Do you ever feel like your house doesn’t look or feel the way you want it to? Deep down, beyond a desire to improve what our homes LOOK like, I believe what we all really want is a home that FEELS like a sanctuary, a peaceful refuge that inspires and rejuvenates us. We all need and deserve that.

That atmosphere contributes to our sense of well-being, but when we either don’t know what to do or don’t prioritize making it happen, our environment begins to deplete and defeat us. We might not even recognize the problem, or realize what’s happening, until we start to feel unhappy, exhausted or overwhelmed.

This is why it’s so important to understand the significance of the kind of atmosphere we live in and the way to improve it. Our surroundings influence our well-being more than we realize. But don’t worry, you don’t have to have a perfect life or home or even a big budget to have a sanctuary.

You can learn how to design and prioritize this environment for yourself, wherever you live, no matter the size or style of your home.

Here are 5 possible reasons your home may not feel like a sanctuary:

1. You have too much clutter. 

You want to have a calm, tidy, and inviting home, but somehow clutter creeps in and takes over. Too much or the wrong stuff makes you feel overwhelmed at home and always in need of a vacation to escape the chaos! Maybe you love what you have, but you don’t know how to display or organize it, or you just need systems that help you deal with the dailies. Any of those things can make you feel unwelcome in your own home and will slowly begin to steal that peaceful feeling from you.

2. Your lighting isn’t inviting.

Do you ever walk in a room and the mood feels dreary or sad or unwelcoming? This might be a simple fix, but is an often overlooked remedy to a common problem. The right lighting will absolutely transform the mood of any room. Bringing in more natural light, changing the temperature of your lightbulbs, as well as adding layers of the right kind of lighting for the room are all important factors in making a home feel warm, cozy and inviting.

3. Your home doesn’t meet your needs.

It’s not always about having a certain size or shape or style or location of a home that will make it feel like a sanctuary. We might dream of more or less or something else, but how you use whatever space you have will make a world of difference in how it feels!

If your own needs and the space you have available right now to meet those needs isn’t considered or addressed well, your home will feel out of control or unwelcoming, no matter what home you have.

When a space feels unsettled, unwelcoming or chaotic, it makes YOU or your family feel that way, too. Your home is there to serve you. Regardless of its limitations, when you use the space you have well, you’ll start to feel more prepared to do all of the things you want to do in life! Big or small, your home can become the sanctuary you need it to be.

4. Your home doesn’t tell you the right stories.

Have you heard the saying “if only walls could speak”? Well, guess what? THEY DO SPEAK! All the time. The stories they tell you better be the ones you need to hear or your home won’t feel at all like your sanctuary.

You might live in a home that doesn’t feel like your style, so it tells you you need a different house. Maybe you have random or mismatched furniture pieces you’ve gathered over time, but you don’t really love them or have the budget to replace them. The story you probably hear? My house is outdated and I don’t have a way to fix it. I will never love my home.

Perhaps you impulse buy all the latest things at Target but you still feel like your space is telling you something is missing. So you buy some more. And now your home shouts at you! This time it tells you you’ve wasted money on things that feel more like clutter than an expression of your style.

Maybe you look around your home and feel sad because it’s reminding you of memories you don’t want to be reminded of. Or the people you live with don’t value the nurturing environment you need, so you hear that it shouldn’t be a priority or isn’t possible to turn your home into a sanctuary.

5. You feel comparison and discontentment.

You probably have an idea in your mind of what you wish your home looked like, or what it COULD look like someday if only x y and z happened…we probably all do that to one degree or another. It’s hard not to compare especially if your home really isn’t your dream home.

Any sense of discontentment with your home might make you feel less inspired there, rather than inspired to transform what you have. Sometimes it’s just really hard to find the energy or motivation, especially when it seems like it would be impossible to make progress or turn it into what you really want it to be. Maybe we convince ourselves that it is better to just wait for the next house or another season or even a windfall of resources or more help!

If you resonate with any of these issues or struggles, BE ENCOURAGED! I truly believe we can find real joy and contentment with the very home we have right now. I’m not saying it’s always EASY, but it’s worth it.

You don’t have to go it alone. I can help you solve these situations and more! I’m offering a brand new resource, something SO GOOD it’ll transform not only your home, but your life, too.

If you want to learn how to get started in turning your home into a sanctuary and you’re ready to prioritize your home and well-being, or would simply enjoy encouraging others or being around wonderful people who are creating a sanctuary, too….this is your invitation! We’d love to have YOU in the HomeBody Gathering Place! You belong with us!

Registration is open for spring session right now!

I would LOVE to help you learn how to make your home the sanctuary of your dreams, and do that right alongside you this year. As a member of our community HomeBody Gathering Place you’ll get instant access to our 3 part course on turning your home into a sanctuary including our Room Recipe Workshop, our HomeBody Notebook pages and so many resources that will help and inspire you on your journey. Plus, we’ll have fun together every week chatting about all things home.

You can now register to join HGP and learn more HERE.

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I am confident you will see and feel a transformation in your home! I can’t wait for you to join us. <3 

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