Surefire Way to a Clean House

HAVE A PARTY!!!!

Seriously, have a party. I’ve always said this. The best way to get me to clean my house and make decisions about decorating issues I’ve been putting off is to put a party on the calendar and invite people over. It’s amazing how that impending doorbell will act like a wind-up knob in your back and get you going.

I’ve written the last few days about getting ready for my husband’s office party here last night. It went well. There was even a point when I noticed that hubby had left our master bedroom door open, and while I did go close it, I didn’t trample anyone to get there.

But the best part of the process was that I found a decorating idea for my half-bath that I absolutely LOVE!

I don’t consider myself a decorator. I do consider myself quirky and eclectic, and love when I see other people’s homes that combine quirkiness with decor in an artsy–fartsy way, but I rarely feel like I achieve this. When I try something, it usually just turns out a little dumb-looking.

I’ve been working on my half-bath since last summer, when I had a half-day with no kids and painted it. I made a very last second decision to switch from the color I had planned to get, and I greatly regret it. While I like the crazy bright blue color, I’m not convinced that I like it enough to give it the second coat it really needs. So I’m sortof in limbo.

But regardless of paint color, I’m keeping this new decor.

My parents stayed with some friends last summer and my mom shared what she thought was the neatest idea from their house. They had decorated their half-bath/powder room with all of the husband’s Boy Scout plaques/awards. She said the walls were covered in them, and it was so fun and interesting. I thought this sounded cute, but didn’t really think I had enough of anything like that.

Since painting my office, I hadn’t rehung the show posters from plays that I did in my now-quite-distant past. I love the color of the office so much and it gives the room a more sophisticated feel than the 80s blue-and-white-striped country wallpaper did (amazingly). I wasn’t convinced that I wanted to put them back up in here, so they just continued to blend in with the rest of the clutter in the master bedroom until this weekend.

While cleaning/excavating/decluttering the master, I wanted the posters out of there. They’re framed, which makes them both bulky and a huge liability, because they could easily break if a child happened to (hypothetically) wrestle with his brother and one of them fell into it. I don’t want the kids hurt, and I don’t want the frames ruined either.

Then I remembered about my mom’s friend’s idea, and it hit me! Put them ALL in the tiny half-bath and they would cover most of it!

I loved it, my husband loved it when he got home. And, best of all, I got huge compliments on it last night at the party. One woman, in fact, felt the need to explain to the entire group WHY she had been in the bathroom for so long (I seriously had started to be concerned about her). She really loved it, and this wasn’t even someone who had been here before and liked it compared to the intense blueness. She just liked it for what it was.

So, I now have a place for all of the very expensively framed items that really didn’t fit into the decor in the rest of the house. I am 35 now, and some are from when I was 16, so I love being able to display them in a quirky-fun-trip-down-memory-lane kind of way instead of an isn’t-she-a-little-old-to-decorate-like-she-lives-in-a-dorm kind of way.

There are three more that are on the walls that can’t be seen, and I’m planning to get some ikea frames for my others from college that were never framed. The more coverage the better!

Now to find some Shakespeare themed fabric to make curtains!

This post was linked at Works for Me Wednesday. And since this is definitely a frugal project using things I already had, I’m also linked to Frugalicious Friday.