Sometimes An Ideal Home Is An Illusion

image is borrowed from assortmentblog.com

Do you ever look at a magazine and wonder who lives like that? How life could be that perfect?

Do you then look around your home and feel like even in the second you finish cleaning and straightening up it still doesn’t look like the pictures? Colors don’t match quite right or there’s too much/ not enough furniture or everything is so worn?

Well, I found myself reading an article about a family who had their home featured in Country Living magazine recently because of the difficult times they had gone through and how that journey had taken them to a place of contentment living in a 665 square foot cabin as their main and only residence.

I found reading her blog and seeing how she kept her home inspiring. She felt blessed and as she should have been, really excited to be featured in a magazine. That is for sure is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be treasured. Country Living did a great job styling and photographing the families amazingly designed home.

But as I read the article, I couldn’t decide if I was angry, annoyed or amused! It took 3 days to style the home for the shoot and they used tons of props, including a throw rug in front of the sink (ok…so it’s normal NOT to have a perfectly clean rug in the kitchen…) and a rug and coffee table in the living room (truthfully there’s no room in that space for a coffee table). The best part for me was they actually painted chairs and altered the photo to change the color of the walls for the magazine cover!

I remember the article because I subscribe to Country Living and it occurred to me that what I drooled over and maybe envied a little was actually part fantasy. Turns out, they don’t actually live like that with all those things or even with those colors- they actually live with LESS! Truth is, it took a team of professionals and a full production crew to create the illusion of an ideal home.

That said, I do appreciate beauty and good design and I think it is cool to see how designers can style and photographers can capture just the right scene. Their tricks to the trade do bring inspiration and enjoyment to life. Honestly, where would we be if we didn’t have things to inspire us to keep bringing beauty to our world?! In a sense, that ability the designers, stylists and photographers possess is a God-given gift.

Let’s just be sure we take their work as inspiration to spur us on to do better for ourselves and our families being careful not fall into envy over the illusion of an ideal home. God has placed us in OUR ideal life and ours is real with purpose. There are lessons to learn, tasks to complete, and relationships to tend that should point people to Christ.

Be sure to check out the other pictures and articles! Their story is truly inspiring and the home they have designed, built and love is well done. Here are some links: