Book Reviews: House Rules and Rembrandt is in the Wind
House Rules by Myquillyn Smith
We get to control so many aspects of how we experience home, and only part of this is visual. It doesn’t matter where we are geographically or whether we are living in our dream house. Creating an environment of home isn’t about high-end choices and keeping up with trends. It’s not about pursuing one particular style. It’s about creating an atmosphere where we feel seen, loved, and heard.
You create the look of home by purposely choosing functional and meaningful beauty.
You create the sounds of home by paying attention to the background noises and providing a soundtrack to your life in the wind chimes you hang, the words you speak, the literal playlists you keep on repeat through your speakers.
You create the feel of home by the temperature, the throws, the materials, the objects you come in physical contact with as you move through your house.
You create the scent of home with flowers cut from the yard, favorite scents you bring in, perfume you wear, and soaps you use.
You create the taste of home by providing food and drink. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it all leads to the complete experience of home.
—Rule #96: Home is a feeling
And this right here is why, HearthKeepers, we read decorating books. Decorating books have wonderful snippets of inspiration between the rules and suggestions and photographs.
I’m a pretty big fan of Myquillyn Smith. Cozy Minimalist and Welcome Home were pivotal in my sense of appropriate decorating. They trained me and blessed me in many ways, equipping me to understand how to decorate my home and to share that advice with others.
House Rules is kind of a culmination of all the things Myquillyn presents in those two books laid out in short and quick rules and lots of pictures! It is perfect for the busy mom. You can read one rule at a time, letting it simmer in your mind as you go about your day, and then do a different rule the next day. It is a little harder to binge-read. All the rules start to get a little muddled if you read this book too fast. One to five rules a day was my limit before I lost the lessons.
I will admit that I didn’t learn anything “new”. But I did have some things re-brought to my attention, some instincts made tangible, and some choices confirmed.
Some of my favorite rules were:
· 3: Limitations lead to innovations
· 4: Home exists to serve people, not the other way around
· 20: Respect your boss
· 21: Style is found in combinations
· 36: Quiet the house
· 46: Marry mismatched furniture and divorce the sets
· 71: Get your greens
· 79: Vase your space
· 94: Find your taxidermy
· 96: Home is a feeling
· 100: There is no done
What I found most interesting as I read through it was how much my taste had changed. When I first started reading Myquillyn’s books, my tastes were very similar to hers. Now they’re not. As I read House Rules, I faced the challenge of appreciating a rule but needing to make my own application. I can look at a picture of Myquillyn’s home, acknowledge that it looks nice and that it is also not for me. What an opportunity to practice thankfulness for diversity. What an opportunity to challenge myself to make my own design application. I took the rules and then customized them for my home. Myquillyn’s home has more straight lines and marble than I’ll ever have. She has more neutrals than I want currently. It was actually quite fun to see the design differences. It was educational to read a rule, look at the picture provided, and think about what I would change while sticking within the bounds of the rule. I will admit to loving several of her “Chesterfield” pieces of leather furniture. On that we can agree.
So even if her taste is not yours, I highly recommend that you work through this book and make the rules work for your style and taste. Remember, we can’t break the rules if we don’t know the rules (which is one of her rules, too). A book like this is so helpful. It equips us with the rules, the why of how decorating works, while leaving us to each go at it individually. Diversity and beauty abound.
Rembrandt is in the Wind by Russ Ramsey
Living with limits is one of the ways we enter into beauty we would not have otherwise seen, good works we would not have chosen, and relationships we would not have treasured…as much as our strengths are a gift to the church, so are our limitations.
Here is where community is so vitally important. Without it, we might be tempted to believe that the limitations and hardships we experience are unique to us and are therefore ours alone to navigate. That just isn’t the case. Being part of a community puts us in proximity to other strugglers—people who can reassure us that we are not alone, who can offer wisdom because they’re familiar with the woods we’re lost in, and who can benefit from the experiences and insights we’ve gained through the hardships we’ve endured.
It was a defiant act of war against death, using beauty as her weapon.
This was an incredibly difficult book to review. Why? Because it was so rich! I've studied the craft of writing my whole adult life but always felt ignorant of the "deeper magic" of art, of paintings and painters. This book helped tremendously to fill that educational gap. It helped me better understand the craft and history of particular pieces of art and thus to love them. But it also guided me to love the broken artist behind the beauty, especially Caravaggio and Van Gogh.
I appreciated the author's "Christian-colored" glasses worn when describing different art. I appreciated his honesty. I appreciated his hope while speaking of lives ruined by sin. I appreciated him ending the book with an artist who chose not to pursue their passion. We all need to hear that there are things more important than our art these days. Most of all, I appreciate the lesson and reminder that beauty is important and good and not a waste of a life.
Why is this book important for homemakers?
Beauty is our handmaid, and art is one of the greatest expressions of beauty made by finite man. If we are to use the tool of beauty well, to comfort and cheer our people, it helps if we understand it a bit. It helps us do our job with courage and confidence if we are rooted in the theology, philosophy, and history of art. Homemakers should be great appreciators of art.
We aren’t one-dimensional creatures. It is important for us to grow our minds and join our fellow man in these conversations. I was blessed to share this book with two other good friends, Deanna and Melissa. What plentiful and deep conversations this book inspired. Since we read this book, we’ve been looking for beauty everywhere. We haven’t made it to one museum yet, but we have shared flowers, chickens, repaired bikes, conversations, and yes, art. None of us waited around for the world to make our lives spring to life with delight. We read a book, started a chat, shared quotes, and then just encouraged ourselves to look for beauty. What a blessing this book has been. It’s one to reread for sure.
This book is an accessible read. It’s not written for the seminary graduate or the person with an art degree. The chapters are broken up into short sections, and if you get the book, much of the art is featured in color so you can reference the images. Just because it deals with theology, philosophy, and history doesn’t mean you can’t read it. This would be a great book to use as a homeschooler. This would be a great book to read if you are trying to divest yourself of minimalist or “fast-fashion” type art. This is a great book to read if you want to inspire creativity. I don’t paint or draw. I can doodle a handful of things to my somewhat satisfaction. Reading this book didn’t inspire me to pick up a brush, though it certainly could and should. It simply gave me a greater love of good art. That is a gift as well.
Rembrandt is in the Wind should be your next read. Bring a pen or highlighter. There is much to mine from this book. Beware, you might decide you want Van Gogh on your wall like I did, and that you want to head to a museum. Also, art theft is the worst.
The HearthKeeper Book Club will be reading Rembrandt is in the Wind for our July-December 2025 read. Join the casual conversation over on GroupMe. Click on the picture below for the link.
