Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Order in the House

How can the home maker keep an atmosphere of love and joy in the home so that when the husband comes home he can truly escape the mad dash of the world? One way to create that sense of relaxation is to put things in order.
The simple act of stacking things in order can put the mind at ease and make the home a peaceful place for the rest of the family.
When things are in order, working in that atmosphere can put you and others in the mood to create. Women are naturally creative, if given the opportunity, but it is difficult to think creatively in a place of clutter, noise and commotion.
Children function better at home when everything has a place and everything has a purpose. The painting of the old-fashioned kitchen says much more. It shows food preparation in an artistic light. The kitchen is being used for what it was intended, erstwhile remaining a lovely place. Cooking utinsels here are not just utilitarian. They are beautiful and sentimental. The cook would have just as much joy using them as she would washing them and putting them back in the shelf.
This kitchen has plenty of light and I can just imagine the pie-maker looking out the window to see if anyone is coming down the road or if the mail has just come. Maybe she has a kitchen garden growing close by and can look and see if there is anything fresh she can pick to add to dinner preparations.
The bathroom is the most used place in the house and much care has to be taken to give it a feeling of peace. Folding things neatly can add to the elegance of the room. Shelves and pictures add style to the home. When you add order and purpose to the house, every room can be a place of peace and beauty.
Homemaking is not just keeping house. It is paying attention to the over-all effect that each corner, each space, each nook and cranny has on you, the homemaker, and those who enter into it. A man may not be able to tell his wife exactly why he likes it there so much, and may not even notice some of the details, but the combined effort will create a whole. This whole will be what everyone feels when they enter the room.
For new homemakers, I would highly recommend the following books:
Treasury of Vintage Homekeeping Skills - by Mrs. Martha Greene
Future Homemaker's Handbook by Laurie Latour
Creating a Scentsational Home by Terry Willits.
For those young things sitting in cubicles with their laptops, who come across this blog and hate every word of it, you have a right to remain silent.
These paintings are all by Erin Dertner, from Allposters.

32 comments:

Charity said...

Thanks for the great post! I think that was just what I needed to read today. I feel like my house, like everywhere on earth, tends to disorder continually! and there are only two of us living here! :)

Anonymous said...

Order is so necessary in the home. In my house, sometimes the surface can look a bit messy at points in the day, but what's important is that underneath, the core is organized. When the core of the home is organized properly, tidying and cleanup is easy.

To your last paragraph, I will never understand in a million years why people go looking for stuff that they don't agree with on the internet. The internet is so big, so everyone should use it to find writings that inspire them, not to cause fights.

Thank you for your writing, it is refreshing and am I always excited when I see a new post in my blogreader. ~Ann

candy said...

Your blog always inspires me soooo much!

Thanks,
Candy from Canada :)

Anonymous said...

Dear Lady Lydia,

I am a "young thing" who reads your blog from my cubicle every day. I wanted to say thank you for sharing your wisdom. This blog has been very helpful to me as I strive to be a more feminine, kind young woman.

I hope you have a wonderful day, and know that at least one cubicle-dweller thinks very highly of the sentiments expressed in your blog!

Miss H

Anonymous said...

"For those young things sitting in cubicles with their laptops, who come across this blog and hate every word of it, and have not been married 20 years and raised children or cared for grandchildren yet, who have not cared for a house from one end to the other for many years, you needn't bother commenting. You have a right to remain silent." Haha good one!

xoxoxoxo,
Adlyn

Lydia said...

I thought it went well with Order in the House. It is beginning to sound like a courtroom around here ;-)

*~Tamara~* said...

Years ago I attended a seminar where Terry Willits was speaking. There I bought a collection of small books of hers, each based on how to improve our homes based on our five senses. Those little books gave a rather fledgling young homemaker some great ideas. She was also a very inspiring speaker and I really enjoyed her talks. I took lots of notes...I wonder if I still have them. It would be fun to see how "dated" they are. :-)

~~Deby said...

----LOVE this post...such encouragement...no matter how long you have been married...and I must admit, (chuckle) great way to keep some "not so kind commenters" away .......CLEVER...
Deby

Anonymous said...

I've loved your recent posts on practicle matters and keeping home. Thinking about all the little ways one can make a room more inviting and relaxing is such a motivation! And of course, I enjoyed your closing comment. Very tactfully put.

God bless,
Machelle

texasmcvays said...

I am a new follower.I really love your blog. Its inspirational. A book I have really enjoyed was by Emile Barnes called "Simple Secrets to a Beautiful Home". We have just built a new home and it is a work in progress. Thank you for your Titus 2 Ministry to me!
Retired Young Thing and now a happy woman,
Mrs. Kyle McVay
Thanks again

Anonymous said...

