5 Essential Things To Do To Make Your House a Home


Maybe you have just moved into a new home and you’re ready to leave your mark on it or maybe you’ve been in your home for a little while but it has yet to really feel like home. In either situation it’s easy to feel lonely or anxious, as author Sally Clarkson wrote in her (affiliate link) book, The Life-Giving Home, “We were made for home. We were made for relationship and place. We were made for belonging in the physical world.” We need that haven, that refuge, that place where we feel safe and relaxed. 

But how can one turn a simple house into a perfect home? In short, familiarizing yourself with the actual building, putting out familiar objects, and working to create a life-giving home. There are five key actions you can take that will help you really turn that house into a home.

5 Essential Things To Do To Make a House a Home

1. Make a Family Mission Statement or Choose Words for Your Home

Having a family mission statement or choosing words to represent your home and family, will help to guide your family’s decisions, set the atmosphere for your home, and can help you to keep track of your family’s goals and intentions. It will also guide you in decorating your home. For example, if your goal is to create a warm, cozy, and inviting space, then you will want to have lots of textures around the home, use a warmer color scheme, and make sure there are nice thick rugs on the floors.

In my course The Stay-at-Home Mom’s Guide To Life, I walk you through just how to create a family mission statement. There’s a handy workbook with every single little step and detail you could need to craft the perfect mission statement for your home and family. To learn more about the course, click here.

2. Put out Family Photos

I recently helped my parents move into a new home and one of the first things I did was to make sure that my mom’s little decor items that she loved and the family photos that she treasured, were around the house. I knew that that would make a strange, new environment feel more like home.

3. Bake Cookies

There’s a reason that realtors often bake chocolate chip cookies before an open house, the aroma of the warm, sweet, delicious cookies makes the home feel inviting and cozy. You don’t need to bake anything fancy but familiarize yourself with your kitchen and make your home feel inviting at the same time.

4. Display Fresh Flowers/Plants

I really think that the ultimate way to make a home feel life-giving as well as cheery is by displaying fresh flowers. I do not have a green thumb, no matter how much I try, but I love having fresh flowers around the house, it just lifts my spirits to pick out the flowers and it makes my home so pretty and happy.

5. Invite friends over

Even if your home is not “Instagram-perfect” invite friends over. Having a get-together and filling your home with people, conversation, and laughter and having other people recognize it as your home will help you to feel the same way.


How long did it take for you to really feel settled in your home? What actions did you take to make your house a home?