An intentional home is a place of comfort, love, thoughtfulness, and happiness. It is far from perfect. In fact, our intentional home is sometimes a complete mess. Occasionally, you will find dishes piled up in the sink, or not unloaded from the dishwasher, a blanket that is unfolded, a dish towel thrown on the kitchen table, a book left open, or even an unmade bed. To some, this sounds like a disaster, but to me, this sounds like a home that is lived in. Even though things are not perfect, everything is considered and everything is intentional.

For example, those dishes that are piled up in the sink may be a result from a date night that we went on and the blanket could be a result from a late movie night where I fell asleep in my husbands arms.

Although so far, this may just sound like a normal home to you, it’s not. Careful consideration has gone into choosing every item in our home: from that blanket, to our bed, and even to the dishes in our cabinets. So, yes, maybe you will find a bit of a mess when you walk into our home, however, you are also sure to find a lot of love and happiness, which to me, that is what matters most.

Over the years, I have learned a lot about slow living, meaningful actions, and living with purpose and creating an intentional home is just a small part of that. If you are interested in creating an intentional home, here are some of my best tips:

Disclaimer: This post is a sponsored post advertising for UHS Window Tinting and Blinds and I did receive compensation for sharing. 

Steps to Creating an Intentional Home

Clean Out Your Home

The first step to creating an intentional home is cleaning out your house and living minimalistically. Minimalism is not just about having less – it’s about having what you need and no more. So, what means most to you? What do you not need? Take the items that you do not need and donate them to a good cause. Life Hack says, “Minimalism is a way to put a stop to the gluttony of the world around us. It’s the opposite of every advertisement we see plastered on the radio and TV. We live in a society that prides itself on the accumulation of stuff; we eat up consumerism, material possessions, clutter, debt, distractions and noise. What we don’t seem to have is any meaning left in our world. By adopting a minimalist lifestyle, you can throw out what you don’t need in order to focus on what you do need.”

Not only is it a great idea to get rid of the physical junk and clutter, but also equally (if not more) important to get rid of the harmful chemicals and toxins that plague so much of our home living space. Through the use of my diffusers, non-toxic cleaner and household products, I can rest assure that my home is getting the proper and safe tender, loving care that it most certainly deserves and rightly so!

A quick link to my blog post on Essential Oils can be found here.

Add Meaningful Decoration

You probably already have everything you need to decorate, but if you don’t, do not feel bad about going out and getting more. I know we just talked about getting rid of things, but as long as you are getting things that you know will add value and purpose to your life, get them! A few meaningful decoration ideas are pictures from vacations or important milestones in your life, positive affirmations, and souvenirs from trips. For example, a friend I know has a simple white vase + olive branches on her living room mantle. It reminds her each day of the trip she took to Italy with her husband. Meaningful decoration varies from person to person, so do not think that you cannot add a college football sign to your home. If this is meaningful to you, add it.

Light

This is such a simple and straightforward task, but let light in! If you are in the middle of purchasing a home, I highly recommend finding a home where there is a lot of natural light. Why? I believe that we nature is a natural stress reliever and it really just helps us see the beauty in everyday situations. Not getting enough light definitely impacts our lives and moods — I mean, just think about “Seasonal Affective Disorder.” It is a real thing and we need to enhance all of the intention and purpose in our home with light. A few easy way to add light into your home is by opening the blinds and curtains, adding candles, adding fairy lights, and even adding salt lamps (there are so many great health benefits to these, as well!).

Good Company

To me, what turns a house into a home are the people in it. Home is where the ones I love live and I believe that you cannot have an intentional home with bad company. If you saw my post, “Marry Me – Five Years Later,” you should have read this: “I think back to our 750 sq. foot, one-bedroom apartment, and the dog we got week three of marriage because we thought a puppy in an apartment was a good idea, and then I remember back to our first Christmas together ~ a time that is supposed to be so special as newlyweds and we had food poisoning and stayed in bed sick to our stomachs missing out on family celebrations. I think back to you studying all hours after work for the CPA exam and passing it and feeling so incredibly proud of you and all the lesson planning that took place on the couch in that apartment. To the snow-apocalypse and it taking you 12 hours to get home from work and your phone dying as you were yelling something about an 18-wheeler and ice. I think back to building our home and becoming homeowners at the age of 22 and 24 (we are officially crazy) and all the trips to Home Depot and trying to figure out how the heck to take care of a yard (still figuring that one out).” All of this has to do with not only our home, but our love for each other, as well as our happiness (even in the craziest situations) and at the end of the day, that is what it is all about.

Allow yourself to rest.

One of the most important areas of our home is a little nook in our master bedroom, a place where I can retreat and read and even dream. I love to write and to journal, to get lost in the Word or a good book. Creating a spot for me to be able to escape to allows me to be able to reconnect and fully rest. Believe me, in the fast-paced world that we live in, this is an absolute necessity.

Safety and Security

There are many other steps that you can take in order to create a meaningful home, but if I listed all of them, we would be here all day. So, I’ll make this step my last one, for now. One major aspect of creating an intentional home is making it your safe space and you need to make sure you protect that safe space. Adding cameras, improving your landscaping, installing a security system, and making sure to lock your doors are basic ways that you can secure your home, but another interesting way to protect your house that I just learned more about recently is by adding window films. UHS Window Tinting and Blinds says, “From break-and-enter crimes to accidents, 3M™ Window Films work invisibly to help keep dangers out. Get an added layer of protection while preserving the appearance of your home and windows with 3M™ Safety & Security Window Films. They make windows harder to penetrate and help hold glass fragments together after impact from break-ins, natural disasters — or even wayward baseballs.” Installing window films will help protect the people in the home, will help deter potential ‘bad guys’ from intruding on your safe space, and they will also help guard your home against natural causes. UHS Window Tinting and Blinds is based out of Alpharetta, Georgia, and they serve the entire Metro-Atlanta area. They have more than 30 years of experience with window tinting out of Atlanta and their extensive history with window films and treatments has allowed them to learn new things about their industry every single day and apply them to the work they fulfill for their clients. If you are interested in protecting your home, adding decoration to your windows, or even saving on energy costs, UHS Window Tinting and Blinds would probably be a great place to start!

xo. Haley