THE BEAUTIFUL ART OF HOMEMAKING
A beautiful, welcoming home just doesn’t happen. Although we love our homes to look effortlessly put together and free of clutter and chaos it takes a whole lot of work! Indeed! Today, let’s talk about the art of homemaking!
I for one, love homemaking. I realized early on in my young adult life that my home was truly a sanctuary and I was charged with its care. I think too often, we as primary caregivers, forget there is an art to what we do and a joy in almost every daily task. Let’s talk about the art of homemaking.
Homemaking is described as the establishment or management of a home. A very small definition for a very big endeavor! I love the expression “the ART of homemaking” because it elevates my work to an art form. I think many if not most of us often forget this.
Because our lives move at hyperspeed and we have others to tend to and jobs that take us away from managing our homes we can often feel frustrated when it comes to caring for them. Our home becomes an endless list of tasks that are also exhausting as they nag at our last nerves!
So while we can all agree that most of us have more to do than the hours God allows in a day we really need to relearn or reawaking ourselves to the joy and art of keeping a beautiful home!
Once in a while, I need to readjust my attitude and perceptions and focus on the extreme blessing my home is! And maybe you need to do the same. Let’s have a gut check about our homes.
Palacial or humble or in between our home is a gift! Their worth goes so far beyond their market value. Who can quantify peace and shelter and the ability to gather with our loved ones? How do you measure comfort and laughter? Where else can we really feel relaxed as well as we can in our own homes?
Let’s get beyond comparing and judging and looking at ourselves and others with such a critical eye. Because homemaking is an ART it has many interpretations! It is as individual as the people who keep our home fires burning!
Homemaking is not a lost art either. We just keep defining it for our lives and times. And it should not carry with it a negative connotation. Homemaking is a great blessing! It’s about nurturing others and ourselves. And that IS an art!!!!
I think homemaking seems like such an old-fashioned concept because over the recent years it has been thought of as menial and less important than other things we pour our energy into.
But nothing could be further from the truth. Homemaking is a high calling and a very worthwhile enterprise. It is a service to all who make their homes with us and a great joy.
Let’s get very honest! I have a few questions for you.
- do you look at tasks in your home as drudgery or a way of upkeeping the gift of your home
- do you elevate even small things you do around your home so they bring you joy
- do you dread the bigger tasks about your home or do you focus on the positive end results
- do you work at keeping a tidy home daily
- do you ask for help around your home
- do you wait until tasks get so big they become overwhelming or do you have intentionality about working on them a little at a time
- is your home important to you
- do you share your home in hospitable ways to others
- is your mindset about your home positive
- are you managing your home or is your home left as an afterthought
- do you enjoy your home
- does perfection stop you from loving your home and loving all who pass through your front door
- is your home’s appearance more important than how it welcomes others
I think homemaking is a mindset. And the art of homemaking has a whole lot to do with how we feel about our homes and those who live in it.
I hope I’ve given you lots of things to think about today!
Your attitude influences your home and everyone in it. Let’s start looking at even the most mundane task as a way to love our homes, others, and ourselves! I want to find joy in my home, it’s management and serving my family!
I want to be known for being a master at the art of homemaking. How about you?
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Good Morning, Yvonne!
Your article on The Art of Homemaking is perfectly delightful! I often feel foreign to some things I read! You know, the technical, political, business article which is trying to help teach me the way of the world in 2018?! Well, I don’t always follow and as hard as I try, I am honestly just not as interested in it as perhaps I should be!!
But, Stone Gable always offers me something wonderful to feast my eyes upon in which I am thoroughly interested! This was most definitely the case with your blog today and your article on Homemaking! You made me happy all over! My home is so important to me and I love to keep everything clean, uncluttered and comforting! My husband and I are both retired now but I’ve always been the way I am now with my home. I pick up daily and everything gets a “once over” every day as well! My Dear Mother taught me a long time ago that there were just things that needed to be done everyday and it was just easier to put a smile on my face and get it finished! It works for me!!
