DREAM HOMES DON’T EXIST
My heart always gets a little bit of a twinge when I hear someone say they found their dream home.
I don’t know if it’s because I have a tendency to dream big, or if it’s because I doubt that a dream home really exists within someone’s budget, or that “dream home” sounds so final, and like some super level of life has been unlocked, and that makes me skeptical.
I imagine a dream home to be bazillions of dollars with every possible feature you could ever want, which isn’t even possible. You can’t have all the things in a home here on earth. Something will always be wrong with it. And is it a dream home for a season or for a lifetime? Maybe my doubt is just my own jealousy that they actually have found their dream home.
The home my husband and I rented together after we got married, was so cute. It was a two bedroom and one bath, with a little alcove that I worked from home in. The home was 100 years old and had character, a semi-open concept, and those walls will always hold the beginnings of my marriage and the home we brought my oldest son home to.
We moved out of the rental to buy a home of our own. After our master bathroom and kitchen renovation (well almost wrapping up the kitchen renovation, the missing baseboards and drywall patches are starting to grow on me) the home we live in now has many things that I love about it. We opened up the wall from the kitchen to the living room, and it makes my heart so happy to be able to cook and interact with my family at the same time. I love our entryway with the coat hooks my husband installed for us and the little collection of artwork above that gives a glimpse into my style.
I love looking at our fireplace and the adjacent bookshelf. I love all of the spaces that shelter my family from the outdoors and give us a space to make memories. Is it our dream home? Well, that depends. The back patio is falling apart, we are swiftly outgrowing our bedroom to kids ratio, and while two bathrooms felt like a luxury when we moved in, I now question if we needed three.
Even when I drive by massive mansions, I just can’t imagine the people in it are truly happy. I love that our current house is small. I love that I can hear what my toddlers are up to when they’re on the other side of the house, because the other side of the house isn’t that far away.
I don’t believe dream homes exist. I think there are homes more suited to serve the season of life that we are in. I believe my home now will always have a special place in my heart, just as that first rental that my husband and I lived in does. But it won’t be our home forever. In an unknown amount of years, we will need to relocate to a new set of walls that better serves our lifestyle. And here on earth, we won’t ever truly be satisfied, as our true home is Heaven, and no matter how hard we strive or search for that dream home, it just won’t be it.
Interior design and decorating are special to me because it is how we can create little dream spaces within the home that God has worked out for us to be in at the current place in time. It’s the details or corners of the rooms that are set up just right for my toddlers to spontaneously play or for us to cozy up and read a book together. It’s the ways I share my heart with them, through the ways my husband provides for our family.
The “dream home" isn’t a series of spaces and location (location, location!), it’s not the perfect formula of a floor plan and interior finishes that will give us peace. The “dream home” is the environment we create within, something that functions as we need it, and little moments and little spaces. It’s living a life we’ve dreamed of - with the people God blessed us with and the life He has given to us. It’s not the perfect formula and “level-up” to achieving a dream home - it’s living the life we have.
I believe we can all have a home that supports our love for our family, a home that is curated to create little moments of joy, even if our furniture is all items we’ve collected second-hand or saved up for. Be satisfied with the blessings God has given you, let’s not continually wish our lives away thinking the grass is greener, and the windows are bigger somewhere else.
Here’s to years of homes where you live your dreams, starting today.
If you want help creating a home that is Intentional, Beautiful, and Yours - in the midst of daily living and your life season - check out my Signature Workshop. It’s designed to help you create a home that highlights your heart for your family, and I would love if you checked it out.
