Do you have too much stuff? I can relate! For some reason we seem to end up with a lot of excess things that we just might be able to use “someday.” We get nice “hand me downs” from relatives who are downsizing, we plan a move to a new house and hang on to extra things because aren’t sure what we will need, or our children head off to college and suddenly we have more in our house than we really use regularly.

Life brings a series of changes that can leave us with more to manage than we need or want.

It is hard to know where to begin to declutter when you are faced with overflowing closets, garages and storage rooms. In fact, it can be downright scary! When opening a closet door puts you at risk for an avalanche, or you can seriously injure yourself on the way to opening the garage door, you know it is time to declutter.

There is something so freeing about the idea having LESS, but where do you begin?

1. If you feel overwhelmed, set aside a block of time to get life back into order and balance.
2. Focus on your most dreaded task first. Once you dive in, it won’t seem so bad.
3. Look at things in your home objectively. Are they adding something of important value, or are they just one more thing to dust, store, or organize?
4. Start by removing half of the items from a cupboard, shelf, or closet and step back to look. Be prepared to be amazed at how energized you’ll feel!
5. Plan a donation to a local mission or thrift store. While you are de-cluttering, set up an area of your house to put items to donate. There are so many people less fortunate who are blessed by what we are willing to give away. Allow yourself to give generously—you’ll feel great and someone else will be even happier!

So what are you waiting for?  Set aside some time this week to declutter!

©2009, Melissa Michaels

For more inspiration on creating a beautiful home, visit The Inspired Room

It is a great time of year to give some attention to the front of our homes. Besides the obvious need to mow the grass, pull the weeds and wash some windows, what can we do to give our house the “wow factor” known as curb appeal?

A few quick changes can make even an average home stand out from the rest. Whether you are thinking of selling your home or simply want to welcome guests to your front door, here are three ways you can give your home the curb appeal it deserves.

1. Don’t underestimate the power of paint
It is amazing what paint can do for a front door, porch, hardware or fence. You might be used to looking at that worn front step, but after a few dollars of paint and a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon, you’ll be asking yourself what took you so long to paint it! Freshening up the door, front porch, a bench or fence can dramatically affect your home’s curb appeal.

2. Pack in the personality
Does your house look identical to every other house on the block? Does it feel tired and predictable? Infuse your space with personality. Avoid the expected and give your home the WOW factor! Look for something special to take your home up a notch in curb appeal — interesting lighting, a unique mailbox, accessories, door hardware, attractive house numbers or that daring color on your front door.

3. Create friendly borders
Plants, gates and fencing can create a charming and welcoming entrance to your home. But if you go overboard, you end up with a foreboding look that says, “Keep out.” Cutouts in fences and gates, low shrubs, and plants in containers all can provide a good balance between privacy for you and a cheerful invitation to “come on in” for your guests.

Most importantly, have fun with caring for your home! It isn’t about impressing the neighbors; it is about taking care of what you have been blessed with and sharing it with others. Creating curb appeal is like saying to every one who walks up to your door, “Welcome to our home, we are so glad you are here.”

For more ideas of creating curb appeal, visit The Inspired Room!

©2009, Melissa Michaels

More and more I find myself striving for the beauty and freedom of simplicity. I am trying to pare down, have less and really enjoy what I have rather than being overloaded with so many things. One of the ways I’ve simplified is to use the same dinner dishes for everyday as I do for entertaining at parties or holidays. And not only do I use those same dishes for all occasions where I serve food, I use them for decorating every day. The beauty of this simple plan is that I can mix, match and use what I have no matter what the need is. It saves money, space and time! All things I always seem short on!

For the past ten years or so, I have pared down to having only white dishes. No more fancy china or holiday sets! I enjoy the freedom to accessorize with colored napkins and putting together more creative centerpieces rather than pulling out a whole new set of fancier dishes. I think this might also indicate that my lifestyle has settled into a more casual, comfortable and less fussy routine. My white dishes go with everything, and even if I decide I want to paint the dining room a new color, my white dishes will still work!

I love having glass cabinets in my kitchen. With my collection of all white dishes, I can have them stacked behind glass and they look pretty every day. I don’t have to worry about matching the room or coordinating patterns. My dishes serve two purposes; they add character and decoration to my kitchen as well as actually being used when it comes to mealtimes.

With my one set of dishes, I can even use the specialty pieces for multiple uses. A sugar bowl can hold anything from sugar in the kitchen to jewelry in the bathroom. A soup tureen can be a centerpiece one week and actually serve soup the next. My white pitcher can hold tulips or it can serve water.

