to running an efficient household? I would
have to say they are clean laundry, a clean kitchen (especially clean dishes)
and three square meals a day. Without a vigilant attitude toward these things,
we can hinder any other efforts we make in our homes."

She's hit on the three areas I struggle the most with, right there! My kitchen - blessfully clean and tidy today (probably because of the fact the inlaws are on their way, LOL!) - is usually the worst area of the entire house. It's not uncommon during particularly bad weeks to have to wash a particular dirty pot or pan to cook dinner. It's a serious failing of mine that I'm trying to overcome (but hey, look over here, a CLEAN kitchen! A clean one!).

I want to tackle a few major areas of the home in the next couple of months. First, its about time Boofah got his own room. That fourth bedroom we so desperately needed? For the last two years, we've used it as a combo gym/junk room! It needs attention, and badly. I also want to organise my kitchen cupboards so that they are more efficient. Remove and donate all of the old crockery and tupperware I no longer use. And seriously work on maintaining a menu plan, even if that menu plan extends only toward what I mention in the right sidebar, all loosey-goosey like.

What do you do to promote a feeling of peace and 'homeliness' to your place?

I recently discovered 'Waffle Bars', by Time and Again - heavenly scented 'melts' designed for oil burners. They come in little packs shaped to appear like a block of eight chocolate squares, but coloured, of course, depending on the scent. I got a bar of honeysuckle and one of lemon verbena. You drop a couple of squares into the 'bowl' of an oil burner, add a tealight candle and away you go. They release the fragrance as they melt and when not in use, harden up. You can re-melt and re-harden them as often as the fragrance lasts. Some of the 'flavours' include Chocolate Truffles, Sugar Cookie and Nutty Taffy Apple. You can mix and match the scents to create your own, such as Sugar Cookie + Spice = Sugar and Spice. How delicious! They're made in Canada but down here in Australia I've picked them up in Barbara's Home & Gift stores for about $8 (AUD). One block of 8 squares has lasted me about two months.

Cheers,
Lizzie