Homekeeping is an ongoing art, a process, not an end product. It will never be “all done.” Bathrooms, clothes, and dishes, once clean, have a way of getting dirty again. But home is meant to be lived in, in the fullest, most potentially fulfilling way for everyone in it. That means that every room does not need to be picture perfect and waiting for a perfect display, but rather, each room has a sense of order and calmness to it. The home looks like someone lives there, without appearing messy or cluttered. ~Mrs’s Dunwoddy’s Excellent Instructions for Housekeeping

I read my husband this quote and said, “I have no idea how to do this. I only know the in between - absolute mess or perfection”. He said, “I know what it is. It’s when you define a room and it has a purpose and the things in it are all contributing to that purpose. Like yes dishes in the sink happen and don’t look like a huge mess, but dishes on the side table in the living room aren’t supposed to be there and it looks cluttered and messy”.

He talked about our living room that has the school bookshelf and computer in there along with boxes of books to be donated, a tub of toys that isn’t ours, and an arts and crafts shelf. He explained as long as those are there this is a school room. And it will feel chaotic if you are trying to sit in here and relax because you can’t relax in a school room. This all finally clicked for me and it feels like an epiphany. We talked about how we can arrange it so when people come in this room can be a welcome calm instead of feeling like chaos.

I was worried about money (we’d like to set up a sitting area) and he said “we will figure that part out - it’s not a big deal”. We came up with a plan to redecorate this room to line it up with our expectations. Of course the other part of this is not having more than we need. Which is definitely a problem for us. I have a hard time saying no - so when friends offer me clothes or whatever hand me downs they are passing along I just quietly accept and we have more clutter.

Anyway so the point of this was discussing the idea of the purpose of a room. What rooms do you have and what are their purpose? Does that help it feel calmer in your home? How do you achieve that lived in, not messy not perfect feel in your home?