Life as a Homemaker: Setting the Scene

There is nothing better then walking into your house and feeling it hug you. For me, this happens when it is free of clutter and there are things surrounding me that I love. I will always be a work in progress as far as the housekeeping and decluttering go. However, I work at it a little every day, and am satisfied that my family has a (mostly) clean home to enjoy.
There are 3 things that I do regularly to set the scene for our home:
-Regularly declutter items that we don't use, need or love. It is amazing how much more peaceful a home feels when there isn't clutter on every surface. It is also much easier to clean a home when there isn't stuff everywhere. Like I said, my housekeeping skills are a work in progress. With that said, there is one thing I do every day. I have one spot in each room to keep spotless. No excuses. Generally this is a flat surface. When this one spot is clean it tends to be contagious, and it stops me from getting overwhelmed. Here are my clean spots: Kitchen-sink, Dining Room-Table, Living Room- coffee table, Our room- headboard, bathroom-counter. I have gotten very creative with keeping these spots clean. For example, our kitchen table was our “dumping ground” when we came in from the garage. To stop us from placing everything here we always keep our table set. Complete with a centerpiece, plates, and silverware. Now not only does this spot not have junk on it, but it always looks nice!
-Re-purpose old items for décor craft projects. I love when you place something new in a room and it catches your eye as you walk by. What I especially love about this is it doesn't have to be something new. Rearranging a room or placing a décor item in a new spot does the trick. Recently my focus has been making our dining room table look like fall. A few years ago I bought a table cloth for our table and bought a size too small, it was on clearance and they didn't have the size I needed anyway so I didn't return it. In my attempt to bring some color to our dining room I pulled out this table cloth, folded it in thirds and (ta da!) I now have a colorful runner! My next project will be using the extra fabric to make cloth napkins.
-Light candles. Some people only light candles during fall or winter. I light candles all year long. In spring/summer I will light one candle (summer breeze, pina colada or something equally summer-ish) then in fall/winter I light several candles (I especially love winter pine during Christmas Season). I love the mood they set, the warmth they give the room, and how they neutralize any odors (which are inevitable with babies).
I hope this helps and gives you a place to start when it comes to setting the scene for your home environment.