Book Review: Beautiful Places, Spiritual Spaces

Today’s fast pace allows little room for time-consuming trips to decorating stores. Or perhaps the lack of funds keeps us from furnishing and redecorating our homes. This is a Bible study to understand how to build and maintain a biblical atmosphere in our homes. Designed to meet the needs of today’s woman, Beautiful Places, Spiritual Spaces is the ideal companion for women navigating the uncharted territory of life - offering daily, short, inspirational mediations, and creative decorating how-to’s.

 “Beautiful Places, Spiritual Places” is a refreshing way of combining self-reflection and interior designing. It is easy to read and provides good and practical insights on how to deal with clutters not just in our homes but most importantly in our hearts.

 This book is perfect for everyone who is thinking of starting a new home, planning on renovating it or simply trying to have a new perspective in life. Starting a new home or a new life can really be overwhelming that sometimes you just don’t know when, where and how to start. It makes starting over as easy as ABC in a stress free way.

 Beautiful Places, Spiritual Spaces is the collaborative effort of interior designer Sharon Hanby-Robie & Deb Strubel (Director of Foundation Relations for the Institute of American Values) It is a decorating guidebook designed specifically to help women conquer clutter in their living space, confidently combine patterns in their surroundings, make big changes for relatively little cost, discover their “true color personality”, nurture the spiritual needs of themselves and their loved ones, and gain five minutes of peace for themselves whenever they need it most! Reader friendly, immanently practical, and occasionally inspiring, Beautiful Places, Spiritual Spaces is especially commended to the attention of do-it-yourself, non-specialist, general readers wanting to change the decor and live out their lives in a serene, pleasant, personalized environment.

 The words “interior design” take on new meaning in this unique new book. It’s half inspiration, half instruction, and wholly delightful! Gifted authors Sharon Hanby-Robie and Deb Strubel wisely realize that at the heart of every home beats the heart of every person who lives there. Until we understand that our personal interior, our heart, is meant to reflect God’s design, our houses cannot possibly reflect their true purpose. More than a place of beauty, a house should be comforting-a safe retreat from the world outside, a place where we can fellowship with our family, our friends, and our God. This creative compendium contains fifty power-packed readings on fashioning a home that is practical, yet beautiful, and definitely spiritually inclined! Ideas are easy to read, simple to accomplish, and possible to afford (especially for someone who is decorating-challenged like me!) Best of all, coordinated throughout each reading, like a decorator’s color chart, are spiritual overtones that blend function with passion. I love the daily meditations that tie up each reading with the ribbons of Scripture and personal application. This is a must-read for anyone wanting to refurbish her home and her heart. I highly recommend it!

 Review by Judy Culbert