How is everybody doing on this fine Monday? Today is the first day since last Tuesday that I’m not celebrating Christmas somewhere. The past five days… yes, five… we have had some sort of gathering involving food, gifts, and time with family. Isn’t Christmas the best?
Speaking of Christmas, did you get a chance to see all the incredible home tours this season? Some people have absolutely gorgeous homes, bursting with holiday cheer. (Here’s a peek at my favorite!) Today I’m giving you a tour that will not look anything like what you saw over the holidays. See, I’m here to give you a little dose of reality… my reality anyway.
Often times we put our best face forward. We want people to see our perfectly clean home, even if that means shoving all our crap in a closet somewhere. We serve a beautiful dinner when guests arrive and they have no clue you’ve eaten frozen pizza the past three nights. I, for one, flip through the Better Homes and Gardens magazines and wonder how on earth every home that’s featured keeps so tidy with their 5 kids running around. Sometimes I feel like I’m failing in the home department.
Here’s the reality… often times the mess is cropped out of the picture. Well, not today. Today I’m keeping it real. My reality, for the past 120 hours, has been this: Wake up, try to be productive (one load of laundry, empty and fill the dishwasher, make the bed… Kidding. I don’t think I’ve made the bed the last 5 days…), shower, grab gifts/food to take to the Christmas event of the day, stay out late, get home, throw the presents we received on the counters, floors, etc, get the kids (and myself) to bed… Repeat. My house kinda looks like Santa spilled his bag of presents everywhere… and then used all my dishes and just tossed them in the sink.
I created this tour to say this: If your home looks anything like mine, I’ve got a plan. After this lovely tour, I’m introducing you to the 8 Week Cleaning Challenge, so stay tuned.
Here’s me. Here’s my home. A beautiful mess that says we haven’t had time to clean and tidy and cook elaborate meals.
My Real Life Home Tour
Mudroom/Pantry
You may remember the mudroom from my first $100 Room Challenge.
Powder Room
That’s right. I’ve got a couple clean rooms in this house, and here’s one of them. This, as you may recall, was the first room I worked on for the One Room Challenge.
Kitchen
Painting supplies from the kids’ bathroom, presents, and birthday cake on the island. Dishes in the sink. Lovely.
Dining Room
That would be a peek at Christmas presents received: sewing kits, Playdoh, and a toy helicopter… on the dining room table… right where they belong.
Living Room
Yep. A bit of a disaster going on in here, but the fireplace makes it look like a cozy disaster… right? We’ve got laundry baskets full of more presents and an old blanket we used so the kids could eat pizza in the living room while watching the football game yesterday.
Office
Our office has become a breeding ground for all my blogging/crafting/diy projects. While this may be a great place to store it, I’m feeling confident that stacking it on the floor is not the best way to organize it.
Bedroom
It’s a little embarrassing when your bedroom is in worse shape than your children’s bedrooms. The sleeping bag on the floor is there because my youngest had a reaction to Amoxicillin and needed Benedryl around the clock for a few days. My sparking hairdryer was replaced, but apparently I thought that tossing the wrappers and box was just too much work 🙂 And making the bed has not been on the top of my list of priorities.
Laundry Room
Yay! The laundry room is still clean since its reveal as well! Although, I am doing laundry, so we’ve added a laundry basket and some clothes in the washer. (I apologize for the grainy “quality”. It’s a cloudy, cloudy today.)
Loft
This room is usually the messiest place in our house. It’s the loft above our garage, but doubles as a playroom. I guess since all the fun toys are downstairs, it hasn’t been used as much this week.
I have left out my children’s bedrooms as they look “typical”: beds are not made, a few odds-and-ends on the floors, but nothing you wouldn’t see on a daily basis. I also left out the kids’ bathroom since its reveal is coming up on Wednesday. I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Also not shown are the basement and garage. Hey, I didn’t want to scare you too much.
