I’m writing this note to you early on Sunday morning after a very busy Saturday filled with all kinds of projects around the house. I put a load of them on my Instagram story (the place where most of my shenanigans end up these days) and it made me wonder… 

do you enjoy a home project as much as I do?

and if you don’t, can I convince you that it actually might be an awesome hobby for you to try?

Let me first define “home project”. That’s anything you might do to make your personal space more enjoyable for yourself or your loved ones. 

That might be cleaning the kitchen, restocking the pantry, grocery shopping, washing the car, sweeping the porch, lighting some candles to make your bedroom smell nice, fluffing the pillows, sewing the pillows, doing a meal prep for the week, weeding the garden, fussing with your orchids, baking some bread… literally, anything that will make your home a nicer place to be. They’re incredibly additive to the quality of our life and not as hard as you might imagine to add in. Here are three ideas for how you can accomplish more projects in your own home and enjoy your chores.

Change Your Wording: Growing up, my Mama called these kinds of things our chores (which, like most kids, I hated to do). For me, “chore” still feels like a bummer way to spend some time. 

But “home project”? That sounds lovely? Who am I, Joanna Gaines? Martha Stewart?? Where are my overalls? Where are my clogs?? I’m here for it! 👩‍🌾 Changing the way I spoke about taking care of my home changed the energy I brought to the experience.

Want to get my best ideas for making it feel like home? 👇🏼

Start Small + Finish Everything: Depending on your current bandwidth, it might not be wise to take on anything massive. For instance, if you’ve just had a baby, launched your first business or are caring for an aging parent, it’s probably not the season to re-grout your bathroom. Start with small projects you can easily accomplish that will have an immediate impact. 

I’m a huge fan of taking my dry goods (pasta, beans, lentils, oatmeal) out of the bags they come in and putting them in glass canisters and mason jars. Is it necessary? No. Does anyone else in my family care about it? Absolutely not. But I love that it’s pretty for pretty sake. It makes me feel organized and accomplished and it takes about 3 minutes to pull it off. If you want something to become a lifestyle (not just a one-time thing) you need to actually achieve it repeatedly, not just once. Aim at the simple tasks and use them as a foundation to build upon.

Lean Into What You Love: This is your home. Not your mother-in-laws or your sister’s place… yours. Make sure that you’re building projects around what you like. 

I’ve always loved to eat, so looking back to early motherhood (the beginning of my journey making a home for a family) I focused first on becoming a better cook. When the kids were a bit older I got my first orchids. Successfully keeping both children and orchids alive encouraged me to try other plants— now my house looks like a garden center! I don’t sew. I never got into sourdough bread baking. I’m not really into crafts. I focus on what I like and it always provides me with new and interesting things to try out. 

It doesn’t matter how big your place is— or even if the only area you have to call your own is your bedroom— your nest should be a soft and lovely spot to land. Try adding in a home project, I swear it becomes such a satisfying way to spend your time.