Over ten years ago, these dark, espresso stained end tables were a big buy for my new little apartment. The whole place was white from the walls and trim to the tile floors and ceiling. So, the brown provided a great contrast.
While I like my jade plants and lucky bamboo (which is not actually air-cleaning bamboo), they don’t actually do much for air quality. Over the years, I’ve acquired a mixture of pretty and practical plants that create a happy, healthy addition to my environment.
If you are hoping to improve the air quality in your home, using easy plants, consider bringing in one of the following flora.
Care Level: English Ivy is like a celebrity with one of the easier riders. No picking red M&Ms out of its candy dish but, it still needs a special spot.
How it Cleans: It’s known to help clean airborne toxins from homes including, benzene, formaldehyde, xylene and toluene. Also, it may reduce mold in your house.
One of my earliest horticultural experiences was with an English ivy plant. I actually propagated it from one of my grandmother’s plants without much work. I was 14 and my bedroom was in a mostly underground basement. I had one small window above eye level and the plant thrived there.
The fun of English Ivy is the crazy growth. You forget about it, watering it enough to keep the soil constantly damp. You have creeping vines around your room within a few months.
Care Level: It’s the rising Phoenix of flowers.
How it Cleans: It reportedly filters out benzene, formaldehyde, trychloroethelene, xylene, toluene and ammonia.
I’ve practically let my peace lily die and it always comes back. Granted, I’ve never had it bloom (nor have I tried to coax it). However, this plant just needs a little water to perk back up.
My peace lily is about a year old. As a last-minute gift from my husband, he had no clue what he was picking up. I think it was just on a display of “air cleaning” plants and he knew that was my jam.
Luckily, he picked out a very photogenic addition to my indoor garden (pictured above).
Care Level: Easier than a cactus.
How it Cleans: It reportedly filters out benzene, formaldehyde, trychloroethelene, xylene and toluene.
You can over-water a cactus without much effort. Snake plants can live through extremes on both the dry and moist ends of black thumbs. While they prefer moist, well-draining dirt, they can handle some variety.
I started with one small plant 10 years ago and now, I have 3 with me and two given away. They grow tall and often sprout new sections.
I find that in temperate climates, they can even last outdoors on a porch in the spring and fall.
Slowly adding indoor plants to clean your air can improve the happiness and health of your home. In the most practical sense, adding them one-by-one is easier than committing to several at once.
When you find a plant that suits your style, you can buy more or propagate them to add to your routine. Then, you won’t feel overwhelmed.
My Top Tip? Keep plants clustered to remind you that they all need to be watered.
What about you?
Tell me about your favorite houseplants. Tag me on Insta or let me know about your plant lady adventures in the comments below.
If you are only going to make one project for your baby’s room, this is it!
When I thought about decorating my son’s nursery, my DIY spirit tempted me to take on a long list of projects. Realizing that I should focus on simplicity over quantity, I opted to commit to a single project.
What project inspired me most?
I liked the idea of my baby peacefully enjoying a unique mobile that created just for him.
I selected this project after some disappointing shopping. I didn’t see a single mobile that I liked. To begin, I wanted something with a nice look both from the side (for me) and beneath (for baby). Also, I wanted soft colors (for my clean aesthetic) but something eye-catching (for the baby). I wanted it to feel organic but, I needed it to be motorized.
The resulting project was my solution.
Making a felt star mobile requires a trip to the craft store and a little online shopping.
I traced and cut out stars on white copy paper. However, you could buy pre-cut stencils for any shape.
I cut out the stars from the selected felt colors. You’ll need 2 sides for each shape. So, I cut the following:
Make sure you keep the fabric scraps in a pile to use as stuffing later.
These stars hang at the bottom of each strand. Using your scissors, poke a hole in the middle of 5 stars. Then, thread the white string through. Stuff each star using fabric scraps and seal it with hot glue. In the end, you should have 5 strings with a big blue star at the bottom.
Add the grey stars one at a time. They can be spaced about 2 inches apart. You can measure them evenly or vary them for an organic look.
Keep each star in place on the string with a dot of hot glue. Then, glue both sides together around the edges.
Repeat this until you’ve added all the stars for each strand.
