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"Our homes are the center of our lives, and we should allow time and resources to make the most of them that we can, and to care for them in a way that consolidates and elaborates their meaning for each of us. At a minimum, we should avoid thinking that time spent on our homes is wasted time, or that our goal should always be to reduce the time and effort we spend on them."--Cheryl Mendelson's Home Comforts, Chapter One.
I love that quote simply because it made me look at my home as something other than "the enemy" that needed to be conquered. It is the one thing in our lives that we have the most control over and can influence. Our homes should be the place that brings us the most joy. To that end, I've given some thought to how to run weekly challenges and, to follow Annie Lamott's advice, decided to go bird by bird. So, we'll go through the whole house in a somewhat logical fashion hitting the trouble spots when we go.
This week is the front door/porch/entranceway...the outside portion of our homes that we, and the public, see on a daily basis. Now that the seasons are changing this is the perfect time to tackle these areas and turn them into something that makes us happy. If you have a porch, is it cluttered with toys or other deritus of daily life? Are there weeds sprouting around the doorframe? Is the paint peeling and chipping?
This week your challenge is to look at your front door with fresh eyes. Somtimes all you need to do is clear the clutter and wash the windows and it causes an amazing transformation. A tote or basket to corral the toys, something pretty planted in a terra cotta pot can go miles to making the front of your house shine. If you're an apartment dweller you're even more challenged but a clean door (or a seasonal hanging or wreath if you're that sort of person) makes a wonderful impression.
If you have challenges you'd like to discuss, leave a comment here and other community members can tell you their ideas or solutions. Feel free to post photos! We'd love to see before and after photos or if this is something you've already conquered, show off your results!
This is the corner of my front porch, to the left is a wicker loveseat, a small, round metal table from Ikea and an old firebucket filled with summer annuals. The wicker is plastic that I got at an incredible mark down in the spring. Our home's previous owners had artificial turf on the porch which we ripped up. I kept meaning to paint over the damage but never got around to it. Instead I tossed down a sisal rug. I love textiles outdoors and this is an all weather rug so rain doesn't affect it. The table with the pot is an old vanity bench that I painted. It's starting to peel and flake but I like to call it "distressed". ;) If you look closely at the cement planters, you can see the lip of the plastic pot the mums are still in. Since our house is on the market and I was under a time crunch, I ripped out the impatiens that were in there all summer and just popped the pots right in to give a quick dash of color. It worked so well I may not take them out of the pots at all! Every year I buy a large fern to give the space a lushness that small plants can't accomplish. This year I found the tile plant stand at Michael's and used my 50% off coupon to grab it for $9. Another thing that made a huge difference is touching up the wrought iron railings with a fresh coat of black rustoleum every spring. This is a pretty space that introduces our house but it's also a pleasant place for *us* to enjoy which is really the important thing.
I love that quote simply because it made me look at my home as something other than "the enemy" that needed to be conquered. It is the one thing in our lives that we have the most control over and can influence. Our homes should be the place that brings us the most joy. To that end, I've given some thought to how to run weekly challenges and, to follow Annie Lamott's advice, decided to go bird by bird. So, we'll go through the whole house in a somewhat logical fashion hitting the trouble spots when we go.
This week is the front door/porch/entranceway...the outside portion of our homes that we, and the public, see on a daily basis. Now that the seasons are changing this is the perfect time to tackle these areas and turn them into something that makes us happy. If you have a porch, is it cluttered with toys or other deritus of daily life? Are there weeds sprouting around the doorframe? Is the paint peeling and chipping?
This week your challenge is to look at your front door with fresh eyes. Somtimes all you need to do is clear the clutter and wash the windows and it causes an amazing transformation. A tote or basket to corral the toys, something pretty planted in a terra cotta pot can go miles to making the front of your house shine. If you're an apartment dweller you're even more challenged but a clean door (or a seasonal hanging or wreath if you're that sort of person) makes a wonderful impression.
If you have challenges you'd like to discuss, leave a comment here and other community members can tell you their ideas or solutions. Feel free to post photos! We'd love to see before and after photos or if this is something you've already conquered, show off your results!
This is the corner of my front porch, to the left is a wicker loveseat, a small, round metal table from Ikea and an old firebucket filled with summer annuals. The wicker is plastic that I got at an incredible mark down in the spring. Our home's previous owners had artificial turf on the porch which we ripped up. I kept meaning to paint over the damage but never got around to it. Instead I tossed down a sisal rug. I love textiles outdoors and this is an all weather rug so rain doesn't affect it. The table with the pot is an old vanity bench that I painted. It's starting to peel and flake but I like to call it "distressed". ;) If you look closely at the cement planters, you can see the lip of the plastic pot the mums are still in. Since our house is on the market and I was under a time crunch, I ripped out the impatiens that were in there all summer and just popped the pots right in to give a quick dash of color. It worked so well I may not take them out of the pots at all! Every year I buy a large fern to give the space a lushness that small plants can't accomplish. This year I found the tile plant stand at Michael's and used my 50% off coupon to grab it for $9. Another thing that made a huge difference is touching up the wrought iron railings with a fresh coat of black rustoleum every spring. This is a pretty space that introduces our house but it's also a pleasant place for *us* to enjoy which is really the important thing.