For many years now I have also collected white serving platters. It doesn’t matter to me if they are pure white or off white, I collect them all. Some of them have pretty scalloped edges; some have a seashell design and some have a scroll pattern. Instead of stuffing platters in that dark deep cabinet above the refrigerator where I forget I even have them, I put them out where I can enjoy them every day! I hang them on walls or I stand them up with plate stands on my buffet or countertops.  And when I need to serve brownies, a simple white platter is always handy to use for serving.

Striving for simplicity means I have less and use what I have creatively, rather than buying something new or storing a lot of options “just in case” I might need them someday. I have found that I don’t need fancy extras or multiple sets of dishes, I can get by very well with my simple white set!

What are some of the ways you are striving to live a more simple life?

For more decorating and homemaking ideas visit The Inspired Room.

©2009, Melissa Michaels

Every spring as I see the little green stems poking out from the ground and pink flowers start to burst on the trees, I get excited about leaving winter behind. While I do love the coziness of being huddled inside near the fire, after awhile I start longing for the first glimpse of spring.

The signs in nature of a new season emerging make me smile. I am in awe of the amazing textures and colors God created, so why not enjoy them inside too?

Here are a few ways I am bringing the outside in around my house!

I use fruit both as a way to nourish my family and a way to add color and beauty to my kitchen. It is fun to put fruit in a unique container to display on the counter.

Sticks and branches can be a beautiful addition to a vase! This bamboo makes a great textural contrast to the shiny green glass.  You can use any sticks that you find outside!

Moss comes in so many different varieties and textures. I put moss on top of the dirt in potted plants, or create my own topiaries with it.

Shells remind me of lazy summers at the beach. I filled a container with pretty shells and set a candle on top for a little coastal ambience in the guest bath. You can do the same thing with sand or rocks.

So next time you are outside, think about all the pretty things God made and see what you can bring inside to decorate your home!

Genesis 1:1 NIV In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

For more decorating and homemaking ideas visit The Inspired Room.

©2009, Melissa Michaels

In my endeavor to live life more fully, I’m always evaluating things I want to incorporate into my life and what things I DON’T want. I want to have a beautiful and organized home, but there are other things in life that are important to me too. I want my home to be in order so I am free to nurture relationships and enjoy living, but I don’t want to be a slave to my housekeeping routines.

So, how do I balance it all? I keep it simple.

When I was a younger mom, I was forever making up lists and methods to keep track of everything from organization to daily routines. The problem was, once I would get the systems all set up, I would fail miserably at using them. I had made housekeeping more complicated than it needed to be. I felt like I was always behind and my house seemed on the verge of chaos.

Over the years I’ve found four basic housekeeping routines that work for me, and I’m sticking to them. I can add other things, of course, but these are the tried and true basics.

1. Morning routines. I have found that having a regular morning routine works best for me. This involves at the very least: some quiet time, making the bed, taking a shower, putting on very simple makeup and getting dressed right down to my shoes. I always toss in a load of laundry as I am getting dressed. I find if I start out the day with those few things, I am ready for anything.

2. Clean sinks. I learned the Flylady system back when my son was born. I was taking care of him and my two grade school girls and during the day I was watching my nephew who was born five weeks before my son. All that and working part-time! With four kids taking over my tiny house, I ran into frustration over having too much to handle. Flylady to the rescue! She broke it down for me and I listened: clean and shiny sinks, always. I follow this principle both in our bathrooms and the kitchen. Something about striving for that shiny sink keeps me from letting dirty dishes pile up.

3. Cleaning frenzies. Since the beginning of our marriage, my husband and I have utilized what we call “cleaning frenzies” to give our home a quick clean up. A cleaning frenzy might last ten minutes or even up to a half hour. But everyone participates, including the kids. We run around picking things up, putting things back, and generally tidying things up. Sometimes we focus on one room; sometimes it is an entire house frenzy. It works like a charm to make a big impact in a short period of time. Even one “10-minute cleaning frenzy” a day keeps the frustration away.

4. Nightly kitchen clean up. Every night, almost without fail, we clean the kitchen. We put away dishes, load the final dishwasher load of the day, wipe off counters, and polish up the sink. There is nothing like waking up to a clean kitchen to make your day feel less overwhelming.

If I have my basic routines down, my home stays “clean enough” most of the time. Keeping up on things means I rarely feel overwhelmed by all that needs to be done! When my home is maintained on a daily basis, it is really easy to add in a few extra tasks now and then to really shine things up or get things organized.