In the end, you should have 5 strands with 5 stars on each. Hang these from your mobile kit by tying a knot on each end. You can hang them evenly or vary the heights.
I chose to vary the lengths for a more whimsical an organic look.
I attached the mobile to the ceiling using a 3M hook. The small motor plays music and spins the motor. This light-weight mobile spins with the breeze or when the motor is on.
In the end, I created an simple felt star mobile that my baby loves. You can see how this concept can be changed for different colors and shapes. It’s light-weight and whimsical to perfectly match the feel of the room.
I’d love to see how you decorated your child’s room. Leave a link to your favorite projects in the comments.
When I got my first apartment, I quickly became aware that homes take work to maintain. Each item takes up space and I wanted as much space as possible to be peaceful and creative. But the process of decluttering can be time consuming, especially when you try to tackle an entire room. One trick is to break up each room into several smaller tasks, cleaning each slowly.
This works well for two situations. First, some people don’t have large chunks of time available to declutter their whole space. So, they may be inclined to put off any home organization because the timeline is impractical. Second, some people have a strong attachment to their stuff. In fact, many struggle to dispose of trash and useless items. In either case, these little tasks can help you organize spaces that often collect clutter.
I kept this list simple to encourage quick tasks. If you do one of these each day, you will have a much more organized home in about two weeks.
Living Room
Kitchen
Office
Bedroom
Bathroom
Once you have cleaned all of these spaces, you’ll have a more organized home. In fact, the process may inspire you to continue your the organization process in other areas of your home. If you’re thinking about it, I would recommend 100 Tips to Declutter your Home. Read it for tips and ideas to clean out your place.
Do you have any other ideas? Leave your tips in the comments.
This world is but a canvas to our imagination. Henry David Thoreau
Some people tell me that creativity and clutter must go hand-in-hand. I refuse to believe it. I agree that little inspirational bits accumulate around imaginative people. I disagree that we need to surround ourselves with disorganization. In fact, I find that I do my best work, creative and functional, in a clutter-free space. And I say this as someone who has boxes with broken costume jewelry, a collection of ostrich feathers, and a plethora of paints. It’s the curation and usefulness of these items that facilitates the creative process.
I do my best creative work in a clutter-free space.
Offices become hotspots for clutter because they attract paper, supplies, and castoffs. The space naturally collects everything for “later.” Think of: those bills that you paid but, need to file lay in a stack on the floor. That broken teacup, waiting for superglue, rests on top of a cabinet. Layers of mail and coupons, that you proactively moved from the kitchen counter, now litter baskets and bins. And despite all this collecting, you keep bringing in duplicate items because you can’t find the right tools when you need them.
This is the goal of office decluttering: A useable workspace that promotes productivity. Below are the steps I take for an office cleanout.
The first phase creates a huge (temporary) mess. In fact, it often involves my whole house. With time, items creep into the wrong spaces and must be sorted. So, the process starts by pulling together like items and labeling their storage space.
Once you complete these steps, you’re ready to start planning your space.
To best maintain your organized items, define work zones throughout your home. While some people have distinct office areas for each family member, others make do with multi-purpose zones.
Then, you can start making it pretty!
The decision to hide or display office supplies is a highly personal one. Some people prefer to stow away items in something opaque. Others like to display neat, organized tools and supplies. For each preference, there are so many ideas to customize your office storage.
Hide
Below are some ideas to hide you office supplies.
Display
Below are some ideas to display your office supplies.
Depending on your preferences, you’ll gravitate toward a “hide” or “display” style of organizing. Take note of this as you plan your space and make sure you keep things tidy.
Now that you’ve completed the first level of organizing, it’s time to start ticking projects off your long list. The purpose is simple: cleaning out old supplies and tools. Over the long term, this will free up your mind to focus on the projects that you truly wish to complete. Often, I find I have the weight of potential projects keeping me from productivity.
Use These Up
Donate These
Once you have used up these supplies, create a project list to use anything leftover. You should only keep supplies that you plan to actually use. Work through these like they are a priority. Soon, you’ll find your self and your space will feel lighter.