Well Said! I love having order to not only my home but to my day as well. There is a definite peace that reigns throughout and you are right...that does allow for that creativity to spur us on in what we are doing. When you make your environment beautiful and peaceful...you naturally want to keep it that way and realize that it does not take that long to put things back into some order. :O)

I have been thinking about you on and off today - I have been trying to organize all my links. The previous posts with the picture slide show are wonderful and I would love to link back to them if I may? Also I think your daughter was/is doing a week of modest/feminine dressing? I would also love to link to that as well. The modest dressing links have to be one of the top referrals - it amazes me the number of ladies trying to find this information and also...ideas. I would love to pass them on to those I do know in hopes of helping them.

Again, your posts are always so encouraging! Thank you, Lady Lydia, for taking the time to do what you do for us all!

Love and God's Blessings,
Cat

Anonymous said...

How True! Order is so important.

Anonymous said...

For those young things sitting in cubicles with their laptops, who come across this blog and hate every word of it, and have not been married 20 years and raised children or cared for grandchildren yet, who have not cared for a house from one end to the other for many years, you needn't bother commenting. You have a right to remain silent.


HAHAHA! right back at them huh?

anyway, thank you so much for this post. just what i need today :) keep blogging!

The Proverbs Wife said...

Thank you Lady Lydia for the inclusion of the 'Miranda Rights'

So funny but so true.

Anonymous said...

I have the Vintage Homekeeping Skills book and it is very nice. I loved reading it and reread it for inspiration, often. I especially loved her recipe for linen spray. Thanks for the encouragement as my house is starting to get cluttered and messy after being neat and tidy for over a month...just the boost I needed this morning.

Blessings,
Mrs. P

Anonymous said...

Lady Lydia, what a nice post. And so true!! I recently re-organized my kitchen (I threw out a ton of stuff!) and our whole family (5 littles and hubby) love it. I never realized how important that would be to them. I am no encouraged to keep it so.

Thank you
Melody

Kristi said...

Just putting away the scattered items, washing all the dirty dishes, starting the laundry, sweeping and changing the table cloth makes me feel like a new woman! One of the best times of the day is when I hear my husbands key turn in the lock. Kids jump up and yell "Daddy!" and they all rush to the door with me bringing up the rear. Lots of hugs and kisses to go 'round!

Thank you Lady Lydia for mentioning my blog "Plain Old Kristi". It's an honor:-).

Kristi

Anonymous said...

Lady Lydia, I didn't catch that the first time, but cute one!

My advice for all the young women in the cubes with their laptops (I know, I was there once upon a time and I thought I knew everything too!) would be this. Try to make a wonderful home for yourself now, in spite of working. Learn how to cook, decorate, make your home your refuge. If you have roommates and friends, learn to extend hospitality. Host a lovely dinner or lunch for your closest friends. Show them how lovely it is to have a home cooked meal rather than another night of takeout. You might find you become very popular indeed.

No matter if you keep working or not, you most likely will marry and have children, and you will appreciate having some practice in keeping a home. It will also make your after-work time more pleasant. Try it, you might be pleasantly surprised how much you like it : )

~Ann

Anonymous said...

So, so important (not just nice!) to have order in the home. When my husband comes home he likes to have a comfortable place to sit, & this cannot happen if every chair has something already on it(besides a pillow, I mean). In fact, all horizontal surfaces in the home can spell danger if seen simply as "temporary" resting places for things that belong elsewhere!!

Brenda

Rosemary UK said...

I loved the bit about enjoying using your kitchen items,most of my cooking and baking equipment has been aquired over 40 years of homemaking,Many items have been bought from antique shops and more recently from ebay,other things are inherited from my maternal Grandmother and my Mother-in-law(my Mother is still alive)these are of course my favourites and I think of the previous owner every time I get them out.But I prefer old things as they have a character and charisma about them.I hate plastic and only use this for putting in the freezer.

50s Housewife said...

Thank you for the fresh inspiration!

Lydia said...

