Suddenly I see them everywhere, cobwebs! Dust clouds under the couch and a thick layer of dust on the baseboards. That requires more than a duster. Armed with a big bucket of suds, I set to work like a veritable Mien Dobbelsteen. Uptempo playlist selected on Spotify and off we went. Immediately burn some extra calories! I am fortunate to have had a wonderful “help in the house” for a few years now. I always look forward to it so much! Lovely the whole house fresh again and a shiny bathroom. With two young children, to the eye our house is never “clean” for more than 2 hours but the idea that she has had everything through her hands is golden.
#Cleaning itch
With spring in the air, most of us are starting to get itchy inside, too. Everything right off the bat: cleaning, changing the interior but also sorting out the winter clothes and getting some more green in the house.
Regularly I get calls: Esther, would you please join us? I don’t see it anymore, I can’t figure it out. I don’t know what else to do, but it doesn’t feel right.
I always want to experience space. This can be done by visiting, as well as by taking clear pictures of the whole thing from different angles. Color, light it’s in the finer details! Usually I get questions about the living room, sometimes it doesn’t even take that much to rebalance the space. The arrangement of furniture, a rug, a lamp. Mostly, it is the art of omission.
You know the thing, you go into town and come across all kinds of awesome knickknacks at the big home furnishing stores. Deco birthday gifts that just don’t match your interior, crafts from the kids, which must necessarily not be thrown in the trash. An ugly car collection from the boyfriend or that spiteful vase from your grandmother. Before you know it, your house is full of stuff you have no control over. All jammers that imperceptibly set the mood of your home. Coherence is lost, different styles create turmoil.
Golden tips for order in chaos
1. Stand in your living room with a box and put all the stuff you don’t need in it. So that cleans up already!
2. Children’s crafts are best grouped together, keep them together on a bulletin board and when it’s time to say goodbye you can always take a picture of them.
3. Relocate jammers or present them in a fun way.
Your friend’s miniature collections or other non living room proof jammers. Some items you banish to the guest room, still has a nice new place. Other items you can’t escape-not all boyfriends agree-or would like to keep yourself, there’s a great solution: A showcase cabinet! Choose the most beautiful ones and put them together.
4. Group heirlooms to which you attach emotional value, create space where you keep all your valuable items together. This can be a wall shelf or a space in the closet.
Do you have a family with young children and your house still most resembles an intertoys where a bomb has exploded? Been there, done that! Then arrange a cool toy barrel for each child, put the toys they are currently playing with the most in it and change it regularly. This way, your child also discovers something new every time and it looks nice in your interior. You can customize these with your own text!
A big trend in home living is Urban Jungle, lots of green in the home! From catus to montesera, palm trees and banana leaves. A super fun trend that I can totally relate to, but dosed please! Making different places in the house groups of greenery, this enhances the effect! I also did it on a homemade sidetable from old wagon boards, this serves as a “jungle table” I placed a beautiful geometric fox for the wall with it.
Bulging closets are a thing of the past!
As a fashion stylist, I am frequently asked for tips and tricks for picking out winter clothes. There are some helpful basic tips for this as well:
1. Look critically at your collection as to what you will continue to wear this spring, think: cardigans, thin sweaters.
2. Clothing you’re really done with put aside immediately, read: bag of max, otherwise you’ll come across them again in the fall.
3. Winter clothes that you will wear again next year move to – if you have the luxury – another closet and otherwise temporarily into boxes.
A must for every closet include: a good blazer, jeans, several tops/T-shirts that you can easily combine with biker jackets and denim jackets. As a Fashion Addict – having always worked in fashion – I have all my basics, jeans, tops etc. in a separate closet. You know, my husband has 2 shelves and I have the rest. I also have a closet of special clothes, which I don’t want to part with yet, but also don’t wear very often.
I like to present my “new collection” items on an FBRK clothing rack. These clothes racks are of a perfect size, namely 1 meter wide, 1.5M high and have a cool shelf where you can put all your sneakers. That way you can see at a glance which outfit you are going for today! Outfits for the whole week fit on it with ease! The four wheels with brakes make it easy to move. They can be ordered in any size.
Should I be able to help you with anything? Let me know! I do it with love!
Love Esther
