Well, isn't that just typical? One day I tell all the Internets that my baby isn't interested in crawling, and the very next day he decides that this whole “standing up in the middle of the room” business isn't really producing the desired results and begins experimenting with all-fours travel. We're not going to be winning baby derbies anytime soon, but he's definitely crawling!
Ready or not, here I come! |
I wonder if this trick would work to help him reach other goals… Let the record show, Pippo hasn't shown any interest in letting his Mama sleep more than a few hours at a time.
(It's worth a shot, right?)
Last week was an exhausted week. Do you know the kind I mean? There was so much I intended to do, and somehow the whole week went by without me doing nearly as much of it as I should have. I just never got out in front of my days.
I don't have any good excuse, either, aside from that baby who keeps waking me up at night. (Ahem. Are you reading this, Pippo?) But there's only one of him. I feel like I should be able to manage better with just one little baby!
But I happened to read my mom's advice to look at my house the way others see it right at the start of naptime the other day, and I was inspired. So I did! Camera in hand, I went outside and came in my front door.
My rose bush is in bloom, which helps a great deal. I only seem able to keep about two-thirds of my flowers alive: this is something I'm working on. But the roses and the lavender are doing well, so that's good.
I pulled two of these plastic chairs out of my friend's neighbor's trash just the day before I took these pictures, and just plopped them on the front porch. I've been looking for a while for a few chairs to put out front to be a little more social (in our neighborhood everyone congregates in front of the houses), and while they're not the most beautiful things I've ever seen, you can't really argue with free.
I think I will spray paint them (probably black?). But in the meantime I could wash them. I could also sweep up the cobwebs and various other grimy bits on the ground by the front door.
For that matter, I could wash the door itself, which collects the layer of dirt the lovely sea breeze brings over.
That's better. The chairs are fairly well stained, so I think some spray paint will do them good. But for now at least I know it's all clean. And I will keep my eyes open for some other things to pretty up my little front porch. It's not much to look at right now. But it is Reasonably Clean.
Our front door opens right into our living room, where we don't do very much living, to be honest. I'd like to change that. But for now, it means that I don't generally need to do very much to keep it looking Comfortably Tidy.
The Lt's gear does tend to accumulate there, since he comes and goes through the front door and often gets ready downstairs in the mornings so he doesn't disturb us. (You can see a little bit of it strewn about in this photo, but this was a good day as far as that goes. I picked it up in no time at all).
I'd like to have more of a “landing zone” there for him, so that his things have places (convenient places so they end up in them!) instead of just being shuffled from one spot to another. That's on my longer-term to-do list, along with the spray paint.
I'd already realized that I had to keep that area tidy for first-impression purposes. Now I've streamlined my last-minute company clean-up, and make sure the Marine paraphernalia is squirreled away from that front room. I learned my lesson the time I told my friends, unexpectedly visiting my home for the first time soon after the Lt got back from a long time in the field, “Don't start paying attention until you get through this room!”
I'm so hospitable I can hardly stand it.
When you come in the front door, you can see all the way down the hall to the back door, including this little problem area that I tackled.
There are two things going on here. The first is the counter, which is where all my things land. (I come in through the garage, generally, so I skip the front room). It's also where we put the things that we're theoretically going to find places for, but never do.
I can't stand those things! Where do you put them? Every once in a while I go through and throw away as much as I can, and then I put the rest of it into new little piles, and they end up… back on the counter.
This part of the house is the kitchen, dining room, and family room, all open to each other. So not only is it right in guests' line of sight, but it's right smack in the middle of where we do all our living.
And I've been ignoring it for a while now. I clean up the kitchen, I clean up the dining room, and I clean up the family room, but pass right over that spot in the middle.
And by “pass right over” I mean “piled random junk onto.”
I took every single thing off of the counter and plopped it all on the dining room table. A few things I found places for, once and for all. A few more I put into piles somewhere else (still to be dealt with, but not quite in the middle of things, since that tactic clearly wasn't making me deal with them). A few more I decided really belonged there. The counter itself got a good cleaning.
