Advice for Being More Creative at Home

Prompts to make you think about your home as a place of creative play.

I feel better, finally. It took a few years.

Creativity is natural to children. You can watch them play together for a few minutes, and they will have easily developed a plot, characters, and a world to live in. Creative decisions that a group of adults would take three business days to “circle back on” are formed instantly with children.

Sometimes they have creative differences, but usually they don’t stop playing long to discuss — they just seamlessly adapt their vision into one another’s. They understand that playing is the priority.

Creativity in childhood is often a peaceful and safe place. All children are wildly creative. And, at least in my experience, they really like to be creative when given the space to be. And for those of us who were drawn early on to arts and crafts, we remember the feeling of stillness as we created. Maybe it was a notebook, paints, crayons, fabric, or an instrument. You felt that stillness when nothing else buzzed around, just quiet inside yourself.

In my classroom, we called that feeling “flow.” And I urged middle schoolers every day to close their laptops, put them out of sight, and find that creative flow with their hands. I had clay, yarn, candle wax, markers, and posterboard to back myself up. And it was hard for them, often, to get there. Because 11, 12, and 13-year-olds live on that cusp of childhood and not-really-childhood, and their tendency is to mostly reject the former version of themselves (the baby) and gleefully tack themselves onto the new rebranded them (the cool teenager). They try to do this, but they are children. They are still little (this is a secret I keep from them, and they keep from me, but we both know it). And they still love to play. And so every year, without fail, they would eventually allow themselves to succumb to the “flow” of creativity. It was the greatest honor to watch it happen. To watch them settle into stillness, drop the anxiety of being perceived, and create something.

Creativity starts out fragile. A whisper can make it shiver. A glaring look can shrink it. Another third grader leaning over in art class to look at your work and ask if your paintbrush was broken can make it run and hide. It has to be stewarded and protected. And often, by the time we become real-life grown-ups, our creativity has taken so many hits, it’s hiding somewhere deep, desperate for safety. And we may miss it badly, but it feels mostly evaporated.

COVID ruined my small business. I had to close it all up and throw my own inventory, creations, ideas, and dreams in a dumpster. Following the explosion, my heart hurt and my creativity took continual beatings in the aftermath, then cowered in fear and became a shell of what it was.

I prayed often for help…unsure of the right words to express it. But usually something along the lines of, “please resurrect my creativity.” I’d whisper that prayer on walks. Scratch it into journals. Wrestle with the loss of self, the hurt, the grief. It took years to sort through. In January of this year, I opened up about it to a group of new friends. They hadn’t seen me in action before the business closed, and so I tried to articulate how I was before, and how I felt like I lost a piece of myself. My friend recommended I ask God to restore the sanctity of my imagination. And I did.

I think the pain, heartache, and darkness seeped into my imagination. She was right. And I desperately wanted to reclaim that piece of me and fill it with light and color.

Today, I am living in an answered prayer. Many of them, actually. But it happened. The creativity that fostered and supported me through childhood, over time, slowly came back alive. I now have more ideas than I know what to do with, which is exactly how I like to operate.

I cannot express to you the gratitude I feel about it. The hope of it all. And just a personal note to you, it may take a while, but things can certainly get better. I was not stuck forever, like I thought I would be. The hurt may be exponentially deep and complex, but there can be a day when you turn a new page. It happened to me, finally, and hopefully, that is an encouragement.

In the time of healing and slowly feeling my creativity become restored, I found a new space to express it. It didn’t feel safe to necessarily dive right into the exact creative work I had been doing prior. But my home became the recipient.

I went from decorating seasonal window displays in a storefront to doing it in my own home. The itch to develop a product became developing dinner. Project management became menu plans for meals and executing dinner parties.

Home felt safe. And then my creativity felt safe. It needed that breather. And then it all started to pour out.

In practice, there are small, tangible ways I invited creativity back into my everyday life at home. Some are simple routines, others are tiny projects that make ordinary moments feel artistic. They don’t require a storefront or a grand plan, just a willingness to play again, to make things beautiful, to let your home be the creative project.

Maybe your creativity needs a safe place to land too. I’d recommend starting in whatever space you have.

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I hope just one of these sparks something fun for you! Let me know if you decide to try one — I’d love to hear how it goes, or if you have anything to add to the list.

1. Imagine your bookshelves as displays, not just storage. Switch up the displays seasonally, featuring certain books more prominently and altering decorative objects. Keep it fresh often. For inspiration, browse retail stores you really admire (in person, or on Pinterest!) and observe how they arrange things pleasing to the eye.

2. Implement a guest book. All you need is a blank notebook. Anyone who stays with you, or even comes over for dinner, can leave a note.

   

3. Use seasonal inspiration and flavors. It’s fall now! We can get excited about sweet potatoes! Shop at the farmer’s market and stay in tune to what is freshest. Allow it to overtake your home meal plans for the season.

4. Choose a signature scent for your home — maybe seasonal, maybe permanent. Find a scent that feels like you, then lean into it. Just like walking into a retail store with its signature aroma, you can create that same sensory experience at home. I love my Aromatech device for pet-safe fragrance and the fact that they have so many scents from hotels! You could try some sample fragrances from brands you like (I’m always a Dedcool gal), or make your own blends with essential oils and diffuse them. A family or roommate candle-making night would be a blast too!

5. Not everything has to be out. Some things go in backstock. Even with my very limited apartment storage, I do my best to put everything in a drawer or behind a door if it is not actively needed. It makes my everyday objects stand out, and my space feels lighter and brighter.

   

6. Make everyday objects an experience. If something is going to remain out on the counter or hung on a hook, choose a style that expresses the overall tone of your home. Have fun with it. My spatulas, dog leash, and tea kettle are decorative too!

7. Make your own wall art. Paint frames, make your own mat with scrapbook paper, hang old photos in them. Get very creative.