Artful Efficiency
on the little hacks saving my mind, body, & time these days.
Hello, friends. I have been a little a quiet. I think I needed a little time to soak up with my family settling into our new home and pace, and truthfully, because there have been some better-ish days, I have been having a good time doing and spending less time documenting. I do enjoy the practice of both, though, so when I am away, know I am thinking of you and wondering how you all are, and missing being in this space with you. We should be back to our regularly scheduled weekly-ish routine around here, now. 😉 Let’s get into it.
I am not sure why it struck me after moving, but the notion that I needed to make everyday tasks easier and create solutions for “problems” in our home hit me like a wave. Seriously, I began looking for little time/organization/space/function saving hacks that makes everything from doing laundry to getting out of bed as easy as possible. Sort of obsessively.
After the diagnosis and the last year (almost two), everything was so hard, it makes total sense to begin looking for ways to simplify daily tasks.
this bone inlay decorative box I snagged at Homegoods. This pretty little thing holds the remote, sticky notes, my current six pens (does anyone only use one??), flossers (I floss all freaking day long all of a sudden, a lighter for the candles, and cute sticky flags for my design books + renovation notes. Hides a TON of small clutter which is good for my eyes, and keeps it all within reach, which is good for my mind…and my teeth.
my mudroom cabinet. All of the extra stuff goes there. Our pantry is small, and moving things like oils and spices out of there felt like freedom. For potato chips. The new cabinet houses the paper goods, extra pantry supplies, the pup’s belongings and food, party supplies…just a LOT. We, ahem, need to cut the back so we can easily access the electrical panel without Andrew having to shimmy behind it.
this space is headed in a moody direction. Black Magic for the trim and ceilings and a plaid wallpaper for the walls. Adding a little skylight to add some natural light in the space. Also adding this vinyl film that mimics reeded glass to hide some of the “less pretty” stuff.
this dryer lint bin. It may sound ridiculous, but this thing comes in HANDY if you have a small or galley-style Landry situation & cannot fit a garbage can in your space. It’s magnetic…sturdily so…and somehow it fits a crazy amount of lint in it before having to be cleaned out. Hooray for the tiny, magnetic, oddly specific trash cans.
This Dream Bed Blanket from Boll + Branch. It is the PERFECT weight to add on top of your quilt or coverlet in the warmer months. I imperfectly drape it (and drive Andrew insane when we are making the bed) at the foot and pull it up each night to be my cover that comes halfway up my face. P.S. it is ridiculously soft, too. Note to self: it is pricey. I’m the kind of lady who buys cheap drapes, and spends more on my sheets and fabric that touches my body. 🫠
Having an actual key/sunglasses bowl on the entry (ish) table. It’s true what they say…having a place to put the stuff means you put the stuff there and not random places! Now that we have FOUR drivers in the family, AND an actual small entry table, this fills an actual need.
these brass + wood shelves from Magnolia. I snagged these on sale, and having some open shelf storage in our kitchen is where form meets function. Until we add cabinetry to our kitchen (soon, we hope) we just don’t have enough storage. Once we do have the right amount of storage, these shelves will balance out the space, mirroring the floor to ceiling cabinets on the opposite wall. They draw the eye up in just the right way, and bonus, for now, I get some things out of my cabinets and onto the shelves.
the coffee nook in general. I am so glad we chose to create this little corner vs. go with a traditional table and chairs. We just are not table people. We are island people. I love having a comfy upholstered chair in the corner of the kitchen, where I can have some coffee in the morning, or Andrew can hang while I cook (and vice versa). I leave my pretty grocery list pad and a pen on the antique table to quickly jot down what we need as I move about the kitchen. I even have a nice looking bin under the table for storing all the tile, etc. samples we are working through for the kitchen reno. The table doubles as extra counter space and even as a writing desk for me. I get to look at the trees out our back windows, feel the sun on my face, and check in on my little deck herb garden each morning.
I have found the best, MOST absorbent dish towels of all time and I have ordered eight. And six dish cloths…I don’t even use dish cloths. The patterns are so much fun and y’all…if you try them, you’ll get what I am saying. Game changer.
these fleece shorts from Aerie. I have them in four colors and basically live in them. So soft, comfy and warm for us cold ones…and somehow, flattering for a pair of sweat shorts (don’t see my photo for proof. I am sure I have a better pic of them somewhere)
My new “What the Foundation” from Jones Road. I got sucked in on an IG ad. Bobby Brown was using words like “hydrated, fresh, luminous, youthful,” and my eyes glazed over as I selected my color and pressed place order. But honestly, thrilled with it. It really does give us middle-agers a luminous glow, a little goes a LONG way, it feels like I am wearing nothing, and in the summer, I imagine it will double as a moisturizer and foundation. Sort of perfect.
decorative boxes everywhere. In the bedroom, they are for daily meds and special jewelry I wear everyday. In the kitchen, for daily important mail that needs tending, on the entry table for extra sunglasses…you get the idea. I am picking them up at Home Goods and placing them everywhere.
This sock/undies/small bits organizer. Trust me.
My weekly meal planner with grocery list built in. Bonus points for me when I print out our favorite family meals to have handy, because, well, decision fatigue is real.
Well, this is getting lengthy, so apparently, there will be a part two of this random little series. Hopefully, it will give you some ideas or help in some way. Sometimes, I find myself going through the motion of “just how things are,” only to realize I really could make something, anything, work better for me. These are just a few of the ways I have been giving myself a break here and there.
Until next time, as always, thanks for being here.
-S