Ok, on to the second problem: the floor.
This wasn't the ideal spot for the baby swing, right in the middle of things and blocking the back door from opening fully. But it was really the only spot we had for it, and it did come in mighty handy when Pippo was younger, even though he wasn't really a swing-loving baby. (Some babies just are crazy about them, aren't they?) Now, though, he's pretty much too big to be happy in it for long (he just tries to rip the animals out of the mobile and eat them), so I think we can safely retire it until we have another little one to give it a whirl.
You may also notice all those lovely cords. A very sophisticated design element, I'm sure.
When we installed our internet over a year ago, we plopped the router there because it was the easiest spot within reach of both an outlet and a phone jack. And there it stayed. For over a year.
Decorating Inertia, you are all that stands between me and greatness, I'm quite sure of it.
Moving on. Finally, there is my lavender hanging on the wall, which isn't the right kind of lavender, but it's what's in my garden so I dried it anyway to see what it would look like.
The answer is, it doesn't look great.
And it drops little brown lavender bits onto my floor.
And I don't really sweep them up very well, to be honest, because there's this big baby swing and all these cords in the way, see, and they're hard to get at.
Ok. Ready to see what it looked like just a short while later?
Ah! So much better.
(This room really does get all this light in the mornings. Isn't that wonderful?)
We had one of those outlet-multiplier thingies in the garage, so I put that on the outlet on the other side of the counter so I could plug the router in on that side instead. So now it's up behind our little iPod dock, with all the cords tied up and out of the way.
As an added bonus, I can now plug in all my appliances in that corner at once (don't you hate it when you realize your bread is still cold because the toaster isn't plugged in?).
The swing is in the closet upstairs, and the lavender is on the table outside, waiting to see if there's anything productive I can do with it. The two pictures are from a calender of vintage food-related posters Deirdre gave me a while back – I stuck them in some cheap IKEA frames I had waiting for just such tenants and popped them on the wall for some color.
The next morning, getting ready for my sister-in-law and her mom to join us for breakfast. |
The counter is clear of everything except a few useful and (at least reasonably) attractive items, and everything else is banished.
It's definitely going to be a challenge to keep it that way. I do need to come up with a little landing zone of my own here, so that paperwork and odds and ends don't end up back on the counter.
I've added that to the list: Spray paint and two landing zones. And pretty stuff for the porch. But for now, my entryway is Reasonably Clean, and that's just fine.
And I do think it makes my house a little more welcoming. Goodness, I certainly felt happier every time I walked in the door! That first clutter-less view makes such a difference in how I perceive my home – and hopefully puts my friends and family more at ease, too.
Michelle Reitemeyer says
Looks nice, Rosie. May I suggest some sort of small, low dresser or end table right on that wall where the swing used to be for a landing zone? A dresser would be nice because you could get in the habit of placing random stuff in the top drawer until sorting time. In the meantime, a basket on the kitchen counter works. Junk placed in baskets is so much prettier than the same junk not in baskets. As for the LT's landing zone…I'm eager to see what you work out. Almost 16 years of being married to a soldier and I still can't figure out how to contain their stuff, mainly because it's not the same stuff all the time.
_Rosie says
You're right, it is always different stuff! I do have a little shelf by the door for his cover and little things like that; it also has a few hooks underneath for keys, dog tags, etc. But the rest? Oh my. Like I said, longer-term to-do list!
And so true about the baskets! I always keep an eye out at thrift stores for ones that are in good shape.
Marian says
The trick to keeping anything alive in a garden in California is watering. Back east – you can get away with not watering, but California is only green because they irrigate regularly. Great transition! It looks markedly improved! 🙂
_Rosie says
I know – it's hard to remember that we actually live in a desert!
Leanne says
You inspired me! I had just started to do this and now I'm really going to do it. I have a new baby boy that's keeping me up. Well, he's only 3 weeks old, so I can't really be surprised, but I'm a little looney because of it. Maybe having some projects will help me focus.
