Beautifying a Home with What One Already Has
Posted By Mrs. Wayne Hunter on April 12, 2010
Here are some things that a wife and mother can do to add much beauty to her home without spending money. While many things listed may seem small or quite trivial, the beauty they can add turns out to be quite much.
- See that she and the children are nicely dressed and groomed daily.
- Keep a clean, organized home.
- Thoroughly clean the furniture. The shine and beauty adds a lot to a room.
- Wash, iron if needed, and re-hang curtains and perhaps even apply a little perfume to them so that when the wind blows a beautiful, soft scent does, too.
- Thoroughly wash the walls. This can brighten a home tremendously.
- Wash down the kitchen cabinetry.
- Fill an old basket with interesting items, magazines, books, etc. and set it out.
- Check for old, unfinished cross stitch or painting items, finish them, and hang them.
- Look through existing fabrics on hand and see if there’s anything there that can be sewn together to make home decorations such as couch pillows, curtains, a valance, a table runner, place mats, or a wall hanging.
- Go through older home decoration items and see if any of them may be usable. If one has paint or other craft items already on hand, maybe she could re-do or make some of the old decorations into something new.
- Use beautiful or pretty blankets, quilts, or throws as chair and couch coverings.
Making the most of what one has is full of blessings. There’s the happiness of working with one’s own hands; the mental uplifting, learning, and building of creativity; the physical blessings of the physical activity involved; and the wholesome pride of being frugal, just to name a few.
About The Author
Mrs. Wayne Hunter
Hi! Thank you for visiting my profile. I am Mrs. Wayne (Nikki) Hunter. I am married to a retired U.S. soldier and small business owner, the momma of several (double digits!) beautiful children ranging in age from twenty to infant, and a homemaker. I am also an authorized teacher of Fascinating Womanhood classes. Our family lives on a modern-day Interior Alaskan homestead.Comments
12 Responses to “Beautifying a Home with What One Already Has”
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Thank for this timely (for me) reminder of the simpleness of beauty. Just this weekend I looked around our home and truly appreciated that it was a home about US! Very few items are purchased. Most were handed down or hand-made by a member of this family. Even our landscaping are things donated from friends & neighbors.
It’s a wonderful feeling to know that I’m surrounded by the things that are most important to me. I probably could have a home filled with the things most every home in America has, but no one has, or every WILL have, the treasures we have in OUR home!
You’re welcome, traton97, and thank you for your encouraging comment!
Sincerely,
Nikki a.k.a. Mrs. Wayne Hunter
What a wonderful reminder of what is truly needed to make a home pretty and welcoming! A clean and neat home is restful and inviting to anyone… no matter how “out-of-date” the furnishings might be, and homemade things show love and creativity unlike anything one can purchase (no matter how beautiful and fashionable they may be!) You’ve put me in the mood to fluff my couch cushions and dust my baseboards;-)
Thanks for this post! This is a skill I’m certainly working on as a relatively new wife and home-keeper. I think another project would be to go through old printed photos that are probably being stored in a box somewhere, and use them to make a collage of a person, an event, or a time-period. Buying a frame or mounting material might be necessary, but these are often on clearance at Hobby Lobby. Personal photos do so much to personalize a home and make it a bit more about your family, old and new.
Thank you so much for this lovely post! If I may ask, how do you clean the walls? I’ve tried to wash walls with several household cleaning items but find myself wary of trying too much, for I don’t want to mess up the paint!
That being said, I think I’ll go look in my fabric stash to see if I can re-do some pillows…
Blessings,
Luci
http://atranquilheart.blogspot.com
Thank you both, Ms. Shiffer and Stephanie, for your kind words and for sharing your thoughts on this subject!
Sincerely,
Nikki
So true. Many things bought to beautify a home end up being clutter. It seems the more we simplify our decor the more homey it feels and the easier it is to keep clean and organized.
Hi Luci!
You are very welcome and thank you for your kind words regarding this post.
How one cleans the walls in her home depends upon several things such as: the type of each wall, the coverings of each wall, the type of paint used if a wall is painted, and the manufactures instructions for cleaning both wall paper and paint. If a homemaker doesn’t want to take a chance on ruining her walls, she should definitely follow the manufacture’s instructions. She should also always, when using a new cleaner on her walls, test a small area to see how it works before washing larger areas.
An old-fashioned but works-good all-purpose cleaner to use for wall washing is to mix about a tablespoon or two (depending on the strength needed) of a gentle laundry detergent with one gallon of warm water.
Go little section by little section washing, rinsing with clear water, and drying with cleaning cloths.
For high areas out of arm’s reach, a homemaker can use a clean sponge mop dipped in the homemade solution above (and wrung thoroughly), then rinse with another clean sponge mop dipped in water and wrung out well, and dry with an old but clean towel wrapped and tied around the head of a clean broom.
These are these ways I clean our walls here at home. I also use a spray disinfectant cleaner on the kitchen and bathroom walls when needed.
Sincerely,
Nikki
Hi Nikki,
Thank you so much! I will definitely try that method for washing walls today. I can’t wait to see how it works!
Blessings,
Luci
Thanks for sharing all those tips!
Funny thing I wrote a post today on being content with what we have as a home!
Blessing
Renee
This post was so encouraging! I am a newlywed wife and homemaker. My hubby and I live in a tiny one bedroom apartment as of now while he is finishing college. With the apartment being so tiny, its very hard to keep tidy and inviting. But I always try my hardest to keep it nice and inviting for my husband and myself to enjoy, as well as guests. I also love sewing, crocheting, and making so many other things. I think homemade items makes a place so much more inviting and “homey”.
Thank you, ladies, for your kind words regarding this post as well as sharing your thoughts on the subject!
Sincerely,
Nikki