Five Reasons I Invest Time And Money In Decorating Our Home

Since we moved into our house last year, I have loved spending time decorating the space and making it our own.  But if I’m honest, sometimes I feel a little silly about how excited I get for these projects and how much time and money (or at least how much money I WANT to spend) we invest into these projects.  Aren’t there more important things to worry about than how our homes look?

YES, there are absolutely things more important than having a tidy or presentable home.  If you don’t enjoy decorating in the slightest, there’s no shame in that and you can still invite people into your home and practice hospitality in beautiful ways.  But for me, these five reasons below make investing time and energy into decorating our home absolutely worth it.

Five Reasons I Invest Time And Money Into Decorating Our Home

1) It makes our space cozy for us.

Whenever I “finish” a space, it brings me so much joy to walk by it.  I find myself admiring the little shelf I just styled or wanting to sit down, put my feet up, and snuggle that cute Target throw pillow while we watch some Netflix.  When our home feels more finished and tidy, I enjoy being in it and want to spend more time there.  Once we’d finished our nursery, I spent hours sitting in this chair, taking in that space and dreaming of our little man.  Having that space complete made us feel ready and excited to bring home our baby boy!

2) It makes our space inviting for others.

When I take time to invest in our house, I truly believe it makes the space feel more inviting to other people.  Granted, this isn’t necessarily true if your house is so clean and put together that people feel like they have to be perfect too, but when it’s clear that YOU love where you live and your life actually happens there, people feel like maybe it’s okay for their lives to happen there too.  My heart for keeping our home beautiful is that other people would step in and feel like they’ve finally found a place where they’re free to just be…and decorating is one of many ways I try to do that.

3) It shows parts of our personality and who we are.

I love having parts of our story around our house.  Like the handmade Etsy prints we have above our bed with our marriage mission statement or the gallery walls I’ve made that pull in different elements of our story, I love when our home tells a story.  On the walls of our upstairs hallway I have a series of photos from our relationship, our engagement and wedding, and then our pregnancy announcement, maternity pictures, and Caleb’s newborn pictures.  It’s so fun to walk through that hallway and see little glimpses of our journey together.

4) It’s a creative outlet and a hobby.

I loved my job and I love taking care of our son (MOST of the time…maybe not so much when he’s fighting naps), but I’ve found that I need something on the side to invest my time and energy into.  Dreaming of projects for our home gets my creative juices flowing and helps me to feel more confident in my own creative vision. In the past, I’ve wrestled with some major insecurities that I’m not as creative as my super awesome and talented friends whose livelihoods depend on their creativity (photographers, artists, etc).  The more I’ve started to simply jump into projects without worrying about other people’s opinions the more I’ve grown in my decorating abilities.  I’m proud of how my creativity and ideas have become a reality in our home and I love getting to share that with the people who visit!

The gallery wall in our son’s nursery was so fun to dream about and create and I love how it turned out!

5) It’s something fun for the hubby and I to do together.

I am super lucky that my hubby has a pretty great eye for what looks good in our house.  Although he gets more pumped about projects in places like the garage or the man cave/basement, he’s my partner in crime on all of our house projects.  I usually have a vision and do the shopping to find everything we need and he’s my details guy who thinks through how the heck we’re actually going to implement my vision.  With Jordan home this summer we’ve had so much fun working on some new projects like our downstairs bookshelves and our guest bathroom.  I love dreaming, shopping, and working on these projects with him!

If decorating isn’t your thing, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.  A home doesn’t need to be decorated to be warm and inviting but I believe it can make a huge difference in the overall feel of our homes.

Do you enjoy the decorating process or find it challenging or uninteresting?