As I’ve mentioned, my sister and her husband are coming to visit this week (hooray!) They’re not staying with us, but they’ll be at our house quite a bit, and this caused some frantic cleaning over the weekend.
Sunday my husband was lounging on the couch, finishing his coffee, when I announced “It’s time for the Father’s Day cleaning party to begin!” WHAT? He wasn’t too thrilled about that, but I promised him the next few days would be filled with fun, booze, great food, and celebrations. Sunday, we had to clean.
Sigh. We’re just not great about the house. We’re the type of people who can walk right past a mess and not even notice it. It’s not until someone is coming to visit that we suddenly snap to attention and see everything that’s gone wrong. Then when we do clean, we’re pretty terrible at it
Obviously we had to vacuum. As we were doing this, we noticed that the vacuum had hardly any suction. Oh GREAT! Perfect time for the vacuum to break! Finally, my son suggested that maybe something was stuck in there? Sure enough- it turned out there was a sock stuck in the hose. This was after we had done a totally half-assed job of semi-vacuuming the entire house.
We took six huge bags of clothes, shoes and books to Goodwill, and threw out several more huge bags of trash. My husband pressure-cleaned the patio (what a fun thing to do on Father’s Day!) and we mopped. Great, now the house is clean. But we had to deal with the fact that we had several blank walls, making the house look totally un-homey.
This is something that bothers me peripherally on and off. I WANT to have things hanging on the walls, but I just don’t know what would look good. Every once in a while I’ll make an effort, but then I don’t know what to hang or how to hang it (I mean, if it’s heavy you need some sort of an anchor… right?)
The first thing was obvious. We have a painting my brother-in-law (the one who’s coming to visit) actually painted! It was hanging in our bedroom for a long time, until I painted that room and then I never put it back up (that was four years ago.) We rallied ourselves and put it up in the living room. It looks GREAT! But that left the rest of that wall looking weirdly blank.
I can’t even believe my family let me attempt this, but I put together a sort of “gallery wall” (that’s what it’s called, right?) Once I got started, it wasn’t even that hard (did you know you can use Command strips to hang things??? Just kidding… I’m sure everyone knows that.) Here’s the end result:
The big day arrived, and their flight actually landed EARLY. My sister texted that they were on their way, and it was like the scene from Risky Business where the parents are on their way home from the airport, and the guys are rushing around frantically trying to put the house together. We re-vacuumed, dusted, threw a bunch of clutter into a box to be dealt with later (or, never seen again), lit a candle, and were ready to collapse in a heap, ER I MEAN, greet our guests!
Is anyone else phenomenally bad at decorating? If the answer is no, can you come to my house and help me???
38 Responses
have fun with your sister. I’d love to host more guests at home. I am naturally entertainer/carer, so love feeding/taking care of people.
Decoration? not my strength though, more like practical things I care about.
I can’t say I’m a natural entertainer, but now that I’m doing it, I’m definitely enjoying it.
I wish I could decorate and loved decorating. A few obstacles: I am cheap. I second-guess myself. I want my house to look like those on Pinterest but it never does.
So. For me, less is always more. Have a wonderful time with family!
Daria, I have those same three obstacles. Glad to know I’m not alone!
The wall looks good, Jenny!
I kind of love a good cleaning session. It’s just so satisfying! I do like to decorate but I don’t like changing things out – so once I decorate, it’s DONE. We have quite a bit of art that we have amassed over the years which I love. Oooh maybe this is a post idea!
Anyway, have fun with your sister! I’m sure you will have a great time!
Thank you Nicole and YES! Please do a post about your artwork!!!
Have fun with your sister and her husband! I like to host people more but we don’t do it very often. We are lucky to have a great guest room in the basement with its own bathroom. My parents are our most frequent guest. But I am hoping our next guest is Kyria when she embarks on the next leg of her adventure!
I am terrible at decorating. I do not have an eye for it and I don’t care that much about it to be honest. Our house looks fine but no one would walk in and think ‘wow these people have great taste.’ lol. Everyone I move, I have my college friends come over and we have a picture hanging party. They are so good at it and really enjoy it. I provide the food and cocktails. So I basically outsource it! I do look forward to a time when we don’t have so many little toys around but that’s a ways off! So when we have guests we just make sure to clean up the detritus of small toys.
Hmmm… I like the sound of a picture hanging party!!! It really does look so much more homey, having things on the walls. But yes- i’m sure no one will think i have great taste, ha ha.
I relate to everything in this post. From being house blind to frantically trying to get things done when people come over. Having a robot vacuum has helped me some. I don’t even attempt decorating. Your gallery wall looks great.
Thank you Sak!!! I’m thinking we really should have a robot vacuum. I’m afraid it would freak out the cats though.
The wall looks great!
I love interior design and I think my dream way to spend bundles of money would be to have a professional work with me to design/build/decorate a dream house. I never drool over cookbooks or fashion magazines, but I could look at room layouts and design techniques in home design magazines ALL DAY. In reality, our house is fine. It’s quasi-tastefully decorated and I love aesthetics BUT I’m also far too frugal to invest any real money in it. So most of our art is thrifted, almost all our furniture is from IKEA, and we live in a house from the 1970’s so it is dated in many ways.