But if I let my daily routines go, my house soon spirals out of control. My house isn’t perfect by any means, but I am OK with that. I’m sticking to my tried and true basics. No more complicated chore charts for me!

I can do everything through him that gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13 NIV

©2009,Melissa Michaels

Wishing you could escape on a romantic getaway? How about creating an escape right in your own home! A bedroom is the place where we begin and end each day. It should be a romantic, relaxing and restful space, but without regular TLC a bedroom easily turns into a clutter storage facility. With a little inspiration and attention, you can reclaim your bedroom as the most peaceful room in the house.

Here are 10 ideas for creating a romantic and restful sanctuary:

1. Remove Clutter
   Start by removing as many things from the room as you can. Clutter is the enemy of a peaceful bedroom.
2. Hide Electronics
   Keep electronic gadgets including electric clocks concealed if it all possible.
3. Mood Lighting
   Good reading lights are a must for ambience and nighttime reading. Avoid using overhead lighting. Install dimmers and three way switches to create the perfect mood.
4. Beautiful Bedding
   Invest in good quality attractive bedding. While we strive to keep public rooms attractive, it is easy to let the master bedroom suffer. Discount stores often have great deals on discontinued quality bedding; have fun mixing and matching what you find!
5. Closed Storage
   Bedside tables are clutter magnets. Consider closed storage cabinets for visual serenity and covered boxes for tabletop necessities.
6. Sparkling Clean
   Give your room a good cleaning. Wipe down light switches, doorframes & doors, headboards, furniture, windowsills and floors. Clean windows. Wash curtains, bedding and bed skirts. Clean under the bed.
7. Scrumptious Scents
   Freshen the air with good smelling candles.
8. Make Bed Daily
   Commit to making the bed as soon as your feet hit the floor–and keep it from being buried in clutter all day. Enjoy being able to crawl into bed at night without having to fold six loads of laundry to find your pillow!
9. Soothing Music
   Create your own play list of soothing music.
10. Privacy
    Teach your children and household members to respect your privacy when the door is shut. You should be able to shut the door and block out the world now and then!

“Many waters cannot quench love, Nor will rivers overflow it; If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love, It would be utterly despised.” –New American Standard Bible

Melissa Michaels shares inspiration for creating a beautiful life & home at The Inspired Room.

©2009, Melissa Michaels

Take one look at the struggling economy and it will become pretty clear, times are changing for everyone. Even people who once had their eye on home equity funds for a remodel are reconsidering how much they are spending and how they are spending it. Most of us can’t really afford to be living high on the hog.

So, what do we do if we are staring at our 1970s style bathroom and wondering how to make do with a meager budget? We get creative and work with our house’s charming imperfections.

While a year ago we may have considered ripping a room apart and starting over, now it might make more sense to do a more reasonable makeover.

Here are five quick tips for working around your home’s imperfections:

1. Reface cabinets rather than ripping them out. 
   When we remodeled our kitchen a few years back, we assessed the quality of our cabinetry and found them to be solid. While we didn’t like the look of them, there was really no reason to rip them out and start over. Our contractor built new frames and ordered new drawers and cabinet doors. We got a brand new look, easy opening drawers, and saved ourselves quite a bit of money over new cabinetry by working with what we had.
2. Buy from resale shops or scratch and dent rooms.
   Need new appliances or furniture? You can save a small fortune by purchasing ones that come with the same tiny scratch you know your family will put on it later. My refrigerator came with a small dent on the freezer drawer. Sure enough, we put another dent in since our purchase. Glad we didn’t pay full price for perfection.
3. Rethink how you use your space.  
   Don’t have the rooms you need? While you may wish you had a nice new family room addition, there is a less expensive option.  If you have a little used formal dining room or living room, it is fairly easy to change the way you use those rooms. With different furniture, changing walls, adding new windows or doorways, a space can be transformed for a fraction of the cost of a new room. Think inside the box, rather than how to expand the box.
4. Details, details, details. 
   Need to give a room a cosmetic facelift? It can be easy and inexpensive to change a few details. A fresh coat of paint, new hardware, updated faucet and a new shower curtain can give a bathroom a whole new feel without an expensive remodel.
5. Break out the elbow grease. 
   Many home imperfections can be vastly improved with a weekend of effort. A few trips to the home improvement center and some creative thinking can bring about acceptable results. It may not be as stunning as a remodel, but your pocket book will thank you for the effort and you’ll sleep better at night knowing you are living within your means.

