Have you ever wondered why there are certain shops that are more appealing to you than others? Take a look at the elements that go into drawing in the customer. The place is well-lighted by something called indirect lighting. This means that small lamps and lights behind soft lampshades are coming from corners and places that do not hit you directly in the face or overhead. They seem soft and natural.
Secondly, everything is orderly. The shops have the same things where the same things belong.
Thirdly, they are clean. You rarely find gum wrappers or used tissues and soiled clothing among the merchandise. Thirdly, everything is beautiful, and even things that are not aesthetically appealing will be displayed neatly and attractively.
Fourthly, you want to visit again because there was nothing unpleasant to confront you, and that what you see there is appealing. This is the sort of thing that needs to translate into our homes to make them places of comfort.
Home living can be creative and even exciting to you. It takes a lot of study and intelligence to design the shops I am describing, and it takes a lot of thought and effort to make a home a place you want to stay in.
I have found some shops online that you might be able to get some ideas from. And, speaking of women, working, and shops, let me say that every woman at home has a home business. If you clean your house and find things to discard, putting them in a box for a summer yard sale, you are in business. If you shop for bargains so that your husband's provision can stretch, you have a home business.
If you are guarding your husband's income and investing some of it, you have a business.There is nothing wrong with women earning money. A good wife uses thrift and economic opportunity. The problem comes when she begins to put her family aside, when she has to rush a half hearted dinner, or run through the housework doing a less than perfect job, in order to accommodate her business. If she puts earning money first, her home and family will suffer. I know several women who have never had to work or earn their own money because they took such good care of their husband's money that they now have extra income.
Not all women will desire to have a shop or sell things. Some of them are in different stages of life. When my children were teenagers, I wanted them to understand enterprise, so I turned my back porch into a garage sale shop. There, we put discarded but usuable items, with price tags, and some hand crafted things. One of my children made beautiful grape vine wreaths that he sold.
Women who make things, often make more than they need, and sell to their friends. That is enterprise. The Proverbs 31 woman gave her garments to the merchant to sell. She did not sit in a shop all day while her home was negelected. Even if your house is clean and you are organzied to the hilt, if you leave it empty day after day, it will not be the same.
There is not the same atmosphere there when a woman is absent, as there is when she is home during the day. Her husband can testifiy to this by comparing the days when she has to be away at her mother's house, or when she is not home, and he comes home to an empty house. The atmosphere of home is just not there as much as when she is home all day to put all the finishing touches on everything. You can see the difference yourself when you come in after having to be out shopping or on errands. It takes several hours after that to get a feeling of "home" back into the house.
Men whose mothers stayed home, know this. That is why they like to go home for special celebrations. Their mothers somehow put a feeling there that modern homes do not have. That feeling was very simply the presence of the woman. Even if she is not well and has to lay on a couch or recliner, that home feels more like a home than one that is abandoned all day. There is a reason that the Bible says women should guard the home, and guide it. One is to keep others from breaking in and stealing things, and another is to create a sense of ownership and personality in it.
This is not to imply that women have to be home every single minute--indeed, that would be impossible, and it is a real treat to go somewhere else and see what is new and what other people are doing, to get refreshed and gather some new ideas for your own dear home.
Now let us go on to the shops I was speaking of. I have found many women who have shops at home, and why not? Little children love the idea of shops. When I was young, we never tired of playing store during the cold winter days when we had to be confined. Instead of waiting for a yard sale to get rid of their old things that they don't have room for, many people are setting up shops online, on ebay, or other places. The beauty of such shops is that they can monitor how big or little they will be. If there is only one product to sell, one time, the housewife will be done with it after the sale, until she decides to sell another product. She can close her store when she wants to. She doesn't have to be a slave to it. Many of these shops are very feminine.
This one http://roses-and-teacups.com/index.html is very pretty and the owners look like they are from the same family.
This one has a "suite of the month" where you can view the rooms of someone's home. http://www.shabbysuite.blogspot.com/ Just look at the menu on the right.
Here is one that has the mantel of the month http://www.enchantedtreasures.com/ which is fun to look at and can give some ideas about creating the kind of atmosphere in certain corners of your home that are pleasing to you. Just look on the left for the icon.
I like http://www.myhydrangeahome.blogspot.com/ which also has a cottage website.
http://www.jorabeels.com/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=SiliconeBulbs has some interesting things if you like pink and frosty things.
Try some of these blogs, the owners of which also have online shops
Sweet Necessi-Teas
Alecia's Attic
Janet's Creative Pillows
Of Bluebirds and Roses
Katie's Rose Cottage
Casual Cottage
Cottage Blooms
Wildrose Cottage
Shabby Suite
Beloved Creations
The Cottage Chronicle
Sweet~Remembrance
C'est Chouette
Artful Creations
Barberry Field
Beloved Creations
Cest-Chouette
Cottage Blooms
Cottage Chronicle
Janet's Creative Pillows
Just Art Pottery
Katies Rose Cottage
Make Mine Pink
My Hydrangea Home
One Womans Cottage Life
Sweet Remembrance
The Sewing Divas
The Shabby Suite
Treasured Heirlooms
Some of these blogs and online shops take ordinary things and make them look extraordinary. Contentment at home is partly the ability to appreciate what you have and to be able to use it in a creative way.
Someone reminded me to add these:
http://www.vintagecountry.com.au/vintagecountrystore.htm
http://www.vintagerosecollection.com/
http://www.catsmeowinc.com/
