77 Responses

1. Loved reality, pretty and boys !enjoy every mess because when they grow and leave it is so da…quite

2. Your house is still stunning. To echo a phrase … one can’t see the crumbs for the eye candy decor. And funny how a bit of a mess can be a magical motivator, hey?

   Looks beautiful.

3. Bless your ever-loving heart for posting things because I was about to have myself a good, long cry a the state of my own messy house {thanks to my neglect, and the help of two active kiddos ages 2 and 4}

   1. I almost had a long cry yesterday after my grandchildren went home for awhile, looking at the mess. They live down the block and are here everyday and make such a mess and they are 13 and 15!!!!!! I told them not to come today until 1 o’clock, but they showed up earlier, but I did have time to vacuum and mop! BUT then I think wow I am going to miss this mess when they aren’t here everyday. God, I love those boys!

      1. I have a large family that come and go (22) all at the same time when they’re visiting from out of town. The kids are from the ages of 4-13 and they’re all taught to clean up their messes–so they do! Otherwise, it creates a mess that’s too big for Grandma to handle, and she ends up dreading the visits with their unending messes. 13 and 15 year olds should not be leaving a mess anywhere, for anyone to clean up after. Some one is not teaching these kids about maturity.

      2. have them help you start picking up and putting away
         before the are out the door

4. I understand! Drywall dust was almost the death of me during our kitchen remodel.

5. I know exactly how you feel. Now that I have older kids, I let them know that they have to take up the slack when I’m involved in a project. “O.K. girls! Mama and your brother are going to demo the bathroom today! You are in charge of getting the laundry done and meals.” The house still gets messy, but at least we have regular meals and clean clothes during the crazy.

6. I love a clean house and it make me feel totally zen and relaxed when everything is clean and in it’s place. It also clears my head. Sometimes, when I have a lot to do, I’ll step back and clean. It de-stresses me. Love the cute comment your little guy made. Hard not to laugh when they do that!

7. I did the EXACT same thing yesterday!!! You couldn’t have said it better!

8. When my 6-year-old came home from camp today, he said, “It looks nice in here,” since I had spent some time cleaning, straightening and decluttering while I had the house to myself. Then he commenced to Lego building and pretty soon every surface was covered…

   But at least I got photos of it while it was clean.

9. yep. You just described my house and boys. DAILY.

10. My house is a constant mess too…and it drives me nuts because I’m such a clean-freak! BUT, when the toys are all put away at the end of the day and I can see my floors again, it truly makes my heart happy and that’s when I get creative! I never feel like I can get motivated and creative until things are all in their place. 🙂

    Thanks for keepin it real! Your house always look so beautiful!!

    Gail

11. Marian, My ‘kids’ turn 47 & 45 years old this fall. (Talk about SCARY!)
    We have a Golden Retriever…he more than MESSY” my sons made years ago.

    This evening I was sweeping the dining room floor, as I was sitting down after
    returning the broom & dustpan to the laundry room…I made the MISTAKE of
    looking at my newly swept floors, dog hair! grass from the recently mowed lawn!

    MESS LIVES!!

    1. As empty nesters, I totally relate to the fluffy mess of a Golden Retreiver. Yes, if you have one of those; mess lives! I love clean but, the fur child makes the clean room short lived. Gotta laugh.

12. you said it in your book….if nothing else can be done, a clean home is a pretty home. There’s a good reason clean and pretty are companion words. Pretty Clean. Clean Home. Pretty Home. It’s all good. And just so ya know….I have grown kiddos and the (ahem) male is still the messy one. Ha! Carry on MMS….you are being such a great woman.

13. Thanks for sharing this, it’s nice to know my house isn’t the only one! Ha ha. Blessings, Dawn @ We Call It Junkin

14. It’s called LIFE. A whole lot of life going on. My kids are grown and my house is always clean and organized now. I would trade it in a heartbeat for when the kids were still home and making messes. Except for maybe glitter. Hated the glitter phase….can’t ever get rid of it all!

