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| Image by Photographee.eu |
I’m pretty sure most of us wonder why everything looks so beautiful in the photo from the net. But when you look around - it seems that there’s just a mess. Therefore, I’m going to write about how interior little stuff could affect our evaluation of ‘neat - not neat’.
So let’s talk about the mess, its components and how to minimize it at home. And I’ve got some pictures from the net, magazines and movie screenshots to illustrate my thoughts. The main enemy of order is clutter. And here we’re faced with the first paradox: the larger space, the easier is to maintain it! Yes, a big house gets dirtier than an apartment. It’s more difficult to get rid of it. But in case of a mess, it’s much easier because mostly it’s not difficult to find a place for all the stuff in a large room. Here, of course, it would be great to add a piece of advice like this: ‘That’s why you have to sell out your one-room apartment and buy a three-story house in the country.’ OK, but now let's look around and evaluate our space, how big it is and what it’s filled with.
The smaller your living place, the stricter you should be with the number of items that are in sight. Let's start with the first eye-catching spot - the hall. What is usually in the hallway: hat and coat hooks and shoes. The smaller the hall, the fewer clothes should be on the hooks. The clothing - all these jackets and coats - hanging on top of the other seems like cluttering up space. So there must be a minimal amount of stuff. And everything else - put in a closed wardrobe. The exact same rule works with shoes. It’s better to put all the shoes in a cupboard. It gets you very disciplined: get changed, clean and put away. Well, if you don’t have time for all of that, do it at least till the evening then, put it in the cupboard so that it doesn’t pile up.
Another trouble of the anteroom is the small racks where all unnecessary stuff is stored - notes with phone numbers, keys, cards, ads, and many others you don’t even remember and need. I’ve got a large entrance hall but there’s not a single horizontal surface in it, with the exception of the windowsill where I could put on some things. This immediately makes you not to leave a bag in the hallway (and women tend to use more than one bag), but take it to its place and unpack it right away.
I totally understand that in cases of lack of space this seems like "getting juice from a stone," But I think it might be helpful to take into account for those who just
started renovating and furnishing the housing.
Here’s an example of a failed anteroom - a lot of open space but there’s nowhere to put things away. As a result, all stuff will be hanged on the hooks and small garbage - on the shelves, and the hallway will end up with an untidy look.
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Image by Photographee.eu
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A very important element of order in the house is visual cleanliness. I’m into minimalism in everyday life. The most efficient fighter of the mess is an empty horizontal surface :) For instance: there are always lots of bottles, tubes and other unnecessary stuff collecting on the washbasin and on the bathtub. I have only a piece of soap on the basin.
And all other cosmetics I keep in a basket putting it in the cabinet, taking it out only at the moment when I need it.
This rule works not only in the bathroom. Here’s a kitchen for example. Ideally, the working surface in the kitchen should be completely empty. When there is not enough space or it isn’t thought over, lots of household appliances, knives, jars, cups, pots, and others are getting to pile up on the working surface.
Look at this picture. It’s already over packed, and it seems to be in order and neat. And if you suddenly need to take a pan in sight, or get your fruits dried, or put a pile of magazines with recipes on, throwing a potholder or a towel in a hurry on the table ... in sort words - as soon as any other item appears above this order, the general view turns into a mess.
Well, I believe that household appliances should also be hidden, and have to be taken out of the box only when you need it. All these food makers and blenders that are in sight - it seems to an overall feeling of disorder.
In living rooms, empty horizontal surfaces are also important.
Parquet with no carpet, long podiums, a
reclining chair, a table where nothing is set, a bedside table or a chest of drawers where things are only inside but not outside. All this makes a feeling of cleanliness and neatness, even in small rooms.
In general, the less free space you have, the less small details should be in the interior. All sorts of figurines, vases and more - all this looks good in large spaces. Here is a good example: a coffee table with a shelf, but the top is still an empty horizontal surface.
An interior with lots of details in a small room works only if you are as hung up on cleanliness, as Sheldon Cooper. And even in this case, there’s too much ‘visual noise’ that seems like a mess.
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| Image by Spotern.com |
And here’s the interior that for most people may seem boring.
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| Image by Jamie Hooper |
But don’t forget that we don’t live in the picture. Any home decor will be surrounded by details of our real life. Here’s a magazine or an unread book. There’s a fruit basket. The sweatshirt was left on a chair. And if you have kids, then the various lego details,
baby crayons, kid's bedtime storybooks are everywhere, as well as other pleasant little stuff would become vibrant colorful memories in your life. And if your interior is full of small details, then all these
little things will seem like a mess right away. But a laconic and "boring" interior would easily endure such an "overload."
