No Apologies Necessary!

Does anyone really have the kind of house we see on Pinterest? You know, neat and tidy, lots of windows streaming in rays of natural light and perfect pillow placement on their beds and sofas? I guess it’s possible — if they have shipped their kids and dogs to the grandparents for a week, hired a cleaning crew and pulled out the pristine linens from their new packaging.

If you’re like me, you are tired after working all day, and the last thing you want to do when you come home is cook, clean and “Pinterest” your house. I’m feeling pretty on top of the world if I can squeeze a workout in there sometime too.

I recently read an article about how to keep your house “company ready.” It listed things that people with clean houses do habitually. Here are some of their — not so realistic — suggestions:

Make your bed before you leave in the morning or at least pull the comforter up and smooth it out if you’re in a rush. I’m imagining the confused look of my dogs when they jump on the bed to assume their napping positions as soon as I’m out the door.

Do a load of laundry every day. I didn’t know this was optional.

Don’t procrastinate. Pick up messes immediately — the longer you wait, the harder they are to deal with. Last week I found a caramel container stuck to one of the back seats in my Suburban. Trying to pull it off, I quickly realized two things. One, it was going to be “hard to deal with,” and two, the plastic part covered up most of the sticky caramel anyway. Yup. It’s still there.

Never go to bed with a dirty kitchen. Right.

Where am I going with all this? I’m saying that none of us should be apologizing for what some might consider a dirty house. We should consider it “lived in.” Instead of cleaning up while we’re cooking, we are going to be helping our kids with homework, we should be dancing around when a good song comes on, and yes, do leave those dishes for another time.

Whenever I go to someone’s house for an interior design consultation, more often than not, I hear apologies for the mess or remarks of embarrassment about how their house looks. Some even apologize for not knowing how to decorate. Just to be clear, interior design is not about creating a space that you have to keep clean, can’t touch and are nervous when your kids are dribbling a ball through the house. Interior design is about developing the spaces we have and making them warm, inviting, useable and comfortable. We live in houses, not museums.

Believe it or not, those of us who work in the interior design industry have houses, kids, dogs and messes too. Don’t apologize or be nervous about asking us for help — it’s what we are fortunate to be able to do for work. We are happy to have a job that allows us to be a part of your lifestyle!

#homeessentials