Can I admit that I really wish I was clutter blind. Like really, really wish clutter didn’t bother me. It’s a super power which both my kids have. I cannot concentrate on life when things around me are out of place and I spend more time than I’d like tidying. I try to ignore messes – my solution to the kids rooms is to shut their doors so I just don’t have to see it – and am getting better about this, but I honestly think you should celebrate being able to walk by a pile of something! That’s a gift, Jenny and gives so much time back in your life that could be frittered away putting things away. If it doesn’t bother you and it’s not a fire hazard…it’s not a problem!
Plus, I can guarantee your sister is far more excited about seeing you than passing any judgement on the state of your house <3
Oh, and one other thing. While clutter in my own house bothers me, it doesn't in someone else's. If it's not my stuff to clean up, I don't notice it much at all! I think we're far more self-conscious about our own things than anyone else would ever be. (The one exception was a time we went to someone's house for supper and they were hoarders…like real hoarders…and I had known them for a while but had never been to their house and it legitimately shocked me).
Okay, that’s good to know- even someone who hates clutter in their own house won’t be bothered with it in mine.
When you talked about working with a professional to design your dream house, it literally caused a flood of anxiety through my body. I’m so indecisive, and I don’t trust my own judgement when it comes to designing. .Doing our kitchen last year was SO hard for us, and we stuck to pretty basic things.
About the clutter- deep down, it bothers my husband. It’s hard for him to focus with the clutter, but he also can’t seem to do anything about it. It truly doesn’t bother me- I can function just fine. But I will say- I’m appreciating how much more pleasant the house is, now that’s it’s cleaned.
I hope you have a great time with your sister and brother in law, and I’m sure you’ll have so much fun that they won’t care what your house looks like!
I’m similarly house blind — living alone in an apartment with not much space means there’s inevitable clutter, like some food that won’t fit in the pantry on my countertop and a pile of boxes that I need to take to the (one!) recycling bin that always seems to be full. But I never really have people over besides when my parents visited a couple times, so I’m usually not concerned about it.
Same with decorating, I have a few pieces of artwork hanging on my walls but I also have one big wall in my living room that has nothing there and I’m not really sure how to fill that space!
Ha ha, I recommend a gallery wall! You could put up memorabilia and photos fro races you’ve run. I can’t even believe I’M trying to tell someone how to decorate their house- you probably shouldn’t listen to me.
I am totally house-blind also! I used to clean up before my mother visited and she always said I didn’t have to, but even though she didn’t care, something about a house guest opened my eyes to the clutter that I normally looked right past.
I don’t worry about getting decorations perfect, or at least I try not to: just get things up. I have stuff all over the walls and it will never make House Beautiful, but it’s my stuff and means something to me and that’s what makes it my home. Same way a new car doesn’t feel like my car until it has bumper stickers!
Yes, I’m realizing that having SOMETHING on the walls is better than nothing. I wish I had done this years ago and not questioned it so much.
Jenny, I snorted when I read “Father’s Day Cleaning Party!” I’ll have to try using that myself. Birthday Cleaning Party! Anniversary Cleaning Party!
Your gallery wall looks great! I think you have an eye for design–I hope you keep experimenting.
I love decor. I’ve been collecting for decades now. Even when I was a grad student, I would thrift tchotchkes and things to enliven my spaces. Pinterest can help you find what feels like *you* and makes you happy, and then you can try doing one wall or corner at a time.
Have a wonderful time with your sis and her family!
Thank you Maya! I appreciate your kind words, although I’m not quite sure I have an eye for design. But maybe if I keep trying I can get better.
And, I feel a “4th of July Cleaning Party” coming up!
Jenny, let’s do an experiment. Close your eyes for a minute. Imagine you are walking into someone’s house, someone you LOVE. Someone who you don’t see very often. Someone who has a busy life. What do you notice when you are in their home?
(Here is where your imagination goes wild. You notice your loved one! How exciting to see them after such a long time! You are so excited to see your friend/relative. You notice your loved one’s children! You notice the snapshots and artwork on the fridge! You notice the books in the bookshelves!)
What don’t you notice?
The laundry. The messy closet. The inside of the cupboards. The scale in the shower. The cat fur on the rugs.)
We have so many empty walls. I’m too frugal to buy things and too lazy to figure out how to put it up. I call it a minimalist style.
Engie, you’re right. Like I’m imagining coming to your house and meeting your- I would be so excited to see you guys (and Hannah and Zelda!) I definitely wouldn’t care about empty walls and anything messy (as a matter of fact, I always like it when I see a little bit of messiness in someone’s house- I feel right at home!)
Also house blind!!!! Ahh well. My parents are too so if they come it won’t matter. Haha. I figure anyone who likes me enough to stay at our house won’t care about decor as long as things are reasonaly clean.
