Creating Happy Spaces

I recently finished reading Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin. In her quest to find and create more happiness within her home, she proposed the idea of creating shrines to display some of your favorite possessions.

Although I do not want to see a lot of mini shrines around my house, I did take her advice in two (so far) specific areas.

The first was our bookshelf.

In a way, I had already put this concept into practice. You see, I have a section for my favorite books, a section for our camping, hiking and adventure books, a section for my husband's books, etc. But I decided to create a special section for the sets of books our family has enjoyed the past couple years ~ our favorite stories. My daughter recently got her own copies of the Mistmantle Chronicles, and instead of having them in her room, I invited her to display them on the family bookshelf in our living room.

It's our little shrine to our favorite reads.

The next space I spruced up was in my closet. I have the tiniest closet in the house and I love it.

When I first moved my stuff from the bigger master bedroom closet to this smaller one, I put this painting up because it's special to me. It's something my mom painted for me years ago (thy Word is a lamp unto my feet...Psalm 119:105)

My girls sometimes surprise me with little pictures, and I've been collecting these in a drawer. I really wanted to display them, and one day as I opened my jewelry box, I realized I never look in this mirror. This would be a secret, happy space for me to enjoy each and every day.

Now I'm brainstorming other ways to create happy spaces....especially secret ones. I don't know why, but the idea of hidden happy spaces makes me even happier.

How about you? Do you have special happy spaces you have created?