I am so excited to announce this series coming to the blog during the month of October! Every day during the month of October, I will be blogging about ways we can fall in love all over with our home again and truly love the “Love the Home You Have”.
If you have been a long time reader around here you know that every year I join a few other hundred bloggers that take the challenge to write every day during the month of October on one certain topic. You can click on the links below to read through all of my past October series:
- 31 days to decorate your house on a budget
- 31 days of Pinterest: Pinned to Done
- 31 days of Fall Inspiration
- 31 days to Take the Stress out of Christmas
This year the topic of loving the home I have has been on my heart for a while. Melissa who blogs at The Inspired Room wrote a book that was released earlier this year called, Love the Home you Have. (affiliate link) The subtitle is “Simple Ways to Embrace Your Style, Get Organized, and Delight in Where You Are”
I ordered it back when it first came out but it wasn’t until we were on vacation this summer that I got a chance to read it as I sat at the beach and pool relaxing. It was inspiring, motivating, challenging, and just really spoke to me where I am in life. Melissa is a self proclaimed house lover who has moved 6 times since she was married – sometimes owning a home and sometimes renting. Through their journey of living in homes that weren’t her style or needed lots of work she learned to put aside that “dream home mentality” and embrace and fall in love with the house she currently has while doing what she could to make it feel like home for their family. I laughed and cried at their adventures and misadventures and honestly just begin to grow a deeper and different love for my home that I never had before.
In this social media and Pinterest world, it seems that we can look around us in our homes and think how small, old, unorganized, not decorated, dirty, not pretty, not upgraded, and the list can go on and on. We compare our everyday just living life messes in our homes to the staged pictures on blogs or magazines (that by the way probably have those messes right behind the camera or in the other room.) And we plan out our “dream home” on our Pinterest boards. You know the future home that is new/old but upgraded and beautiful, decorated down to the burlap covered books on the DIY painted tray on our made from pallets coffee table, bigger/better/more storage, looks like a dream little cottage from the outside, touches of the current season added to every room, no clutter in site because it is all organized in chalkboard labeled baskets in the huge closets found in every room, a home that practically cleans itself because the the sink and floors always shine, and I could go on and on. I think I have all those things and more pinned on my Pinterest boards and you probably do too! 
I did a whole 31 series devoted to Pinterest projects so this is not me voicing my dislike for Pinterest because we can find dissatisfaction with our home anywhere – visiting someone else’s house, picking up a magazine, walking by store displays, driving down the street…
I have never hated my house, but yes at times I have found myself wishing it was a different style, cleaner, more organized, upgraded, more space, not in a neighborhood…. I drool over those blog posts and home magazines right along with you, and wish I could re-create that look in my own home. But yet as my husband and I talked about putting our house up for sale and I became more focused on completing some unfinished projects before we could do that, I began looking at my home with different eyes. I began appreciating it for the lessons it has taught me (in DIY, decorating, cleaning, home improvement, and yes even contentment), in the memories we have made here, in the sweat and tears I have poured into projects and painting to make it feel like home to us, and the blessing it has been to us and those that have come in our doors.
So how can we develop this sense of contentment with our home while yet working hard to make it better? That’s what I plan to write about and honestly develop more in my heart and life right along with you during the month of October. We will discuss simple changes we can make not only in our home but also in the way we view our home that will help us fall in love with the home we have and not the one found on our Pinterest boards.
I will be blogging through the “31 day Love Your Home challenge” that Melissa has in the back of her book, so if you have a copy of her book grab it and follow along. I would love for you to complete the 31 day challenge with me – maybe do it one day behind so that you can read my post that morning and work on it that day or the day after. As the series goes on, I will link all the posts below so you can always come back and catch them all right here.
Day 1 – Be Grateful for your Home
Day 2 – Declutter Your Home
Day 3 – Keep Surfaces Clean
Day 4 – Show the Kitchen Some Love
Day 5 – Delight your Senses
Day 6 – Make a Memory
Day 7 – Make your bedroom a sanctuary
Day 8 – Take Care of Yourself
Day 9 – Gather Helpful Home Inspiration
Day 10 – Reclaim the Dining Room
Day 11 – Bring Nature into Your Home
Day 12 – Keep Encouragement in View
Day 13 – Turn the Usual into Something Fun & Unusual
Day 14 – Make Your Front Porch Say Welcome (DIY Rustic Fall Sign tutorial)
Day 15 – Display Family Memories
Day 16 – Create a Cozy Spot
Day 17 – Invest in Lovely Linens
Day 18 – Be a Gracious Giver
Day 19 – Create a clean + organized bathroom
Day 20 – Fill your Home with Music
Day 21 – Make 15 minute cleaning frenzies a habit
Day 22 – Make a list of 20 things you love about your homeo (my favorite post of the series!)
