Creating a Place of Peace

 

Ten days ago I wrote a blog post about cleaning this old house.  So far I have deep cleaned the kitchen, living room and our "green room" or main floor play/tv room.  I am proud to report that the kitchen has remained clean and clutter free.  It has been so much easier to keep it  clean with all of the extra non-necessary items tucked away out of sight.  Each night Monte and I make sure that it has returned to its original clean condition so that it is easy to maintain through the next busy day of homeschool and meal preparation.  Each day, I burn a candle to remind me of the peaceful place that I desire my kitchen to be.

This weekend moved into another big project, our bedroom.  Our bedroom is currently in the original Parlor of our home.  Because of the layout of our home it makes the most sense to have the children in the two large remodeled bedrooms upstairs.  Our third bedroom downstairs is to far away from our little ones so we manage on the main floor with the space that we have.  Our bedroom has a pretty stain glass window but that was pretty much its only redeeming quality.  The carpet is old and dated, there is no closet, the walls are some of the last cracking lath and plaster in the house and because it has one door from the living room and one door to the basement stairs, our room is a high traffic area (there is another stairway entrance through the green room but our room seems to be more popular because you don't have to open and close two baby gates on the way through).  As for decor well...the bedspread is one I have had since before we got married almost thirteen years ago and the room had just become a general dumping ground for no longer used baby stuff, things to return, and undone crafts purchased from last Christmas.  There were old magazines, meant to be read long ago, an extra playpen, set up for a baby in need of it, and just lots of general clutter.  Honestly our room had a door and so during those crazy busy times with lots of littles it was not a priority.  But a room make-over was long over due.
First of all I purchased a new set of sheets and a bedspread and matching pillow shams.  Nothing fancy but something cozy.  I recruited Monte, poor guy, to help me move furniture.   I am pretty much known for rearranging furniture a lot.   I used to do it during the night when I couldn't sleep.  My habit has slowed quite a bit with five children in the house and sleep at a premium .  I just think when you rearrange it makes everything look and feel new and you are able to clean all those dust bunnies and cobwebs (and cat hair in our case) out of the corners.
Now I know for some it's not much, but it is for me.  It isn't out of the pages of a magazine.  But it is...  A place where I can go and feel at peace while I rest or read my Bible.  A Place to relax and read a book with a child in need of a mommy moment (my favorite rocker is by the window). A room where I can smile and love the pretty decor (old carpet, cracking walls and all).  I wish my room had been so pretty last year when I was spending hours in it nursing and rocking our youngest.  You know the old saying of our grandmothers "cleanliness is next to Godliness"...I am learning that it may just be true.  Now I have a clean organized place where I can go to refocuse and breathe in peace among the chaos of life.