Now that you have organized your office, you’re ready to get to work. I’d love to see your work spaces, whether they are a separate room or a movable setup.
Send me links in the comments!
If you love to craft and create, you know that most projects leave you with leftover supplies. These bits and bobbles can pile up. Previously, I posted about ways to organize your work space, which includes using old supplies. In that post, I mentioned that one of the most common leftover supplies is extra paint. While some paints, like watercolors, keep over time, others dry up or turn sour. Below are some ideas that use small amounts of paint that can use up your extra stores.
As you can see, a lot of projects use small amounts of paint from your leftover supplies. So, what are your favorite ways to use extra paint? I’d love to hear about them.
Add your links in the comments!
Rounding up the proclaimed colors of the year for 2018 reveals one thing: we’re done with green. Last year, the bright and neon hues were influenced by Pantone’s Greenery. While the risky tone aspired to feel fresh, Greenery didn’t deliver a universal appeal (creating comparisons to the Mucinex Snot Monster).
This year, neons are out. Nuanced, almost muted, tones dominate all the major paint brands and fashion houses. While the bright, primary colors pop faithfully as accents, they aren’t overtaking 2018 palettes.
In my opinion, Pantone remains the truest predictor as they scour all areas for top color trends. This hue feels both fresh and nostalgic, as the muted purple echos royalty while forecasting a turn toward neo-luxury.
“We are living in a time that requires inventiveness and imagination. It is this kind of creative inspiration that is indigenous to PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet, a blue-based purple that takes our awareness and potential to a higher level. From exploring new technologies and the greater galaxy, to artistic expression and spiritual reflection, intuitive Ultra Violet lights the way to what is yet to come.” – Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute.
My main critique is not of the color but rather, the galaxy-inspired styling. It’s derivative and reflective, mirroring the several-years-old Gen Z affinity for star-scape.
My hope: Maybe Ultra Violet will replace Millennial Pink.
For me, this pick disappoints with its obvious application. Are you updating your oak-cabinet kitchen? Make it look like a bistro with this red. Are you sick of your dull tresses? Add these mulled wine undertones to your brown bob. Did you hit a midlife crisis? Pick the compact SUV without a silver or navy finish.
While this brand is known for timeless selections, this color doesn’t impress. It’s too overdone to feel fresh and too safe to become a real classic.
My thoughts: If I saw this chip, I wouldn’t assume it was part of the Benjamin Moore brand.
PPG created a color that was much more nuanced than I expected from their team. It falls into a similar family as last year’s Shadow from Benjamin Moore. When I saw it, I immediately thought of three literary references:
Any tone that takes me away from pure design into another passion is one worth considering. I imagine this as the handmade-purple dye that springs from soaking linen in purple onions.
While the color clearly resonates more as a tame accent wall, I can appreciate the layers of subtlety.
My opinion: It’s the Ultra Violet for people who like to smell their books.
I have tried so hard not to hate this tone. I cannot like it. Jewel tones are so done, like on-clearance-at-Walmart done. Jewel tones will never really be classic and at best their styling becomes tawdry. I only appreciate them as something bourgeoisie, ironic or costumed.
For set design, Oceanside could evoke the flamboyance of a Victorian brothel without defaulting to gold and maroon. For real life, it’s impossible to light in a home and outdated to wear.
The pity? I actually like the name. I wouldn’t paint a cottage this color but, I want to go somewhere with walls painted in Oceanside. I just don’t want it to be this Oceanside.
My issue: I never liked the jewel-tone trend and I’m not going to start liking it now.
My only local choice, Cozy Cover comes from James T. Davis. The tone mimics last year’s similarly subtle hue. A reflective choice, this color uncovers the local tastes, where many families add their warm touch to historical homes.
As someone who constantly covets change, I always appreciate a strong neutral tone. It provides a backdrop to the colorful transitions of life. And who doesn’t struggle to find a decent beige that isn’t too yellow under flourescent lights?
My Take: This local paint brand stays in touch with the needs of the Lynchburg market.
Each year, the selected colors are both predictive and prolific. Trendsetters, as always, tells us what to want before we know we want it. My favorites, Ultra Violet and Violet Verbena, take me somewhere – Ultra Violet gallops forward and Violet Verbena swishes backwards. My least liked tones, Caliente and Oceanside, fall flat. They don’t spark a discussion, inspire nostalgia or push the limits of design.