Introducing the 8 Week Cleaning Challenge
As you may very well be aware, the new year is upon us. Friday marks the beginning of 2016, and with a new year comes a fresh start. Many people create resolutions, and the top two are lose weight and get organized. Let’s focus on that second one. It can feel overwhelming to “get organized”. Starting on Monday, January 4th, I will be creating a plan for us, (Yes. I said us. Did you just see my house???) Each week during the months of January and February we will concentrate on one area of the house. For example, the first week, we’ll focus on bathrooms. Just bathrooms. I’ll share ideas for getting them clean and organized. Week two, we’ll move onto another area. After 8 weeks, your house will be cleaner and more organized. I hope you’ll join me on the journey.
UPDATE: While this challenge originated in 2016, you can start the 8 Week Cleaning Challenge any time. All posts were updated in 2020 to bring you even more cleaning and organizing ideas for your home.
Start the 8 Week Cleaning Challenge Today!
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I just found your blog. I am already so I pressed. You shared actual pictures of your
home. Thanks for sharing reality. I have not gone any further,but I can’t wait. I’d
write more,but I want to read your blog!
I think it’s important to show reality. I don’t know a single person who has little kids and keeps their house clean and organized 24/7. When looking through magazines and websites, I think we get the wrong impression… that other people are able to do what we cannot. Truth. We typically move the mess just outside the camera shot. I wanted to show that even though I share cleaning tips and organizing ideas and completed room makeovers, I’ve got messes just like everyone else 🙂
Hello, Erin. I just discovered your blog and stumbled upon this post. To me your home is beautiful. It looks filled with fun and love and energy and life! And isn’t that what home should be? I love design blogs and follow a number but in the end I think our homes should have comfort and soul. That’s what I saw in your home.
Having said that, I’m going to start reading your 8 week challenge. Sometimes my home could use a little less comfort. ?
Your comment put a smile on my face: “Sometimes my home could use a little less comfort” 🙂
Thank you so much for your kind words. I completely agree that homes are to be lived in, and a place to create memories. Often, when others are invited into our homes, they see it in its best state. We’re always cleaning prior to company arriving, but that’s is not a true reflection of what our homes look like in the everyday. I shared these images because I think we can all use a reminder that no one’s house looks perfect 24/7… at least no one I know.
Thanks so much for your authenticity. It is so refreshing to see a home where people live and make messes and eat pizza in front of the tv! The holidays has a way of unraveling me, so the beautiful home tours were indeed beautiful, but made me feel like more of a mess! Seriously, I have boys here and they are out of school! I can’t even keep pillows on the couch, let alone stage a beautiful holiday scene! I am looking forward to your upcoming series….I definitely could use it!
That is so funny that you mention the pillows never staying on the couch. My boys constantly toss them on the floor and I don’t understand why. Maintaining a clean/organized home with 3 kids is next to impossible, but I am ready to clean and organize so I can have, like, 2 minutes of clean before someone forgets to wash their toothpaste down the drain or tosses the couch pillows on the floor again 🙂
Enjoyed the tour and looking forward to your organizing tips!
Thanks Whitney! I’m kinda looking forward to the organization myself.
Yay what an awesome post! Your home is beautiful!
XO Ellen from Ask Away
http://www.askawayblog.com
Thanks Ellen! Hopefully even a bit more beautiful after some cleaning and organizing.
Love this post!!! We are so on the same wavelength that it’s scary – I’m also going to do a 2016 organizing challenge but it will last all year. I am so looking forward to whipping our house back into shape!
It is crazy how often we end up doing similar things!!! I’m excited to see what you’re doing for your year long organizing challenge. Definitely ready to clean up the mess 🙂
Great minds and all that ?
I love this. It makes me feel so much better about my mess – haha. When you see all the perfectly clean homes on blogs, pinterest, and magazines it’s easy to trick yourself into thinking that’s what everyone else’s home looks like. Thanks for the tour and I have to agree that the fireplace makes your living room look super cozy…even if it is a bit messy.
– Courtney
courtneylthings.blogspot.com
I think it’s refreshing to see real life sometimes. So often we are sucked into the thoughts you mentioned in your comment. And thank you for reassuring me that the fireplace does, indeed, make for a cozy mess 🙂
Love it! Nice to know you actually live in your home. The kids really do get to have toys out! Your life is REAL.
My life is most certainly real; why not show it off for once? Have a wonderful evening Luana!