I talk a lot about surrounding yourself with meaningful beauty.  And  that can come in many forms, drawings from your children, old diaries from your grandparents, the mounted deer head that your uncle shot.  Anything that brings about happy memories is a good example of meaningful beauty.

from Nesting Place Partner, Red Letter Words

Last week, I got the most meaningful, beautiful thing that I’ve ever had in my home.

First I want to tell you why it means so much to me.  As many of you know, my husband and I have moved like 684 times.  Actually, we’ve moved 13 times.  We’ve been married 15 years.  That’s a lot of moving.  Some of them haven’t been happy moves.  And moving often can conjure up feelings of lack of security, instability and plain old tiredness.  I mourned selling our last house.

But, over time, I’ve seen more of the positive side of moving many times.  I’ve had lots of experience in lots of different homes in lots of different economic times in our marriage.  And that is exactly what has created the perfect storm for the Nesting Place the blog to happen. {Have I ever told you how writing this blog is therapeutic and a dream come true for me? It’s pretty much my dream job.} I’ve learned so much from all the homes we’ve lived in. And now, I’m actually thankful and grateful for the experience.

And that is why when I opened up the package from Red Letter Words and saw the big canvas with all of our past street names listed on it, the tears came.  These letters tell a story.  And I’m so happy they are represented in our current home.  My husband asked me if seeing all those names made me sad.  They don’t, they make me feel purposeful, I want to embrace our beautifully imperfect life.

My encouragement to you today is to be intenional about surrounding yourself with PERSONAL meaningful beauty. Maybe there’s a phrase, a verse, a quote, a lyric, an experince, a date, a place, an inside joke, a thought that motivates, creates a gracious attitude, centers you or simply makes you smile, display that in your home.

You could write it on a chalkboard, use lipstick on a mirror or, if you really want to commit, have a custom canvas made.  Red Letter Words offers an abundance of premade and custom gallery wrapped canvases and mounted prints that would look great in any home.  Trust me, you will love and adore it.

Over the next few weeks, Dee, the owner of Red Letter Words will be featuring room idea boards created by various design bloggers to show you how easy it is to incorporate her works into any home. I’d love for you to stop by her blog today and see the dream idea room that I created around 4 of my favorite canvases she has in her shop.   Here’s a sneak peek:

A Giveaway!

And lastly, you knew it was coming, one lucky commenter will win their own premade 12 x 12 gallery wrapped canvas of their choice from Red Letter Words.  Leave a comment to enter to win {open to US residents only}.

Besides family photos, what’s the most meaningful thing in your home?

PS, last week someone inspired me to put my bird and sticks on my mantle and I thought I added them to my tumblr and now I can’t find you–email me so I can link!