Podcast: Play in new window
When it comes to decorating their homes, most people I know tend to think of it at best as something fun but low on their list of priorities, and at worst, as something inessential—and maybe even shallow. Personally, I know I’ve put off investing time and effort into decorating or really settling into my home because I felt like I didn’t have the time or resources, let alone a “decorator’s eye.”
That’s why I’m so excited to share my conversation today with Myquillyn Smith (a.k.a. “The Nester”). Myquillyn, who has written two books on decorating, The Nesting Place: It Doesn’t Have to be Perfect to be Beautiful and Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff, has given me such confidence about making my home a home without feeling like it has to look like someone else’s, or like some magazine-ready, designer home.
Really, the titles of her books say it all: Myquillyn looks beyond the surface of just making your home look pretty or impressive, and considers the deeper importance of making your home feel like a home. She emphasizes that the beauty of “home” is about so much more than things being perfectly placed or having the perfect color scheme; it’s about how people feel when they enter, an atmosphere of hospitality, and you being happy with what you have—even if it’s hodge-podge, mismatched, or handed down.
Join Myquillyn and me on this podcast to hear more about her philosophy on decorating as well as some quick, practical tips!
Highlights from Today’s Episode:
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How your home influences your emotions
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Tips for creatively decorating your home
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Learning to be content with your home
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Making a home as a single
Quotes:
- No matter what your situation is, use and enjoy your home today and now. –Myquillyn Smith
- It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. – Myquillyn Smith
- The power to make your house a home was in your hands. –Myquillyn Smith
- You get to decide how you make home. –Myquillyn Smith
- Home is not this place. Home is the place where we are all together. Myquillyn Smith
- “A part of contentment is having the confidence to know that what you really want is worth waiting on.” –Chrystal Hurst
Resources From Today’s Show
- Read Myquillyn’s new book, Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff for the sort of practical decorating advice she shares at the end of this podcast. If you preorder now, you will be given four “seasons” classes, over a $100 dollar value, for FREE! See cozyminimalist.com for details.
- Also, check out The Nesting Place: It Doesn’t Have to be Perfect to be Beautiful to discover the philosophy behind Myquillyn’s decorating!
- Lastly, be sure to visit Myquillyn’s blog, thenester.com and to like and follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!
` ==> General Links
Have you taken the staying awake assessment? Find it here.
Did you catch last week’s episode on balance? Listen here or watch here.
Grab my latest book, She’s Still There!
Take a look at Kingdom Woman by Chrystal Evans Hurst and Tony Evans
Let’s Talk!
After you’ve listened to the podcast, I’d love to continue the conversation. Be sure and leave a comment!
- Are you allowing the way you feel about your home (that it is too messy or doesn’t look nice enough) to get in the way of far more important things like fellowship and hospitality?
- Are you allowing excuses—”I’ll decorate my home when I’m married,” “I’ll do it when we finally move out of this apartment and get a ‘real’ home”—to keep you from decorating and getting settled into your home?
- On the podcast, Myquillyn admits: “shopping secondhand and finding deals became a habit—no, a lifestyle for me. I didn’t know when to stop. My thinking went something like this: ‘I can always work in an extra lamp. It’s only thirty-nine dollars. What a deal. Look at all the money I’m saving. But was I really saving? I wasted time I didn’t have thrifting, [spending] money on things we didn’t need.” Does this sound like you? Would you and your loved ones benefit from the minimalist approach Myquillyn suggests?
Connect with me…
How to Listen to The Podcast
If you’re new to podcasts, think of them like little radio shows that you can listen to at your convenience. They are perfect to listen to and learn from as you workout, fold laundry, wash dishes or conquer the world.
1. Listen right here on the blog. Click the little play button at the beginning of this post.
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3. Share today’s show – Email the link to a friend or share on social media. Just click on the sharing buttons at the bottom of this post!
You have been so great to join me on the journey here on the blog, I hope you jump right in and do the same on the podcast!
I just wanted to say THANK YOU for the encouraging and inspiring conversation with ‘the nester I was moved to tears as she so eloquently summarized what I couldn’t put my finger on ie ;’we just want to visit/hangout’, regarding the need for the perfect environment, when really friends just need to get together. Truly grateful to have listened to this podcast???
I am completely loving this conversation. It is really freeing me from my own insecurities that have kept me from showing hospitality to those that I feel God has called me to mentor and disciple. I ALWAYS suggest a location such as a restaurant or coffee shop because I don’t feel like my home is good enough to host them.
Thank you for this conversation and the encouragement to share my home, change my mindset and thinking more of the hospitality I can provide rather than whether my home lives up to someone’s expectation.
Thank you for this conversation and the encouragement to share my home, change my mindset and thinking more of the hospitality I can provide rather than whether my home lives up to someone’s expectation.
Glad that you stop by and listened! Blessings Lisa!