Be creative around the house and work with what you have. Perfection is highly overrated, anyways. 

For more creative and frugal ideas for the home, visit The Inspired Room!

©2009, Melissa Michaels

This Christmas my family is preparing to move to a new state to start a new church. The opportunity is an answer to prayer and something we are very much looking forward to, but packing to sell a house during the holidays can take a bit of the shine out of Christmas decorating. While we won’t be spending much time decking our halls with boughs of holly, we can dress up our holiday table in record time with a few creative touches. 

Here are some simple things you can use to take your table from ordinary to festive! 

• Candy Canes
  Put candy canes in potted plants, vases or jars for an instant centerpiece or decorations.
• Cinnamon Sticks
  Tie a pretty ribbon around a small bundle of cinnamon sticks to add an aromatic and festive touch to your holiday table-settings.
• Cookie cutters
  Simply set them around on the table or on plates for holiday fun.
• Cranberries
  Fill glass jars with cranberries and add votives! 
• Napkin rings
  Tie ribbon, sprigs of holly, snips of evergreen, or pinecones around your napkins for a finishing touch. Or if you are feeling crafty you can make napkin rings out of paper towels tubes…simply cover with paper and embellish.

It is so easy to lose the joy of the season and become a Scrooge when life throws curves in our plans! But just like the humble manger where Jesus was born, Christmas decor doesn’t have to be perfect or elaborate to be special and meaningful. Remember the reason for the season.

…and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. –Luke 2:7 NIV

“It was one of those perfect English autumnal days
which occur more frequently in memory than in life…”
—Author P.D. James

Oh, may it not be so!

Autumn gives us every opportunity to live an authentic life. Yet how easy it is to miss the little things in the pursuit of a “perfect” life! An authentic life treasures beautiful moments in an imperfect world. We must discipline ourselves to linger even for a moment on those things so they will become emblazoned in our memory like a snapshot in a tattered scrapbook.

20 Little Things To Treasure in Autumn

1. Quiet dinners by the fire
2. Reading mystery novels in darkened rooms
3. Flannel sheets at the end of a long day
4. Candles Flickering
5. Smelling cinnamon, oranges & cloves
6. Pumpkins
7. Roasts, potatoes & carrots
8. Fluffy feather beds on a cold night
9. Watching movies snuggled in soft blankets
10. Cozy socks
11. Pie in the oven
12. Warm crackling wood stoves
13. Squash with buttered brown sugar
14. Chili and corn bread smothered in honey
15. Wind blowing through leaves
16. Glow of lamps through windows
17. Laughter filling a room
18. Scrabble and popcorn
19. Caramel apples
20. Family

In the simple daily discipline of meditating on thankfulness, for even the tiniest details of God’s provision, we cultivate an “attitude of gratitude.”

©2008, Melissa Michaels

Praise God for simple things, precious blessings and treasured moments!

This article was adapted from The Inspired Room blog originally published on September 18, 2008.

The crisp air and falling leaves outside my window remind me of how fleeting life is. Days turn into nights and before I know it, another month has passed in the blink of an eye. My son in second grade, my daughter is now a married woman and my middle daughter will be applying to college soon. Where is the time going?

One of the things I am so aware of as I watch my family grow and change is my need to remain committed to living a life of intent and purpose. It isn’t enough to let days slip through my fingers and hope for the best. I need to embrace each opportunity to build my home from the inside out.

I really want our home to be a respite from the outside world. I like to set up comfy corners to sit down for quiet time, inviting rooms to dine together and welcoming places to play games as a family. Yet designing that environment and stating my intent isn’t enough. I feel God has called me to create a life that is more than a mirage. When you look inside the windows of our life, behind the curtains, there should be more than just a pretty room inside.

That is the heart of authentic living for me. It is creating a life of purpose and living out what I believe. If I don’t commit myself to actually using those pretty rooms to play games with my children or sit down around our table for family dinners, life will pass on by in the chaos of lesser things. And I will miss the opportunities I say I hold the most dear.

As the calendar turns once again, I need to peek inside the windows of my home and ask myself what I am seeing behind those curtains. Do I find evidence of my commitment to living an authentic life?  Am I wholeheartedly pursuing the calling that God has placed on my life as the keeper of my home and mom to my children? Time will still fly by and obligations may grow, but living authentically day by day is one of the greatest challenges and privileges I have in life. I’m humbled by all God has entrusted to me.

“…prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

—James 1:22, NAS

©2008, Melissa Michaels