Housekeeping as Art

Housekeeping as Art is going to be my...not a resolution, but an idea I'll try to keep in mind in 2015. 

The original thought came to me while I was reading Holy Curiosity by Amy Hollingsworth.  She is talking about the steps to creativity - wisdom, knowledge and understanding.  She uses verses from the Bible, including Proverbs 24:3-4 "By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures."  The paraphrase from the Message says it thusly:
"It takes wisdom to build a house,
    and understanding to set it on a firm foundation;
It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms
    with fine furniture and beautiful draperies."

The idea of knowledge required to make a house a home intrigued me, and was followed by the thought of housekeeping as artistry.

I admit and accept that I will never be an artistic, creative person in the traditional senses.  I have absolutely no ear for music (my poor music when I was a kid!), I can not reproduce something lovely with pens or pencils or watercolours or markers or chalks or paints.  I can, I suppose, write well, but I can't control my thoughts enough to produce anything of substance, plus, it's not something I enjoy.

But I *do* love my home, and I do love my family, and I do believe I should be able to keep my house in a way that I wouldn't be ashamed to open my door to guests.  And that - the knowledge of how to make my house my work of art will be my focus in 2015.

Leaving this Here so I Don't Have to Search!

Who Would Jesus Love 5th song down.

Art Corner In The Garden

I'm thinking garden thoughts - ready for spring!  - and planning for a "patio" area behind the house this year.  We have long-range plans to put in a real patio, with a brick bread oven built into the bank at the far end, but those will be later....someday...

This year I'm thinking just an area to put out our lawn chairs, a couple little tables to hold our drinks, and maybe a few whimsical things about to pretty it up.  That's where this idea came in.  I looked online to see if it had already been thought of, so I could pin it, but didn't find one, so I decided to write it myself. ;)  Here is the idea:

An Art Corner, for fairy houses. 

(potential spot for a fairy house.  I couldn't find any photos of houses we've built in the past.)

In my idea, there are small baskets of things to be used to build fairy houses: 
pinecones
pebbles
twigs
dried leaves
grasses
bark
acorns
shells
sea glass
feathers

and while we're enjoying our new backyard sitting area we can play around with them and build and re-build houses. 

I'll come back later when this idea is more than a partly formed scheme and post photos. :)