    Love your blue & white rug!

15. In my house, we call it “Camelot Clean”. For one brief and shining moment…

16. What I love the most about you is that you are normal. You are also humble enough to share this with your readers. When I start to feel like I will never be successful with my dream I think of you and those hand painted ornaments you started with. It helps me every single time!
    Thank you for being so real 🙂

17. cool

18. Keeping my house clean is a constant battle with two kids, a messy husband and two dogs that constantly shed. It feels like a losing battle most days. I usually clean all day on Mondays when I am “off”. Today is Thursday and it looks like I did nothing on Monday. It totally stresses me out and I have plenty of temper tantrums about it but it goes on deaf ears. When my house is clean it relaxes me, makes me happy but it only lasts a few moments!

19. I love to see the evolution of your house. I know it happens because you are unafraid to let things go and let new things come into their space. I need to learn that, too. I’m good at acquiring, and not so good at releasing.

20. I’m in the middle of several projects and the house is out of control. Our washing machine died on Saturday, and last night my favorite tree came down in a storm. I wish I had a room as beautiful as yours to clean! I would spend the day in oblivion to the rest of the chaos around me. 🙂

    Beautiful room!

21. I am so glad I’m not the only one who feels so much more peaceful in a clean house! My mom had a sign growing up that said “A clean house is the sign of a dull woman.” but I feel the exact opposite. A clean house is the sign of a domestic woman who loves her house and home – changing it, living in it, creating it. It always gets messy, but deserves attention now and then!

22. It looks great – If it stayed that way, life would be less rewarding!! Enjoy the little messes, they grow into men really quick – And, it looks beautiful!

23. As a woman that suffered years of infertility treatments trying to have children, which never happened, I would LOVE to be cleaning up any mess that a child would make. I used to baby sit for a wonderful lady, who was a teacher. Her two children made big messes and her house was always messy in some fashion. She told me that her kids were more important and as long as the house was reasonably clean, she would rather spend time playing with her children and doing things with them. She would return to being a neat nick after her children were grown and out of the house.
    I say, give your children as much of you as you can, keep your home clean, but don’t sweat the small stuff like a toy here or there. Your children would rather remember a Mom that was good, not a good housekeeper. (As long as it is not dirty) 🙂

    1. Yes, I agree. I used to get very stressed about a couple of toys on the floors and I realized if I spent their young lives cleaning up every toy, spill, crumb, I would be miserable and would miss a lot of the joy in raising children. So, we play hard, build cushion forts and go to bed with toys on the floor more often than not. 🙂

24. I just LOVE your house (even when it is messy!!)
    Fondly-Lisa

    1. i love your house and all the furniture and design too

25. Messy means it is lived in! Love the natural sunlight! So pretty.

26. I have 6 and 4 year old boys too, and then throw in a dog and a 15 month old . . . there is a trail of random toys strung around my entire house! I have to remind myself to enjoy them at home while it lasts, because in a blink of an eye they will all be in college.

27. boy do i hear you on this one! except i have a big black lab to add his footprints and hair to the mix. 🙂

28. Your house is gorgeous! A little mess just makes you human.

29. It looks great but boy can I relate. In preparing for our home move, I’ve spent the last two weeks reorganizing my sons Lego, we are talking thousands of pieces of which does not include all the built projects. My husband walked in last night while I was organizing yet another case and he said “Your a saint.” To which I replied, “No, I’m just OCD.” I think saint sounds better. 🙂

30. Marian, I love that you allow your readers to see your real life! I love that you talk about your struggles of keeping a house clean and making workouts fit in and eating healthy. Thank you for your honesty. Also, I love your beautiful home and wish you’d come give me some ideas for mine!

