You may be surprised when you find out the answer to this question! It's not having a dear hubby or children. It's not canning, sewing, decorating cookies..or other nostalgic past times. And amazingly enough, it's not even interior decorating as important as that is.
Cherl Mendelson, author of Home Comforts, says
"In fact, too much attention to the looks of a home can backfire if it creates a stage-set feeling instead of the authenticity of a genuinely homey place."
(Sheesh...I guess I can quit worrying about that now!) Surprisingly, she also says, "I know from experience that you cannot make a home by imitating the household chores and crafts of the past era. Ironically, people are led into the error of 'playing house' instead of keeping house by a genuine desire for a home and its comforts.
Nostalgia means, literally, "home-sickness".
So are you ready to hear her answer for the secret to making a house really feel like a home? I can tell you right now...you may not like her answer!! (I like it though! Tee-hee!)
HOUSE CLEANING!!! Imagine that!
Here's what Cheryl has to say about it... "What really does work to increase the feeling of having a home and its comforts....is housekeeping! Housekeeping creates cleanliness, order, regularity, beauty, the conditions for health and safety, and a good place to do and feel all the things you wish and need to do and feel in your home. Whether you live alone, or with a spouse, parents, and ten children, it is your housekeeping that makes your home alive, that turns it into a small society in its own right, a vital place with its own ways and rhythms, the place where you can be more yourself than you can be anywhere else."
Having moved 23 TIMES! (Count 'em!), I think I can safely claim to be an expert on this particular topic! Truly, it is as you LIVE in your home that it BECOMES your home. It is in the process of cleaning, washing, cooking, shopping, dusting and going through all the other normal routines of home life, that a brand new house, begins to finally feel like home. For us, it takes about a month to feel like we really belong and aren't just living in a hotel.
You want to know another strange thing? I've noticed that it is the driving back and forth from the new house, to the new post office, bank, grocery store, library and church, and back again that finally ingrains in our brains that the building we are now living is our home and not just a house.
Coming home is your major restorative in life!
Housekeeping...is the source of most of the good things things that make a place homelike--fresh sheets, good meals, airy, clean, orderly rooms, and so forth.
1920’s Reproduction Quilt…made by meOther good things include fresh flowers, good books, half finished projects to work on in spare moments...It is a cliché, but true, that a room that looks lived in looks more homey. This implies not that you should be less neat but that you should actually live in the rooms!
Faked signs of life make the room feel desolate and lonely. Signs of real life make the room feel comforting and warm.
We will talk more about decorating and other fun things...but it is important that we keep in mind that cleaning is important...and not secondary to the beauty of our homes. I love the fact that FlyLady calls the Monday Morning Routine a "Home Blessing". Cleaning is a way to bless not only your home, but everyone in it!
Now that you are ALL inspired...Here's my "Home Blessing" list...
Weekly Home Blessing Hour
Just 10 minutes each so you can spend the rest of the time de-cluttering or deep cleaning your zone for the week!
Here's our deep cleaning plan for this week. We are in Zone 4: The Master Bedroom!
Week 4 - Master Bedrooom and bathroom
O Launder: Wash area rugs, curtains, (shower curtain if necessary), Bedspread, mattress pad, and dust ruffle (turn mattress)
O Floors: Vacuum, sweep, scrub and/ or wax floors
O Scrub toilet, shower door, tub (use Bathroom cleaner for water deposits and scum)
O Dust high and low, (ceiling fans, floorboards,) cobwebs, polish furniture and wood
O Clean windows, mirrors, switchplates, walls and doors, medicine cabinet, dresser tops (409/ Windex)
Habit for This Week...Let's Spend 30 Minutes a Day DeCluttering our Master Bedroom!!
What do you believe makes a house feel truly homey?
Happy Homemaking!
Donna
Check back tomorrow for our Menu Plan and Recipes....
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