The Power of Sentimental Art: Meaningful Home Decor Ideas

Last year I had a designer friend help me do a little spruce-up of our home. Some day I’ll post some before and after photos, because I think that’s kind of fun. But for today let’s talk about the power of sentimental art.

Why Sentimental Art is More Than Just Decoration

I wanted to add some sentimental pieces because I have always been a sucker for weaving things that mean something to our family into our decor. Why? Well, it’s where we live. The things we hang on our walls become what we see every single day. And I’m a big believer that what we see every day becomes part of us.

If those things are sentimental, they have the power to sink into us for good. They help us feel connected to something bigger than ourselves.

One small example: We have had a quote Dave and I love hanging in our laundry room since we moved into our house. It’s from the 2011 movie We Bought a Zoo and it says “sometimes all it takes is 20 seconds of insane courage.” It was so happy for me to get a letter from one of our missionaries way back when quoting that very phrase when they did something tough in the mission field.

Yes, these things sink in.

Creating a Home that Feels Like “You”

We have done lots of things over the years to make our home feel more like “us.” It just takes a little bit of intention to incorporate this into how we decorate.

• The importance of what’s on our walls – how Elle’s photos reminded me that what we hang up is important.
• New and improved sentimental things we have hung on our walls.
• Decorating with Pictures – places we have traveled and our ancestor wall incorporated in frames on our walls
• “The” Wall – The custom wallpaper we had made with all our family favorites
• Building love and meaning into walls: When we were building our house we had our kids write all their favorite quotes and scriptures on our walls before the drywall went in.
• Travel cubbies filled up with objects from places we have visited

Yes, there are so many ways to bring your story and your personality into your space.

Why I Love these Three Sentimental Pieces

Let’s just talk about three of my favorite meaningful things I put in my family room.

Here’s that room all new and improved:

See that wall on the right side of the fireplace?

Let’s look at it a little bit closer:

There’s a lot of sentiment on each of those pieces. I chose the top painting because it reminds me of my grandpa’s farm in Idaho. But there are two I want to talk about below.

Ancestor Art

Here’s a close-up of the first:

It’s a sketch by Caitlin Connolly and I adore it.

I love that it’s called I got it from her and she got it from her.

I LOVE that reminder that I was passed down so many good things from my ancestors who have gone before. They have paved the way for me in so many ways.

Not only that, but it reminds me I have a responsibility to pass down my own set of things. Good or bad. Oh I hope they can cling onto the good ones.

A Childhood Note

I found this note in all the things Dave’s mom passed on over to us from Dave’s growing up. A box of his “keepsakes.”

Can you read it? It’s super faint, written in pencil years ago. But I adore it. Because it says, “Dear dumb mom and dad, I won’t be speking to you very much iny-more. -David”

Why would I love that so much? Just a silly note from a boy who was mad at his parents?

Well, it reminds me that even some of the best parents, Dave’s, can make their kids mad as a hornet sometimes. And you know what? There are second chances.

For the boy and for his parents.

I love that reminder. Because we all do dumb things sometimes. I sure hope my kids will forgive me for all the dumb things I have done. And that they’ll know I forgive them for all the silly/dumb things they’ve done too. It’s all a journey, together, this life. And it’s chock-full of second chances.

I love this reminder that we get to learn together along the way.

A Favorite Drawing of Jesus

Ok, now let’s look on the left side of the fireplace:

And a little closer:

I LOVE when I find a drawing or painting of Jesus that really speaks to me. I love having these things in my home to remind me of what’s most important. This one is by Rose Datoc Dall, one of my favorite artists.

There we go. Three of my new favorite pieces of sentimental art on display in my family room.