I just want everyone to know I don't have a particular "style" in decorating. I had to use what was given to me from the grandparents and combine it with what others had given and what we could afford. Therefore,it could not be a sleek, modern style. As it got passed down to us, it became quite shabby. I use lots of fabric, too. My husband grew up with some of the things we now use in our home and so he is naturally comfortable with it. When you are married, your mate usually just wants you to be happy, especially if you are staying home. And, he has his own office and room where he resides a lot of the time, and he fixes it the way he wants it. An old house is more conducive to handed down items and older things...it would not really suit to have huge furniture and items with plain lines. It is a small house. I like all the shops at Make Mine Pink because I recognize some of the items in my home and I like to see what they do with them to make them useful or attractive. Around here is mostly green, but I change the shelves to display whatever I like. Shelves are interesting because no one really "uses" them and no one touches them. It is interesting that the /Victorian houses and architecture, though designed by men, were quite ornate yet not considered "feminine" as they are thought of today. The furniture had carvings and scrolls but no one called it feminine. It was just beautiful. Even the men's offices would by today's prejudices be considered ornate and "feminine." In the colonial homes that are often shown on tours, masculine people like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington had the colors and the designs that we hear today called feminine. In a real home there is not a war going on between the feminine and the masculine. Rather, there are our things handed down from our grandparents which we all enjoy because it is part of our history. The paintings for the 19th century are not feminine, and were painted mostly by men of the era. If the homemaker has to clean and enjoy her home, she is the one that decides mainly what she can or cannot live with,shuffle around, dust, clean, etc. Our home is plain except on the walls and shelves, because those things do not have to be picked up or straightened up. I enjoy changing my one shelf occasionally because the rest of the house remains so much the same.

Anonymous said...

Thank you once more for a wonderful post.

Your wondering about a piemaker looking out the window, etc. made me re-visit a question that I have. It is, how can I bake pies and other wonderful things that are so part of my image of life at home when eating them is such a no-no in today's lifestyle? My husband and I are a bit overweight and so I never make anything good and yet I miss baking cakes, etc. Our kids are grown and gone, I'm at home, and it would be great to greet my husband with a wonderful warm pie when he comes home. But I feel guilty, like a bad person, if I do, so I don't. How do others feel about this? Please don't think this isn't a serious question, it really is !

Millie said...

Lady Lydia,

I want you to know, I absolutely drink in every word you write about keeping house. Your advice is so nurturing.

I love having my grandparents' things around the house, and find them infinitely more interesting and fun to see every day than whatever the latest thing is at the store. I have an old tin malted milk shaker that belonged to my great grandmother Ruby on a shelf in my living room, and I love thinking that this object was once used by her loving hands. I love it and enjoy looking at it.

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you. My little homemaking soul just craves words like these.

KTHunter said...

Add my name to the list of citizens of Cubesville that enjoy your blog very much. My life is very different from yours and from the lives of many other posters here, but I always appreciate reading (and taking the time to respect) points of view that aren't necessarily one hundred percent identical to mine. Your decorating tips are always delightful (I love the origami heart), and your posts do inspire me to try to make my home more pleasant, even if I am not there as often as I would like to be. A spoonful of organizational sugar can make the cleaning medicine go down a little better, to paraphrase my beloved Mary Poppins.

Jenny said...

My home is filled meaningful family heirlooms, too. It is so nice being surrounded by these items and using and loving them. It is almost as if the persons to whom they belonged, who are either far away or passed away, are residing in my home. I feel their presence so strongly just by looking at what they have given me or left behind.

Anonymous said...

I love to read your blog. It makes me smile every morning to get new ideas to help my home and family. Please continue. - Bobbie G

Anonymous said...

Two things:
#1. I especially needed the last paragraph, it helps me "get" the whole homemaker thing (which I certainly need help with).
#2. To the lady who was concerned about the pie- I have been losing weight by making 2-3x a week a homemade treat for my family which I enjoy in moderation (I have to, there are seven of us!) I think in your situation a once or twice a week special homemade item would be a welcome treat and you will be less likely to "cheat" with store bought junk if you know a quality dessert can be had that often. Best wishes!
EllaMMcG

Martha said...

I love your posts. They inspire me to keep up with caring for my family and loving them by creating a home that says they are loved. Thanks for the wonderful blog. I love my visits here.

Blessings,
~Martie

Anonymous said...

Hi !!!
I just love this article. It's great !!! I showed it to a friend who really needed this encouragement as she's going through a tough time. It's great to know there are ladies out there (like you) who care enough to share about homemaking skills.
THANKS !!!

Ali said...

Beautiful, as always. This is fast becoming my favorite blog to read from my "cubicle". My heart, focus and soul is at home - even if I have to spend 8 hours here most days. My energy is there. Not here. God Bless you!

Heart of Wisdom said...

I subscribe via RSS and lurk. Love your blog. Nice images.

Hubby, children and Mom function better in a peaceful orderly home.

LOL your last paragraph.

http://heartofwisdom.com/heartathome