Interior decorating is a subject that fascinates me. I don’t feel like I’m very good at it, but I also feel like I’m improving. This chapter was such a challenge to me.

Years ago we moved to the country, and I seemed to have lost my way with interior decorating. When I look at old photos from before we moved I see a home nicely decorated. Then there was our country home which somehow sapped me for decorating.

This problem continued for quite a while after we moved back into the city, and I was very sad. But I started to study – magazines, books, Pinterest, etc. and slowly felt my abilities (meager as they are) coming back.

Now we’re in the country again, and I’m happy with my efforts so far.

I have to say that I totally agree with Mrs. Schaeffer on interior decorating. If you were only going to read one chapter in this book, this would be the one.

I love how she emphasizes that you can make a home anywhere you live no matter how grand or poor that dwelling is, how temporary or permanent.

Our homes are a reflection of us. Even if we don’t do any “decorating” people will still judge us by how our home presents to them. Dirty dishes, laundry on the couch, dust bunnies can be just as much a decoration as a pretty table, colourful rugs or pictures on the wall. Our attitude plays such a huge role.

It doesn’t have to cost a lot as Mrs. Schaeffer points out. She gives several examples of how she and her husband used “found” items to make furniture and décor for their home. She talks about a sideboard turned into a doll house, various bits of broken furniture and leather bits and real horsehair made into a rocking horse, and Winnie-the-Pooh characters made from moth-eaten woolen sweaters that otherwise would have been thrown away.

We don’t have to wait for the “perfect” circumstances to start creating a lovely place to call home.

In closing the chapter Mrs. Schaeffer says…

Surely every person who lives in an ‘interior’ of any sort should realize that ‘Interior Decoration’ is the first opportunity to bring forth ‘Hidden Art’ in some small measure. And for the Christian who is consciously in communication with the Creator, surely his home should reflect something of the artistry, the beauty and order of the One whom he is representing, and in whose image he has been made!