As a whole, these selected tones reflect a push away from last year’s bright and blaring colors. So, I’d like to see what you think.
Which colors are you bringing with you into 2018?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Later is the best friend of clutter… – Peter Walsh
Clutter articles range from judgmental, hoarding horror stories to useless, vague suggestions to advertorials for decorative organizational bins. Regardless, the peaceful state they all promote is both much-sought-after and mysterious to attain. Such was my struggle when I dumped my bags into my first apartment, a 400-square foot bungalow in South Florida.
As I compiled a long list of DIY projects and purchases, I also started absorbing artifacts from my parents, castoffs of caring friends, and unsolicited housewarming gifts. I just took everything with a “Thank-you” and added it to the pile. Very quickly, my apartment took a form that did not reflect who I was or how I wanted to use the space. So, I started thinking back to my missteps over the years. I remembered my hard-to-clean, impossible-to-organize childhood, teen, and college rooms. Those habits grew into a similarly unchecked living situation. So, determined to take ownership for my home, I began research.
The stories that impacted me most where ones that focused on the journey of the person writing the article. They imagined a specific life and sought that state of being. For example, The Minimalists lifestyle was inspired by a desire to break with the corporate world and the related consumerism. Below are ten websites that I would recommend.
Each of these stories contrasted my awkward, messy world. I wanted to be able to focus at the end of the day. I wanted to sit in peace on the weekends. I wanted to spend less time cleaning, and I wanted that cleaning to be quick. So, I decided to make a list to break down what could stay and what needed to go.
My first place was very full and very dysfunctional. I had a plethora of cheap tools, knick-knacks, and bobbles with nowhere to store or display them. Buying a host of organizational systems wasn’t the solution. Figuring out exactly how much room I had in my place set the benchmark for curating my stuff.
Next, you must match your belongings to your actual lifestyle. The examples below can help guide you to determine what you need for how you like to live.
Although the decluttering process remains highly personal, my favorite tips can shift the way you think. Ownership requires time and energy. Consider how you want to use yours before you bring something into your space.
As a child, I spent my summers at the family beach rental — getting up early to watch the sunrise and falling asleep at night on a couch in the screened porch. Everything was a little damp and too warm — perfection. At that beach house, I made a lifetime supply of bad watercolor art. I sketched and read back issues of national geographic. I talked to strangers. I acted precocious and peculiar. If there is a place where my soul was formed, it was sitting on the end of a bulkhead, endlessly trying to capture the toxic waves of the Jersey shore in green and gold glory.
“I’m going to be a diving girl!” proclaimed Sonora at the outset of Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken. Released in 1991, this film rolls along with the nineties nostalgia by reminding us of our romanticized Great Depression fixation as we head into our own roaring twenty-twenties. As much as I am prone to mock the melodrama, I still replay the “jumping on the horse” scene each time I need motivation. Because I can often relate to the metaphorical, “Look ma, there’s a girl climbing the tower.”
The ambition, the angst, and windblown bob continue to capture my imagination. Currently, the shift dress silhouettes and boardwalk beachwood inspire my aesthetic.
At the aforementioned getaway, I would often paint at an aluminum table on the porch — which I begged my family to keep in storage. The ornate legs were difficult to sand and refinish, which I kept in their original glossy white. The green top always capture’s people’s imaginations. For some, it reminds them of a similar piece in their own home. Others have never seen a similar vintage piece. This table fits with my overall home vibe: a simple, seaside place.
The beachy inspiration may be hard to detect if you assume themed seashell and beach umbrella style. My look does not hearken a tourist motel room scream toward theme. It’s a feeling inspired by the rush of grass on the dunes and the quiet, bleached tones of a wabi-sabi vacation home.
I’ve always yearned for a simple space, with useful, trusted, practical belongings, that provides a sanctuary for my art. With each apartment, this table sets the style – simple, useful, and trusted.
Vintage Dress- The Conscious Mercantile, Espadrilles – Target, Sunglasses – Franchesca’s
