I have two amazing parts of this post for you. First is my book review of Homebody by Joanna Gaines and the other is my 12 home decorating tips to make your house feel more like home. They go together so well, let’s dive in!

So to start my book review of Homebody by Joanna Gaines I have a crazy random story. To back up a little, my husband Blaine and I have been working on buying and building a home. I have been working really hard on all the Pinterest and mood boards and mock-ups to prepare for our design meeting coming up.

If you’ve been around here for very long you know I’m obsessed with Joanna Gaines and interior design. Even though I’ve been in rentals almost all my adult life, I love making my house feel like home. I also haven’t read Homebody yet.

So one evening as we were getting ready to go to the design center to design our new home I turned to Blaine and told him that I needed to go right now to Target to buy Homebody. Before we went to our design meeting I wanted to make sure I knew we had exactly what we wanted for our new home. In my Enneagram 1 personality, I felt like we had one chance to get it perfect.

So I went and got the last book in the store, came home, started reading the intro and tears welled up in my eyes.  I was just so amazed at the divine timing truly for me to be sitting there and reading everything that I needed to hear at that moment. Here is part of what I read in the introduction:

‘My hope is that wherever you are you find a way to love the home you’re in. Create a space where everyone who lives there, feels at home. Again more than anything I hope that when you put this book down you feel encouraged and emboldened to thoughtfully design a home that tells a story without regard for perfection. It’s a story worth telling because it’s yours, that is how you create spaces you’ll never want to leave.  -Cheering you on, Joanna.’

Making Your House a Home

The whole book is amazing and straightforward. After the introduction she tells you how to use the book and then she goes into teaching you different styles. So if you don’t know what your style is this book is an incredible help. It will point you in one direction so that when you’re trying to craft a specific space in your home you’re not all over the map.

From there it goes into every single area in your home or different things to consider when you’re designing it, whether you’re completely redoing the space or just adding in small touches. Then in the back, there are some blank pages to sketch out what you’re hoping the space will look like.

I feel like this book is such an incredible place to start to learn a little bit more about how to tell your story in your home and make your house feel more comfortable for every single person that lives in it. There is nothing more important than as a work-from-home-mom that you and your family feel at home in your home.

For all of you that are struggling to make your house feel like home, yes you need systems, but we are going to talk about something fun today. It brings me great satisfaction to be able to pour into my home this way and I want to share a piece of that with you with my 12 home decorating tip to make your house feel more like home.

First and foremost my favorite way to make my house feel like a home is with diffusers. I use them every day, multiple times a day, and in every single room.

You can download my free oil guide which goes over all my favorite diffusers and how I use them and put them in all my routines. I use them when my kiddos are sick, in my morning routine, PM routine, work block, and evening routine and I lay all that out for you in the free guide.

Diffusers are a great way to scrap the candles and remove chemicals and synthetic fragrances from your home. Even the word natural fragrances is just marketing.

Every single time someone comes in my home they tell me it smells good. My kids, my husband, and my guests love it and it make everyone feel more at home.

Fake or real it doesn’t even matter. Obviously real is great because they actually do purify the air.

I used to kill plants all the time until quarantine came and I was stuck at home and figured out they tell you when they’re thirsty.

I have tons of fake ones too and they blend really well together. IKEA is my favorite place to get fake plants. Hobby Lobby has incredible fake plants and Amazon has some pretty cool ones too.

My third home decorating tip is throw pillows. Throw pillows everywhere. It’s such a great way to add a little bit of comfort and character. Don’t be afraid to use some patterns and color and mix it up. Experiment with them because it’s really easy to just slap another cover on. I used to get them from Goodwill or second-hand because most of them have zippers.

Lamps in all the places! On your countertop lamps, at your bedside, office, kids’ bedrooms, on the kitchen countertop. They create such a softness.

Put one on your kitchen counter and style something cute underneath it. Just turn your lamp on instead of the kitchen lights in the morning when you go to make your coffee. Greatest feeling in the whole world.

I know it seems so simple but that’s why I’m doing this post. All of these home decorating tips are so simple and I have every single one of these things I’m talking to you about in my house.

We have both. We have scripture around our house because that’s what’s important to us and inspires us. We also have our Family Legacy Statement which is like a family creed and that hangs above our dining room table.

We actually teach you how to create that inside of the Systemize Your Life Academy. Part of having a whole management system is knowing how to communicate your needs and your wants to the rest of your family. 

Whenever somebody’s having a hard time or maybe the whole family’s energy is off we can always turn to that. It’s also a point of inspiration for other people that come into our home. It’s about uplifting other people in our home as well. On to home decorating tip number 6.

Huge tip you guys here, if you’ve got random decor, stop spreading it all over the place. The same goes for when you’re decorating for a holiday. Stop putting one little thing on every table. Get your stuff together and style one area well and and leave it at that until you have the money, time, energy, and desire to do that somewhere else.

Instead of trying to make your whole kitchen look amazing just set up your coffee area. Try and get your things together. Group them in smaller areas instead of vast huge areas covering your entire house and you’ll start to be able to see a little bit of your style and personality and it’ll encourage and inspire you whenever you start to see that unfold.

If you hate it just go to Pinterest or get the book Homebody and literally copy a picture you like and try to recreate it.

If you want your house to feel more like home and you really want to pour into the space that you’re living in, stop putting stuff along every single nook and cranny. Your walls should have room to breathe and your baseboards should be seen all over the house.

It’s almost like your house literally can’t breathe when there is stuff all along the perimeter.  When you start clearing space, that’s when you’re going to be able to just sit down in your bedroom and take a deep breath and your home is going to give back to you and stop sucking the life out of you.

Slowly but surely start making better choices with what is in your house.

Just do it, you’ll thank me later, it’s amazing. Get rid of the paper napkins, get rid of the paper towels. Get cloth napkins.

Really quick and simple idea you can do stacked or layered door mats at your front door. At Home is one of my favorite places to get these. When I first started putting rugs in our master bathroom my husband really noticed. It just makes your rooms warm.

Get labels in your pantry. Get labels on your kid’s drawers.  Get labels on your toy bins. Get labels on your dresser drawers. Start putting labels on stuff and just watch yourself be so happy.

This has a lot of benefits to it but I’m not going to go into it right now. Just start labeling things. You can get an old-fashioned label maker, use masking tape, or buy chalk labels almost anywhere.

Home decorating tip number ten, use room spray. Get a brown glass spray bottle fill it up with water and put some essential oil drops in it, and start to spray that bad boy all over your house.

It goes for so long, it literally lasts forever. I know I’ve already said this but there are so many benefits to it. Not only just because you’re removing the chemicals, but also because it makes people feel at home when they’re in your house. It is going to make you feel like a million bucks to see your kids enjoying your home. Alright final home decorating tip.

They must be cute. Matching baskets are even better but most of my baskets aren’t identical to each other they’re just kind of in the same family. 

I love baskets so much. I put my fake plants, my real plants, our blankets, our donation bin, just so many things in baskets. I literally have baskets all over the place. 

Instead of shoving things in linen closets or wherever you’re putting things, use a basket!

I get so excited about this stuff! Again go check out my oil guide to see how you can get this stuff rocking and rolling in your life and level up your routines.  As always we can talk about this stuff over inside the Facebook group. Pop in any of your questions and I’d love to support you!