_Rosie says
Three weeks old is a very little baby! Make sure they're very little projects, too. 🙂
_Leila says
Leanne — you HAVE a project!! It's… your baby 🙂
Anne says
seriously girl! put your pjs back on!
Lisa G. says
Good job, Rosie! As for your while plastic chairs, I also have one with a little table on the fron step, which makes about as much of a porch as I'm likely to ever have. It is better than nothing there!
Susan (DE) says
It's lovely, Rosie! It really does look SO much prettier! Congratulations!
Heidi says
I'm right there with you about the insane countertop. We have one that's probably twice as wide as yours, and even though some of it gets cleared every day for dinner prep, it's still piled high will all manner of junk. It's the only landing zone in the whole house, and I can't seem to keep it clear for more than six hours, tops (from when I get it cleared if I do it first thing in the morning to when my husband comes home and tosses his keys/wallet/sunglasses/etc. onto it). It's clear across the living room from the front door, but it's the only horizontal surface in the whole area, and it gets everything. Keep us posted with what you come up with to keep it tidy – some of us need the inspiration!
_Leila says
So the solution is… another horizontal surface — closer to the door! Preferably a basket for hubby's stuff and a bin for mail.
and if you must have stuff in the kitchen, remember what I told you before — put it on the kitchen table, not on the counters, because you just HAVE to clear off the table, or you can't eat 😉
PNG says
Wow, that looks great! You're walk up to your front door is beautiful with the flowers. A keen eye would catch all the little dirty spots, but I do agree it's reasonably clean & inviting.:) Love what you did with your entryway. Looks great! I cleaned up ours, too, but forgot to take pics.:( Thanks for the meme!
Pippajo says
I really wanted to participate in this today. In fact, I even planned for it all weekend. But, alas, I only succeeded in making things WAY worse! I started with an entry that needed help and now have Day 2 of an ENTIRE KITCHEN that looks like a bomb hit it! GIANT FAIL! I'll just to console myself with looking at everyone else's photos…
Yours look great, by the way! Great job! Our house seems to be comprised entirely of landing zones! The Viking has three just in the kitchen alone! I, too, am eager to see what you come up with for the Lt.'s gear…
_Leila says
Haha, Pippajo! We will leave this up for a while, so you can post later if you want. Or just wait for Thursday!
Susan says
Rosie, this looks great! I want to encourage you about feeling like you should be doing more with only one baby around. You (I hope) have other women in your life telling you this, but don't beat yourself up. I have four little ones right now and I'm a lot better at the whole juggling act now than when I had one. That first baby is such an enormous shift in your life and how you portion out your time and energy. Having one is, in many ways, harder than having four or five. You just get a lot better at the whole “mom” thing over the years.
Oh, and good luck with that whole “landing spot for the gear” thing. I know many thoughtful women married to wonderful men and not a one has succeeded in creating a usable spot–even when the only gear involved is a wallet and car keys.
_Rosie says
Thanks for the encouragement! I remember reading in a baby book my mom gave me that the first baby has “the unenviable job of turning two people into parents.” Hopefully Pippo's hard work will pay off!
(and your comment about landing spots for husbands made me laugh! So true!)
Mamabear, JD says
I started this, got to the clean stage and realized how sparse and uninviting the space is. I am going all in and have to get some muscle to move a sideboard down the stairs for me. I've carried a loveseat on my back down the stairs while two small children looked on from a playpen, but I can't get the right grip on this piece, plus it's a spiral staircase. Hmph, I am impatient!
We have one of those bars above the sink that I have been doing a good job of keeping clear since the “pretty over the sink” linky, but it requires vigilance! I confess that I also cheated and found a handyman to (very reasonably) move my garage entry from the kitchen to the adjacent laundry room, and I am so happy herding my brood in and out of that space instead of the kitchen. I think it added years to my life! 🙂
Yay, Pippo, way to crawl!
