A Home Maker's Instagram You Gotta Follow
By Emma Restuccia
Are you looking for ways to make your home or apartment a place of peace and prayer? Find inspiration from Allison Misulia, wife, mother, Catholic home creative and Married & a House blogger.
In 2014, Allison and her fiancé embarked on a fixer-upper adventure and turned an abandoned house into a home for their family. Allison logs her journey of fixing up her home and other home projects at MarriedandaHouse.com. Here we’re sharing Allison’s top tips for cultivating Catholic beauty in the home.
1. Identify the places of honor in your home.
What rooms do you use the most in your house?
Where do you spend most of your time?
Where do you sit to pray each day?
Where do you do your everyday chores, and how could you spend a little extra time thinking of Our Lordduring these tasks?
What places tempt you to sin or to experience worry, anger, anxiety or grumbling?
“These are the places you need to bring Him into your home!” Allison says. Catholic home decor is not meant to be excessive but to raise your heart and mind to God.
2. After you have figured out your places of honor, it is time to add holy reminders, or religious art and decor, to your home.
Add a crucifix in every room, or at least above door entries and in each bedroom as a practical step in blessing your home. When you see a crucifix over a door, consider praying “May the Lord bless your comings and goings” (Psalm 121:8) as Allison says her grandmother used to pray over her.
In every room, put sacred art or pieces that draw you into contemplation. A good rule of thumb is to sit in each room, even the bathroom, and to see if it has something holy.
Get a kitchen Mary, and put it by your sink as a reminder to ask for Mary’s help in completing tasks like cooking and washing the never-ending dishes. “It helps especially when I feel like grumbling,” Allison says.
Find landscapes or other pieces that inspire you. Beautiful home decor does not need to be specifically religious. If it is beautiful, an item can inspire and lead you to God. Apart from art, musical instruments, books and plants can also inspire your home decor.
3. If you are taking the time to put these beautiful pieces in your home, you should also evaluate if you need to declutter your spaces. Perhaps excess and clutter keep you from feeling like your home is a beautiful, easy place to pray.
Allison explains that these ideas are places to begin the journey of embracing and creating a beautiful Catholic home that provides a space to encounter God. “Beauty, therefore, is meant to be a path that leads us to God...Our desire for beauty is actually a longing for God,” she says.
Read more about Allison’s story and find inspiration at marriedandahouse.com.
Find this and other articles in our third issue of VIGIL:
