Friday, May 17, 2013

Homemaking thoughts, home-making blogs (Hidden Art of Homemaking, Chapter 5)



Here's a three-question summary of The Hidden Art of Homemaking, chapter 5.

What kind of place do you live in?

What kind of place would you like to live in?

How can you make your (current) place more of that (imagined) place, so it's more your place, and more His place?

And here's a bonus question:

Is there a Christian "decorating" ideal?  Or an "ideal" Christian decorating style?  What do you think the inside of a Christian home should look like?

Does that last question exclude non-Christians from being good interior decorators?  No, of course not.  But since Edith Schaeffer is talking about reflecting God's artistry, there should be a visible consciousness of God's truth, beauty, and creativity in the homes of "Christ-followers."

Photo from Curtain Queen blog (a blog worth checking out!)

Edith has a whole string of nouns for this: imagination, personality, originality, purpose, charm, usefulness, beauty, interest, restoration, order, caring, wholeness, connection, balance. Abstract as those words are, they do give us a picture of what we could be ourselves, by living in rooms that show interest (vs. dullness), restoration (vs. falling apart or discarding), connection (to God, to the natural world, to our own roots, to each other).
There should be something about our homes that says "Welcome Here."

Not only to guests, but to us

Maybe it's with words, on a dish towel, on the wall.  Or maybe it's a wordless greeting.

Photo from Coffee Tea Books and Me. 

Maybe it's a place to sit down.

Photo from The Common Room Blog.

Maybe it's a shelf of good books. Maybe it's the art, the music, the flowers, the food (all chapters in the book).  Maybe it's everything together.  However you create it...

Home Making is the Home You Make.

Related posts:

3 comments:

Kim @ Curtain Queen said...

Thank you for the link and the plug to check out my blog. You say here what I wish to impart to people about making our homes. Homemakers have had a bad wrap, and there's so much more to it than cleaning and cooking. I'll be following you so I won't miss a post. Thanks!
His blessings!
Kim

Barbara H. said...

"Abstract as those words are, they do give us a picture of what we could be ourselves, by living in rooms that show interest (vs. dullness), restoration (vs. falling apart or discarding), connection (to God, to the natural world, to our own roots, to each other)." - love this!

amy in peru said...

"Is there a Christian "decorating" ideal? Or an "ideal" Christian decorating style? What do you think the inside of a Christian home should look like?"

wow. never, ever thought of that before. and i can't think there would possibly be a plausible argument for only one ideal christian deco style. although, there definitely are considerations as to finding the ideal for christian decorating, like does your style honor the Lord? and there, i'm sure will be a wide variety of VERY different looking styles that can all answer yes! this was an interesting thought.