Kate says
Looks great! I second the suggestion for a basket to “collect.” We have a small basket hanging from a hook near the door for little things (keys, wallets, rocks brought up by little hands) and a small rack that tends to collect books and such. We also have a collector in the living room, a pretty glass bowl given to us as a wedding gift, that holds stuff to deal with but not at that moment – like mail, paper clips, random screws found on the floor, a box a tissues… That one lives on top of a bookcase to keep it away from small, helping hands 😉
Thanks for the linkup – I really needed to get this done!
Emily says
I have “collecting” places for items like this, too, but I have to admit that it still drives me nuts! I really want it to either have a useful place, or get thrown out (are we REALLY going to find a use for that random screw…?) Is this an impossible dream? 😉
Mama Bean says
I was going to do this, but after seeing everyone else's, I'm glad I didn't. I sincerely looked at my entry way, I did. I thought about things to make it better, truly! And then I moved the baby's car seat and thought, oh that looks so much nicer 🙂 So my post would have been something like, “Here my living room with the car seat on the floor, and here's my living room with the car seat on the couch instead. Doesn't that bare spot of floor look lovely? Please ignore my child's toys all over the carpet, thankyouverymuch.” Thank goodness everyone else did a much better job (painting the walls! oh my!)
_Rosie says
Haha… but it DOES look so much nicer without the car seat on the floor!
_Leila says
Mama Bean, I think that post would have made my day 😉 Anyway, I love the comment 😉
Jane says
I love the front porch of your home. Have a Yucca or other Shrubby thing in a chunky pot…..new mums can't do high maintenence gardening.
And thank goodness you took down that lavender, I thoughty ” What in the world is that woman doing hanging asparagas on her wall : ) ”
Lovely , fresh looking real home
_Rosie says
I laughed at the asparagus. And then I went back and looked at the picture again… I see what you mean! Oh my. That experiment is over.
Tricia says
I don't have any “show” but thought I would tell! I scrubbed all the nasty bugs and webs off the front door and light, then I cleaned off the refridgerator (which is visible from the front door). The kids (6, 4, & 2) helped me clean the backyard toys and playset too. Sad to say this is the first I've cleaned any of these things this year, but oh well. At least it's done now. I still have the dreaded countertop full of stuff. Between keeping dangerous things out of my 9 month old's mouth and a horrid cold going thru the family, I just can't quite keep up. But the fridge and the front door are clean! Hooray! Now I need to find time to plan our school year!
Betsy M says
Rosie, I loved the peak into your house. What a lovely home – both the before and after. You ladies were the inspiration for getting my front yard all weeded last night – thank you for that.
I have been back and forth from the hospital for the past few weeks with my Dad being sick and I have rather let the housekeeping go. Now, lots of company is coming to town to visit him and I am the “home base” away from the hospital. Goodness knows what the extended family is going to think of if they see my place in the current state. I am praying to St. Anthony to help me find my clean house again.
LJ says
Hey Rosie! It all looks so cute! Way to go!
If you're still looking for a solution for “random things without homes”, I strongly advocate having a catchall drawer/ box. That way you don't have to leave the stuff hanging around looking awful, and you don't have to deal with it instantly. You *could* aim to empty it once a month, but let's be real… I only deal with mine when nothing more fits inside of it. 🙂 This suggestion also works wonders with keys/things one needs but are ugly to leave around- a pretty basket works wonders.
Good luck keeping up with Pippo!
womanofthehouse says
I love the sunflowers! You did a great job!
Alanna Rose says
Good job!
Pippo is adorable 🙂
I'm delurking to link up.
Lindsey says
Looks lovely! Light and fresh and airy. What a difference having that nice clear floor space. One question – where do you put your shoes?
_Rosie says
I have a little corner on another wall in the kitchen/dining area where I pop my bag and my little sandals that I wear every day. It's probably not the best spot (I think it might fall under the heading of “my own personal mess” that I'm not supposed to ignore), but it's not in your line of vision coming in the door, so it's out of the way (but convenient when I'm trying to get out the door with the baby).