Day 23 – Create happy surprises in your home
Day 24 – Clean out your purse
Day 25 – Create a living room wish list
Day 26 – Complete an unfinished project
Day 27 – Create order in the kitchen
Day 28 – Determine your favorite colors for your home
Day 29 – Create a purpose statement for your home
Day 30 – Paint something
Day 31 – Unplug
And for those of you that don’t have the book and would love to read it and dive right into the challenge, Melissa has generously agreed to giveaway 2 copies to 2 of my readers! Just enter using the rafflecopter widget below. Giveaway will close Monday, September 28th and winners will be notified by email.
I am looking forward to reading this book. I have followed Melissa’s blog for a long time and love her talents.
Hi Christina,
I am SO looking forward to your series!! I read this book earlier in the summer and really enjoyed it. I’m anxious to see how you will incorporate the book with practical examples and advice, not to mention good ideas! Thanks for giving us a “sneak peek”!
Blessings,
Lanita
I can’t wait!!! You always have such insight!
Thank you so much for introducing this, I have not been loving my home recently. It needs some TLC especially when you have a wood burning stove – things can get messy quickly. I definately need somthing to get me inspired. I will be following along.
S
I’m so looking forward to this series! The idea of being content with what you have is a subject I’m truly passionate about.
I would love to read along with this series! Could really use some inspiration. 🙂
Christina,
I am really excited about this month’s postings. I need to fall in love with my home again. Your timing is great. Looking forward to your insight and guidance.
I need to read this book for inspiration, because I’m at a lose right now.
I am so excited about this series. I can get so complacent in our home and really need inspiration!!! Thank you… Can’t wait!
Looking forward to your series and this book sounds so helpful.
I am really looking forward to this series. I think we often are caught up in what we don’t have instead of appreciating the wonderful things we already are blessed with.
I am excited for this. I know it will be helpful! Would love to have her book.
What a lovely thought for the place we are in!
Christina, I am looking forward to this because I have followed you and respect your wisdom, common sense and excellence. You have assisted me greatly. I have RA and had to give up a full-time job after 30 years, but your inspiration helped me adjust my life goals. My husband who still works full time, has assisted me in opening my own antique booth, we now hit estate sales, auctions, and many of the stores you reference. We both like your style and though we are in our 60’s have been able to do some things we thought we would not be able to do. Keep on keeping on and know you are affecting many lives. Best, Mary
YEA! I’m looking forward to your series! I’ve been learning this a lot lately – not just in loving the rental home I’m in right now, but in every stage of life. God has been teaching me a lot about contentment. The saying is so true – “it’s not happy people who are content; it’s content people who are happy.”
Well I really need to love the home we have and have been in for nearly 40 years. Right now I’m contemplating being stuck on the main floor, unable to shower or bathe during my recuperation from knee replacements – yes one right after the other. Sewing Room and TV will have to come to me – not sure about the Christmas tree!
I’m looking forward to reading your posts in October as I have been in the process of learning to love the home I have for a few years now. I am getting there…slowly, but surely. Thanks for always providing affordable and common sense advice. Have a nice weekend!
I would love to read this book and I’m looking forward to your 31 days of blog entries. I agree it’s so easy to be unhappy with aspects of your house, so it’ll be interesting to see what you write about to foster contentment and love for the house we have!
That’s an uplifting thought! We need to count the blessings we have. Thanks for the reminder! ?
I have heard a lot of good things about this book and am looking forward to making myself love my home like I should.
I am really looking forward to reading this series!
Looking forward to this.
Cannot wait for the inspiration, I need to Love the home I am in!
Would love to win this book and make some changes to my house!
I am looking forward to this! I struggle with being happy with my current home, as it is old & needs so much work. I get overwhelmed in trying to figure out where to get started.
I had not heard of this book! I look forward to following your 31 Days series and learning more about it. I’ve read the Nester’s book and found it very helpful. I’m guessing this is similar so I look forward to learning more!
Thank you for the chance to win. I’ve enjoyed the 31 days series over the past few years.
Thanks again!
Christina – I am so happy you have decided to go ahead with the 31 Day Series again this year! I have followed you every year and October is awesome!
The book looks like a good read! We must learn to be content with the things we have been blessed with! Unfortunately our “first world problems” often get in the way.
For the series – I’m interested to see how you will tackle this topic. Perhaps you will show us some rooms that you have never shown before? You did that with your master bedroom and look at the transformation! Well done!
Heather
What a great idea. Love what you have instead of being envious of what others have.
I’m bummed I missed the giveaway! Oh well, I guess I’ll just need to order it 🙂 I stumbled across this book yesterday & thought it looked like a great read! I, too, have been guilty of the “grass is greener” mentality. Looking forward to your posts!