Finding Contentment at Home | Myquillyn Smith
It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. ~ Myquillyn Smith
I’m so excited to have Myquillyn Smith, otherwise known as The Nester, join me on the show today! She’s a writer, a homebody and a contentment evangelist. Her motto is, ‘It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.’ Isn’t that just lovely? I love her passion for helping women love their most important space, their home.
Myquillyn, her husband Chad, and their three boys have moved 14 times (!!!) over the course of their married life, so Myquillyn can relate to the challenges of loving your rent house when you aren’t allowed to paint, and shopping your home when you don’t have the budget to shop.
They now live just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, where she gets to watch her peonies bloom every year and enjoy her happy place, the pool.
On the show today we talked about contentment, coziness and the gift of margin in our homes and in our lives. We talked about how so often the things that we wish were different about our lives eventually become the stories that we share to encourage others, and how they may even be our path to discovering what we love the most. She also shared a few tips for finding the perfect sofa, oh joy!
Myquillyn does so many wonderful creative things like writing at The Nester, contributing to Hope Writers, and hosting the Nest Fest and other gatherings in her sweet white barn. I absolutely can’t wait for you to meet her.
Here’s the interview on the Dear Daughters Podcast Episode 74.
SUBSCRIBE IN ITUNES
SHOW NOTES
- Come to our Austin coffee/book signing to celebrate Myquillyn ~> tickets here!
- BUY Myquillyn’s newest book NOW and get the FALL ONLINE COURSE FREE , The Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff
- Alli Worthington
- Study on how clutter effects women ~> The Clutter Culture
- One sofa with timeless lines: the camelback sofa
- Anthropologie statement pillows
- Myquillyn’s book launching tiny house/barn
- Nest Fest
- Teachers Myquillyn admires: Emily P Freeman, Edie Wadsworth (her ‘cozifier mentor’), Angela from The Painted House, and Tsh Oxenreider.
- Favorite bath products ~ Dr. Teals lavender epsom salts
- The Dear Daughters Mentorship Program
- Sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter here.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
Myquillyn’s definition of a cozy minimalist: The most amount of style, for the least amount of stuff.
I think a lot of us realize that we need a Sabbath in our life, we need some white space in our life. We might need that in our homes, and sometimes it’s easier to start there- with our walls or with our fireplace or with the kitchen island. ~ Myquillyn Smith
Our physical space can actually dictate what’s going on internally, in our heart. ~ Susie Davis
When it comes to training yourself to be able to take a risk, start small. I wouldn’t say- everyone go out and buy a signature pillow. I’d say, everyone go out and take one small risk that won’t make or break your budget, that won’t make or break your home, that no one will ever notice if it doesn’t turn out. ~ Myquillyn Smith
What Myquillyn would have told her 20-year old self: I would tell her that all of the stuff that I hate so much that I wish was different, is going to become a springboard for me to encourage other women and learn my favorite thing myself. It was all a study in home. It was the best education and experience I could have received by moving that many places… It’s the very things that we wish were different that, a lot of time, we can look back and realize that it’s our gift to other people, that now we get to talk about that no matter what the circumstances.
Home is our most important space. ~ Susie
Davis