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Our focus for the Love Home Challenge this week is one of the most classic organizing quotes of all by William Morris. “Have nothing in your houses which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” Often, we think of this quote while we declutter, but if we think of it from the very beginning, we’ll end up with less things to declutter and we’ll be happier with our homes throughout.
CREATE BEAUTIFUL & FUNCTIONAL SPACES
Here are some different ways that you can create beautiful and functional spaces this week –
Make over a storage area that is an eyesore, hide storage that looks like a pile of clutter (even if it is important to you), or solving an existing storage problem.
If something in your home, like furniture arrangement or a specific area, is an eyesore, make it over while adding function.
Think about those places in your home that serve more than one function. Do you have a way of grouping things together that looks good and works well?
What do you want your room to say about you? Do you want every guest to see your entire DVD collection – does that represent you? If not, consider hiding it behind cabinet doors in a piece of furniture that makes a statement you like.
ROOMS WITH MULTI-FUNCTIONS
Last week I shared my formal dining room. This room functions as the everything-room. Everything from choir practice to family games, to daily homework, with a bazillion other things in between. And although this room DOES a lot, it can stay neat and tidy in between uses because it is organized in a way that storage is hidden or arranged well.
If you have a multi-functioning room, consider how you have it arranged. What are you using to put boundaries on the different functions? Does the organization actually fit how it is used? Do you like the way it looks? Or more importantly, how does the room feel?
STORAGE ON DISPLAY
If you have storage that is on display – books, kitchen items, photos albums, or even towels, consider how it looks. There are innovative solutions out there to make most of those things look good. You could add a design to the back of bookshelves and tidy them up, hide movies in a cabinet, or display it in a way that looks nice. Last week I showed you how we display towels in my son’s bathroom. I think it looks good, and it definitely solves a storage dilemma of “where do we put these towels that we can access easily?”
KITCHEN STORAGE
I understand that in many kitchens, it makes sense to store things on the counter – either because limited storage space or frequency of use. If you’re going to have something on your counter, let it make a statement you like. Your utensil holder, salt and pepper shakers, paper towel holder, bread box – have a little fun with these and show your style/personality!
If you’re looking for bread boxes, I did some searching and found the prettiest ones on the internet. Just as a word of warning, I’ve had a stainless steel one before and it looked dirty all the time, which is why none of these are stainless steel even though that is popular. Think of all those fingers touching it that just made pb&j sandwiches … just sayin’.
PANTRY ORGANIZATION
Maybe this is the week to get all matching bins for your pantry?! A few weeks ago I did a video of my pantry. Maybe you’ll find a little inspiration??
What spaces will you be working on this week? If you need more ideas, browse my organizing and decorating posts where I hope you’ll find lots of inspiration (kind of why I blog!).
CHALLENGE OVERVIEW
If you haven’t yet, download the Printable Guide here.
Use the Printable to help guide you in planning and preparing. If you want an overview of each week, check out this blog post with all the details.
From my home to yours,
Mary
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Hi Mary,
Where do you get the plastic storage bins that you used in your pantry? Thanks so much!
Target
Hi Mary, I remember in an older post you said that you had painted your girls dressers. I was wondering what paint finish you used…..Semi gloss?
Thank you so much
Yes, semi-gloss. Of course, if I were to do it now, I’d do chalk paint. You can make chalk paint yourself with flat paint, plaster of paris, and water. Look up my coral cabinet makeover for the exact recipe.