Decorate Your Home Archives - Page 49 of 113

There are three big rules regarding the type of things I bring into my home. Okay, there are more than that, but we’re only going to talk about three of them today:

If a piece of clothing can’t be thrown in the washer and dryer, it must be REALLY special for me to have to treat it separately;
If it is not supposed to go into the dishwasher, it’s going to die trying; and
If it’s a living thing, it should probably be able to bark or speak in order to stay alive.

Number 3 is really the hardest for me. I love having green plants in my home, but they are so often neglected that I rarely even bother. I used to try to bring home cute succulents or nice potted ivy, and Tom would remark, “Oh, look. You picked out another victim.”

It would be offensive if he wasn’t so right. Of all the plants I’ve brought home in the past few years, only two still survive. One is the Mother in Law’s Tongue that is nearing it’s two year birthday with me (GASP! Yeah, I know). It’s really true that it needs minimal attention, because it only receives water when I think about it and it’s grown so much. The second is the poor little succulents potted in the playroom. I walked in on Emma swinging it from the Donkey’s Tail a few weeks ago, but it has proved to be a fearsome foe for a toddler.

Even with my two black thumbs, I still feel the need to have some green life in my home. Plants just make a room feel more alive. So, I’ve recently turned to using realistic looking faux plants (not flowers, just green plants), and I think with the right arranging they look very real.

Using Realistic Looking Faux Succulents | Makely School for Girls …

When Tom and I put our first house on the market, our Realtor team had a whole list of things we needed to do in order to “neutralize” the house. We emptied out the closets to our essentials and boxed up the off-season clothing in the garage. We took down our eleventy million wedding photographs and put away personal momentos. I guess the thought is that if a buyer coming through sees evidence that a family actually lives in the house, the buyer won’t want to buy it. I wish you could see me rolling my eyes right now.

But, honestly, those things weren’t really that big of a deal. They were one-time changes, so we didn’t have to worry about it on a daily basis. The one thing that WAS a huge pain to us was hiding our essential toiletries from our bathroom counter. We had no drawers in that bathroom, so I bought plastic bins to hold our toothpaste, razors, medication and deodorant in the cabinets. Every morning, we’d pull our respective bins out, get ready for work, and put them back under the cabinets. And every evening, we’d pull out our respective bins out, get ready for bed, and put them back under the cabinets.

We’re kind of lazy, so this simple act drove us insane.

I love the look of bare bathroom countertops, but it’s not a practical reality for two people like us. I thought about showing you the state of our bathroom counters right now, but then decided against it. It’s pretty embarrassing. We need some creative ideas to corral the clutter STAT.

In that vein, I turned to Pinterest and found a whole host of gorgeous bathrooms – but not much in the way of containing the clutter other than building shelves or baskets, baskets, baskets. However, from the ideas that I liked, I put together eight of my favorites to share with you today.

Eight Pretty Ways to Contain Your Bathroom Counter Clutter | Makely School for Girls …

Who Has Two Black Thumbs and a New Succulent Garden? This Gal.

Eight Pretty Ways to Contain Your Bathroom Clutter