The rest of the shoes get tossed in a closet that's off to the right in the little hallway between the front room and the rest of the house. So they're by the garage door but not the front one. In theory my bag and sandals go in here too (I even have a hook on the door for my bag).
Sarah says
I love small changes with big impact! Very nice! I think two fresh pillows would brighten up those plastic porch chairs without any messy spray painting.
_Rosie says
Good idea! Now, imagine if I got my act together enough to paint *and* make two pillows, how welcoming that would be!
Provincial Homemaker says
I'd love to see those plastic chairs when they are repainted – I would never have thought of that. You have inspired me to think whether there is a way to reinvigorate our outdoor setting that got covered in mold when we first moved here. Perhaps slipcovers – can one do that for outdoor furniture, I wonder?
_Leila says
Provincial Homemaker, see my post here http://www.likemotherlikedaughter.org/2011/06/p…
Maybe that helps? If you have simple cushions it's not hard to do!
paula says
Thiis series has been so good at helping me evaluate. It's funny how one can walk by the same mess for weeks and forget to notice it–I occasionally do realize (after months) and give a little shurdder/”augh” and am mortified that I let things regress to that state! You did a fantastic job. Something about hidden wires and tidy horizontal surfaces that make things feel so good and fresh!
Anne says
nice job rosie! it does look much more open and welcoming. a basket is a good idea. HOWEVER it won't be long before pippo wants your basket because it looks like so much fun to put things in. 🙂
the after picture with him peeking out of the high chair is so sweet. I think he approves too. 🙂
nt12many says
Beautiful job! Glad to know that Pippo is crawling and stimulating his brain in the right sequence ;). The plug-i cords of modern day living are the bane of my existence! I hate them! Hiding them is the only solution and you do that however you can…if you can't hide them, tie them up with little twistie tie thingys.
control centers do need a place to throw stuff temporarily that looks pretty. We all have our different opinions of what pretty is but a nice deep basket is great to throw things into temporarily and thrift stores do have lots of baskets. if you can find one with a lid, so much the better.
Jill Farris ” target=”_blank”>http://www.generationaowomanhood.wordpress.com
shwell says
I wish I could post a link, I need some help with my front entrance
I did take photos of the hallway (for myself), on Thursday it was a disaster with co-op boxes full of fruit and cases of canned goods, so I took a break from the canning and tidied up the hallway, took down the in between season coats and washed them, put away the shoes and swept the floor. On Friday I filled the hallway again with trash and recycling, temporarily, then took it all to the dump and came home to a tidy but no longer clean hallway as 4 boys and 2 dogs had just left muddy footprints – oh well
Saturday was Farmers Market and then the hall was full of bags of beets, carrots, corn, etc. Sunday after church I spent the day canning, So I now have before photos of all the bags of stuff in the hall and after photos of all the jars of transformed stuff in the kitchen. I wish I could show you all my shiny lovely jars of goodness.
Tomorrow I will clean and mop that busy hallway and then I will go outside and sigh about the front door way that has been terribly neglected this summer. I will clean it up and hopefully not sign so much!!
Thanks for this wonderful inspiration Rosie and Leila
Emily says
Rosie, I loved this post. You have a fun conversational style that I really enjoy, and your photos inspired me to get up and clean up my own entry way. I'm loving the result! (Although I have to admit that my kitchen is full of dirty dishes – that area of the house rather suffered as I cleaned up the rest!)
carrien (she laughs) says
I took before pictures last week. Then I went to blogher for 4 days and my husband has charge of the children and the house…. cue ominous music. I suppose I could have taken entry way pics yesterday and shown the ones I took before as after shots. 🙂
I”m still working on digging out from under the pile, and the husband's work stuff piled next to the door. But I”m happy to report I found my floors again. Can we do this meme all week?
_Rosie says
The link thingie is open until {phfr} goes up early Thursday morning. There's still time!
(Oh, and you definitely should have taken pictures yesterday, I think!)
Amber says
I'm tempted to post my own version, but I don't have any before pictures… and it seems like before pictures are 3/4 of the fun! I read the original post last Monday and have been obsessing ever since. I literally walked away from my computer and started tidying and cleaning and I it just keeps spilling over to other areas. But the utility room is reorganized, the house is much tidier and hey, even the dog has had a bath! Did I mention I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant? Really, I think there should have been a warning on that post – not be read by women who might be on the verge of nesting obsessively. 🙂
I am trying to figure out what to do about some of my difficult points though – we have an extremely open floor plan and no garage – and we built our own house (which is still lacking trim and some other niceties two years later!) which means my husband owns *a lot* of tools. There is a small shed that fits some tools, but unfortunately there are a lot that live in the house, right around the corner from the entry! Argh!!! I sometimes feel like they are my nemesis. 🙂 At least they aren't visible (so long as they are put away very compactly) right when you walk in, but when you take about 8 steps, there they are, just to your left, and visible from the kitchen, the dining area, the main living area, etc. Ugh. Baring several thousand dollars for another storage shed, I can't figure out what to do with them. The only thing I can come up with is a screen or a curtain to go around the whole area! Funky, but perhaps better?? I can't decide.
_Rosie says
Post! Post! We want pictures! 🙂
(could they fit in some sort of pretty storage, like a trunk or chest of drawers?)
briana says
Great job!
I have one of those counters also. It seems like every house we have lived in has a spot like that.
Dusa says
I second/third the catchall box/basket idea. When it's full, you can carry around to distribute the items to their proper places (just make sure you get a basket you can carry when full). Best part is you can find decorative baskets cheaply at thrift stores or yard sales.
Provincial Homemaker says
Hi Rosie – just in response to the question you posted on my blog about our shoe rack.
The shoe rack is just pieces of dowel glued into pre-drilled (well, DH drilled) holes on a piece of wood. I got the idea here http://mamauk.typepad.com/mamauk/2010/05/may-fest…
However, our dowels ended up too spaced apart to achieve that look so we hang the shoes on the dowels rather than between them. They are strong enough to take Australian army boots – and having seen marine boots at the officer's mess I imagine they would take them too:)
Dwell Richly says
Nothing to link up, but thought it was interesting to see this < “” target=”_blank”>;http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/entryway/a-guide-to-slow-home-principles-the-entryway-and-landing-strip-153296>” target=”_blank”> ” target=”_blank”>;http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/entryway/a-guide-to-slow-home-principles-the-entryway-and-landing-strip-153296> on the same day as your post! Some nice simple advice for those coming-and-going spaces.
Finding a place for all the random odds and ends is so tricky! Hoping there's a good way to keep the counter Reasonably Clean. 😉
Sonya says
Looks great Rosie! A suggestion for your lavender (it looks like English lavender which I have in my garden). I use mine to make a hand scrub for after gardening. I got the recipe from this site http://tendcollective.blogspot.com/2011/06/i-like…
In case the link doesn't work, it is 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted), 1 cup coarse sea salt, 1/4 cup dried lavendar flowers. Mix it all together and put into container to cool (it will harden). Use it to clean your hands of any kinds of stain, garden or otherwise.
Cheers!
Sonya
_Rosie says
Ooh, I might just have to try that!
Gale says
Hi!
Just my first impression…a fairly clean house. One that's lived in by someone who can't afford a maid or an interior decorator to come make it perfect for them. I like the lavendar. 🙂
I have a webpage where I share these types of linky events. If you ever do another linky event like this, please stop by and let me know (you can leave a comment at the bottom of the page and I'll get it).
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Rachel Sanesh says
Your dinning area looks so bright with all that sunlight. its beautiful. You have inspired me! After my 3rd baby(4 moth now), my mind was all clogged. I will definetly clear all the clutter zone in my house one by one now. Thank you so much for sharing the pics.