It’s true- as long as things are reasonably clean and sanitary, most people won’t care about decor. I think I’m extra paranoid because my BIL is an artist, and they have all sorts of cool things on their walls. But that doesn’t mean they expect it in everyone else’s house.
My hubby is blind to dirt and messes.
Glad we don’t have guests often.
I do have a maid but only once a month for heavy cleaning.
It would definitely help if we had someone come to clean once a month- I’ve toyed with that idea, but keep thinking I “should” be able to do it myself. But then I don’t. So…. I don’t know.
This post made me laugh! And relate. I am also largely houseblind. Luckily my husband is good at home decor so we have pictures on all our walls etc, but he doesn’t see clutter/mess and I have a high threshold so when family come to visit i also do the mad run around.
Your wall looks great, nice one, and yay that your sister and brother-in-law are here. Enjoy hanging out in your now clean house 🙂
Sophie, I AM enjoying hanging out in the nice clean house! It was worth the mad run around. And- I’m envious that your house is good at decorating. I think people should think more carefully when choosing a life partner- it seems like one person should be good at things like that.
My husband and I are both bad at decorating, and on top of that we were bad at combining houses so our furniture doesn’t match. And I’m perpetually burned out from being a “clean as I go” person living with three “clean later or never” people – our house doesn’t look great but it’s home!
The only thing that your sis & BIL will notice are the people in the house and the good times that they had.
Enjoy their visit!
My husband is definitely a “clean later or never” person and I get so frustrated cleaning up after everyone, that I just don’t do it. Then it really becomes a fiasco. But, the house is clean now and we are definitely having a good time!
Ahem! I am not a “clean later or never person” fake news!!!! I enjoy cleaning (when it’s done), if it weren’t for me and my magical steam mop, our floors would be disgusting. We’ll talk about this later 🙁
This is the funniest thing I’ve read on the internet all day! 🙂
Fake news – bwhahaha.
Your gallery wall looks great, Jenny! Way to go!
I have Very Strong Feelings about decorating, and, like Grand Visions… but executing them is outside my skill set. We still have so many rooms in progress in this new house because my husband and I are both terrible at making decisions. Also, we were so go-go-go last fall after we moved in, and worked so hard to get a few rooms in shape, and then I think we just ran out of steam. For instance, we have a gallery wall in our basement, but it is missing two pictures because two of the frames broke and we haven’t ever bothered to replace them. Sigh. We also have a couple of rooms that have NO FURNITURE. I bet people who come visit think we are huge weirdos, but you definitely get used to living the way you live!
Hope you are having a great time with your sister! What a fun visit!
Ha, that reminds me of when we moved into this house. My son was a year old and just starting to walk and get into everything. We just didn’t put a bunch of stuff out, like books in the bookshelves and any decorations or things a toddler could get into. i’m sure our house looked really weird for a while there.
Also, my husband and I have a hard time with decisions. Choosing the backsplash for our kitchen last summer was grueling.
So now I need to come to visit you so we can have an organization + decorating party? I AM A FUN TIME! 😉
I love decorating and I think I have a good eye for it. My gallery wall is one of my favorite things and the fun things about a gallery wall is the way you can move pieces around as it suits your fancy. I think you did a great job with yours!
Enjoy your time with your sister + fam!
I wouldn’t say I am house-blind but I definitely have to clean up before people come over. It’s mostly that our place is small and the clutter just builds up so quickly. I keep saying that I want to keep the kitchen/dining table clutter-free, but it’s almost impossible because we have to constantly move things around (because we don’t have enough counter space or storage). Sigh. I also would love to decorate more, but it’s almost a futile exercise when you don’t have space.
I think you did a great job with the gallery wall and I am with Engie, I am pretty sure your sister + BIL won’t even notice the state of your house (or care)…. ok, unless you’re a hoarder, which I don’t think you are LOL
I hope you have the best time.
We’re terrible. Our house still looks really studenty with terrible old second-hand or family hand-down stuff (mine) and weird massive sofas (he had and then we replicated here). We took EIGHT YEARS to hang our art when we moved here! So we’re rubbish, too. Oh and we keep not replacing our carpets because cats but we always have cats …
When we moved out of our last house, we had a heap of family photos we’d been meaning to hang up but never got around to, so when we moved into our apartment, we got someone in to hang everything and set up two gallery walls. I have a couple of walls that are blank, but I need to find the right piece of artwork. I’m not someone who is going to switch it out, so I need something that I really love. I make sure I look in galleries regularly and know the right pieces will find me sometime.
Visitors always get us into go mode too. So many things get accomplished mere hours before guest arrive. We are joking sometimes that we should get more guest so we get our stuff done. Haha. I am also trying to do a picture wall but I keep postponing. Its nt so hard once your are at it but so why put it of again and again….
Another reason we’re friends. 😉 We’ve done better in some rooms with others.
As for housekeeping, I try to keep things neat but have a higher tolerance for dust than I should. A few weeks ago I noticed a layer of dust on the back/top of the sofa we sit on every day – that got me on a cleaning spree, but I don’t know how I never noticed it!