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<\/p>\n“What can you do to give your house a show-room shine?”<\/p>\n
This question brought me up short.<\/p>\n
Have I struggled for many years to develop the habits that will allow me to have a neat, clean home?<\/p>\n
Yes.<\/p>\n
My goal was never, not once, to have it be a home that you’d see in a magazine. I wanted decoration and color schemes that would make me happy. I wanted to be able to store my stuff neatly and logically. I wanted to let go of possessions that I no longer needed.<\/p>\n
But the idea that I wanted my house to look\u2026 like a stage set or a picture in a magazine never once crossed my mind. Magazine articles are generic. They’re a least common denominator. That’s like having your home decorating ideal be a hotel room or something \u2013 pleasant enough, and will be close enough to most people’s tastes not to offend the eye.<\/p>\n
What an awful way to live!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
See? That’s my my view from my writin’ chair. Neat enough, sure. But is it staged as it would be as if I were selling the house? Made generic and magazine perfect? No. There are dragons and skulls and pictures and toys around that are unique to me and make me happy.<\/p>\n
That is such an individual thing. I have dragons and yarn and books. My husband has action figures and movies and artwork he has drawn. My mother has teapots and depression glass and crystal figurines.<\/p>\n
Sure, we want to make sure that we don’t use the sofa as a wardrobe. (Though I can remember having someone come over and there was underwear on the sofa. It can happen\u2026) We want our bathrooms clean and our dishes washed.<\/p>\n
But showroom shine? I don’t live in a showroom. I have a home<\/strong>. I like my knitting by my writin’ chair so I can pick that up and work on my projects.<\/p>\n The goal<\/strong> is to be able to get to<\/strong> my yarn and have a place where my knitting lives so I can grab it easily. The goal<\/strong> is to have clean clothes put away and dirty clothes in the hamper. The goal<\/strong> isn’t and should never be to have my home look static like a museum exhibit. Homes are a dynamic process, so they cannot and should not always look “perfect.”<\/p>\n Whatever that means.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “What can you do to give your house a show-room shine?” This question brought me up short. Have I struggled for many years to develop the habits that will allow me to have a neat, clean home? Yes. My goal was never, not once, to have it be a home that you’d see in a … <\/p>\n