Make Your Home A Sanctuary
How to Make Your Home a Sanctuary: A Room-by-Room Guide
You don’t need a new house to have a sanctuary. You don’t need a remodel, a minimalist purge, or a weekend at a retreat center. Most of the time you need one room, or even one corner, that does one thing really well: it lets you exhale. So here’s how to make your home a sanctuary the way we’ve done it in ours, one room and one calm decision at a time.
Start with what “sanctuary” means to you
For some people it means quiet. For others it means faith, or family, or simply nobody needs anything from me for ten minutes. Before you change a thing, finish this sentence: When I walk into my home, I want to feel…
Write the answer down. That word is your compass for every room.
The entryway: decide what greets you
The entry is the first thing you see coming home and the last thing guests see leaving. One meaningful line here sets the tone for the whole house. Some families choose “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). Others go with a simple “Welcome Home” or “Gather.”
Keep the area under it clear. A sanctuary entry isn’t the place where the mail goes to die. (Kevin, I’m looking at you.)
The living room: make room to gather
This is where your people land, so the calm decision is about connection. Turn at least one chair to face another person instead of the TV. Then pick one wall, usually the one above the sofa, and give it words that belong to your family: a verse, a family motto, or a single word like Grateful.
Browse living room decals here.
The kitchen: slow down the busiest room
Kitchens rush. The calm decision here is one small corner that doesn’t: a coffee or tea spot with your favorite mug, a little plant, and a few words at eye level. “Give us this day our daily bread” above the bread box is a classic for a reason.
The bedroom: choose the last words you see
This is the room where the words matter most, because you’ll read them every night before the light goes out. Choose something that settles you: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10), “Always kiss me goodnight,” or a line from your wedding vows. Keep the space under it simple and the lighting warm.
The kids’ rooms: plant promises early
Kids remember what’s on their walls. A bedtime promise like “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee” (Numbers 6:24), or an encouraging “You are braver than you believe,” becomes part of how they see themselves. Let them help pick it. They’ll guard it with their lives.
A reading corner: the smallest sanctuary of all
If you only do one thing from this list, do this. A chair, a lamp, a small table for your cup, and a few words on the wall above it. That’s a sanctuary you can build this weekend.
You’ll need something good to read there. Kevin writes fantasy novels about faith, love and the battles we can’t see, and he gives away Protecting Love free to anyone who joins his newsletter.
Sound: the part of a sanctuary you don’t see
Quiet is a decor choice too. Some evenings a still room is perfect. Other evenings, gentle background sound does more than silence ever could. Our sister channel, Sanctuary Slow TV, makes long, unhurried videos of water, scenic drives and still places, and there’s a lovely piece on why water sounds are so calming if you’re curious. Put one on in the reading corner and see what happens to your shoulders.
Something living
Every sanctuary feels better with something green in it. A pothos on the bookshelf, herbs on the windowsill, a single fern by the bathtub. If plants haven’t loved you in the past, our gardening sister site, Dirt Diva Diaries, is run by Ivy Green, who has killed more plants than most of us will ever own and is happy to keep you from doing the same.
The one rule that holds it all together
Make one calm decision per room, not ten. One meaningful line, one cleared surface, one thing that brings you back to that word you wrote down at the start.
Robbie, our backyard robin, figured this out long before we did. He has one fence post. He doesn’t need two. He sits there every morning, surveys his kingdom, and looks completely at peace. (Then he looks at Kevin’s garden and the peace is over, but that’s another post.)
Start with one wall
If you’re not sure where to begin, start small. Claim a free decal, and I’ll hand-pick something for you, ship it free, and include the install tool. Put it in whichever room needs it most and see how it changes the feel of the space.
When you’re ready for the rest of the house, shop by room here.