Because I can tell you love and enjoy your home, yours is one of the few blogs I read almost everyday. I appreciate your time, your lovely, fresh ideas and your suggestions!
Thanks, Yvonne!
Fondly, Lucy Beliveau
Your questions are excellent!!
Dear Yvonne,
What a wonderful way to start this Saturday morning… taking a moment and actually thanking God for my home (if you knew the story – such a God-thing!!). I’ve noticed one of the things in your list – making sure it is tidy daily – makes such a huge difference! I love it when a neighbor drops by and I don’t have to wonder if everything is clean & tidy.
You are so right – “homemaking is an ART form…” I can even remember going to the homes of friends as a child – and one or two homes still stand out in my mind — I realize now both of those homes were well cared for and so welcoming… I want others to feel that way when they come to my home. (I’m still in extreme “edit-mode” right now! 🙂
Thank you again for such a wonderful start to the day! Blessings & hugs
Yvonne,
You have touched my heart.
Homemaking at the core is a high calling from our Heavenly Father.
In a culture that demeans the home and all it stands for you have brought such hope and joy in knowing that we, as homemakers, can really love what we do and do what we love!!
By the comments and responses I’ve read I am encouraged that there are many beautiful ladies out there who feel the same.
Thank you for unashamedly sharing your heart about homemaking!
When I was newly married…..oodles of years ago, a dear older friend gave me Edith Schaeffer’s book The Hidden Art of Homemaking. It was then in my early 20s I first really understood that homemaking was my opportunity to artistically express beauty into everyday life. It really is art, and your post today is encouragement for all to take a fresh look, or relook, at the privilege of this wonderful gift!
You have shared my heart; molded by a Mom who put Bobby Darin albums on the phonograph, danced and sang while she did housework. She “tricked” us into thinking that housework was FUN!! Seeing value and joy in EVERYTHING we do is a great gift to pass along to those we love. Thank you for reminding us of the preciousness of our homes and the honor that is ours to care for them.
On another note, I wondered if you could share the wall color that you used throughout your downstairs areas?
Yvonne, have you ever considered writing a book on the art of homemaking? You have the audience and I think many would be inspired!!! I know I am. I am working to create my sanctuary and find great peace in learning how to connect to my home. You are right, a home is a gift.
Wonderful post ! As a little girl in a Northeastern PA coal town, I loved “playing house”. My favorite thing to do…set my small table under our grapevine and pretend to have company. A favorite Christmas gift every year was a set of play dishes…which led to my loving dishes and other table settings today. Married over 41 years, I still love “playing house’. Love to decorate, make it nice for family and friends, entertain, and consider cleaning my home as “blessing” it. So grateful to have a beautiful place to live and enjoy life.
I loved this post, Yvonne. It makes such a difference to recognize my home as a gift and my home-caring as an art form. Thank you for the inspiration you give to create a living and shareable masterpiece:)
Thank you for reminder that our homes are a blessing
Great post,Yvonne! I’ve been fortunate enough to be a housewife most of my married life,and when we had all
our 5 kids at home,it entailed much sacrificing of material things to do this. I am so glad that we were able to make it happen!
One great benefit for me was that I had to be extremely creative,as in,’how do I get curtains for the baby’s room with no budget for it’? That time,I found a skirt that I no longer wore,and made it over into curtains! I enjoy having a lovely,welcoming home,and on a small budget,I was able to do it..using nature,and found objects..the kids and I enjoyed it so much.They all had chores ,which also taught them how to work. So,three cheers for the Art of Homemaking! God bless you!
Ivonne, please share where you purchased The Pratt’s on glass sign!!! I must have one ? Thank you.
What a wonderful post!
Beautifully written, Yvonne!! Thank you!
I loved everything but the kitchen photo really caught my attention as I have the same sugar bowl which I’ve long thought was a pattern I regretted. I chose that pattern in my early twenties and here a couple of decades later I often wish I’d gone with something else as it didn’t seem to suit me anymore. However, seeing this photo I realize my problem is that I have everything in this particular Mikasa set: canisters, salt & pepper, cream & sugar, place settings, spoon rest, serving bowls, flatware … absolutely everything because once I picked then family grabbed on for gift giving occasions and voila, I have more than I could ever want or use or store. Your photo inspires me to mix it up and mix it in rather than drown in sameness. After seeing this I realize I really like my stuff, it just needs to be reimagined in smaller doses. Of course, that’s where the hard part lies because alas, I didn’t get the decorating gene but I’m determined to give it the ol’ college try.
Thank you for this post. It reminded me of why I need to take care of my home and the joy that I should find in caring for my home. It – as does everything in my life – belongs to God and I should be a good steward, too! 🙂
I love your post for today, it is inspiring, teaching, well written and systematic. Where do you find your tall topiaries and how do you stick to color choices when walking in to a store and not feeling the pressure to buy all the beautiful colorful things around with our rhyme or reason?
Hi Anita, I found the topiaries at a vintage shop. And about going shopping… I do only look for things that I know will work with the colors in my home! I LOVE color but why bring something home that is pretty but will look out of place. I enjoy them in the store and leave them there.
Oh I think you’ve nailed being a master at homemaking!!! Haha! I love it. You are so inspiring and have impacted my life with These kinds of posts. Thank you
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This is a great article. I have always loved the art of home making and have tried to practice it by doing many of the things you mentioned here. It has always been important to me to make our home our sanctuary. Like many working women I don’t do as much around the house as I need to or would even like to do. After working outside the home most of my adult life I will be retiring at the end of this year. I have been wondering what I will do with myself on a day to day basis once the initial joy of retirement wears off. Your article had made me think about all the things I will be able do at home to improve our home and make good use of my extra time.
I think I’ve been a lover of home from childhood.As I get older,I love it more.I am a true homebody and grateful for what I have.I agree that homemaking is an art and I’m always trying to tweak and improve on that.
I know exactly what you mean!
You said everything I have tried to practice for decades! It is an art that takes practice and refining to grow in. I’ve grown in the art and adapted practices where we have lived. Making a home each place was paramount to me and continues to this day. I think your words will be helpful and encouraging to your readers. Hope you’re enjoying the sunshine today! Linda
Susan Branch has posted this quote numerous times on her website and I love it,
“The ordinary arts we practice everyday at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.” Thomas Moore
Yes, it is! And I think if we really know the importance and gift in front of us every day we will treat each chore with gratitude. I don’t like to do laundry but I am thankful for Bobby’s laundry. That means I still have him in my life. And I show love to him by serving him in this way! xo
I love so many things about my home. I love changing things out, and finding that spot in my home that says, “yes, this is where I belong.” I love keeping my home clean as a pin, and have everything in its place. love not having to look for things we need to use, because it’s right there. especially as we get older and a few of those senior moments set in, and we forgot where we put something. I love clicking onto your site and seeing you posted something fabulous, that I can use, or needed to know, but did not know I needed that. Then along come my son and/or husband, and all my hours of hard work, now look as if I’ve never lifted a finger to cleanup at all. Help!!! Stay safe.
I loved post Yvonne! Homemaking is definitely an art! I agree that your attitude influences your home and everyone in it! I hope you share it with us at Charming Homes and Gardens Link Party, Wed-Sun.
https://shiplapandshells.com/charming-homes-gardens-link-party-6/
I’ve just stumble upon your blog and I love love your house’s decoration (the one featured in this post is your house, right?). I also love homemaking but deal to the fact that decorations are sometimes quite expensive, for now I just keep think as simple as I can afford. You have such a lovely nest I must say.
Hi TU. I agree, home decor can be expensive. May I suggest this post:https://www.stonegableblog.com/use-what-you-have-decorating/