31. THAT’S L-I-F-E!!!

32. I know what you mean, I have a full time job (on my lunch break right now), a husband, 2 boys, 1 girl, one dog, two turtles and I want to paint paint paint! So that means that yesterday’s dishes are still in the sink……. gotta love it!

33. When my kids were very young we lived in a 5 room apt. The girls were allowed to play and make messes but when they were old enough they also learned to pick up at the end of the day. One of the rules was if you finished playing with one toy you put it back before you got another. It worked out for us. They learned to be considerate and responsible. However it didn’t stop me from stepping on the occasional stray Lego LOL dang those things hurt!

34. Girl, can I relate! I just finished reupholstering and slipcovering some chairs and my house was a disaster! My kids are 8 and 11 and you’d think they would know how to throw away a food wrapper by now but apparently not. Crumbs, wrappers, empty cups…you name it! It’s driving me all crazy!! My kids went to their grandparents for the day on Tuesday and my house got all cleaned and actually stayed that way for an hour or more. It was heavenly. 🙂 I really do love my kids, though and know there will come a day when I will miss the chaos.

35. Know exactly how you feel. Love my house to have that NOT lived in look. My children are grown but everyone makes a mess. Pets can be worse than kids. Enjoy your little boys ,you will never have that crazy fun time again. Grand children are such fun now. I don’t even care about the mess. It is the best when they come to visit it is not often enough. Thanks for sharing!

36. Now I don’t feel so bad! And I agree with Peggy about pets. Even if they are non-shedding, like our 2 poodles, they still track in all sorts of stuff from the yard. Now if only we could train them to put their toys away at night !

37. It’s true…… enjoy while you can, boys are so much fun. God must have known that a daughter and I would have likely killed one another so He gave us 2 sons! Boys are so easy! But I wanted to let you know I just picked up a copy of Autumn’s Romantic Homes magazine with your home featured. Looks divine…… but we knew that before the article. My hat is off to you because you do so much…… I admire your work ethic, dedication and enthusiasm. You go girl! You’re a Rock Star.

38. You really opened up a pandora’s box with that post, lol. I had a kick out of reading some of the comments. Made me feel much better. When I get in creating mode this place goes to the devil in a hurry. My biggest kid (71) makes more messes than the dog even and believe me dog makes his share not even trying. He shed terribly before but after my giving him a bath on Tuesday it’s even worse but at least I got rid of the awful smell, phewy. Just automatically get out the little vacuum to scoop up his fuzzies every morning when I get up, then it’s done til tomorrow. Then there’s the cat fuzzies also who’s shedding like crazy. But we love our furry kidz so guess I oughta shut up and stop complaining/commenting and read some more of the comments people left on this very interesting topic. Just keep on keeping on. Happy summer

39. This is the big challenge for me. If I am working on projects and posts, the house and laundry are not under control. If they are, then I am behind on writing. When I find the perfect balance I will share it with everyone. Until then I control clutter and play catch up the same way too 🙂

    Hugs, Tanya

40. I hear you Marian! I just wrote a blog post about all the things I DON’T do! But living with a mess eventually has me so stressed nothing is fun. It feels so good to clean it up an start fresh again!

41. I love this! My 19-month-old son NEVER throws food… Last week during his nap time, I thoroughly cleaned the kitchen. What did he do after he woke up? Promptly emptied his bowl of Rice Krispies over the side of the high chair… Gotta love little boys! And we just found out we are having another little boy in November!

42. I so understand…been there done that. I love the color pallet in your home.
    Happy Day

43. Maybe it’s just me, but I couldn’t keep up with 5 kids messing up the house, so they have always known how to pick up after themselves. Even as young as 3, they got the whole “put your toys away”. Never looks as OCD as some Mom’s want it to be, but. . .

    And I admit the constant reminding to the last one at home [who is now 15 yo] gets a little old.

    But honestly? Stressing because there are crumbs on the floor when the kids actually *can* pick up after themselves.

    So, not worth it.

    You’re such a cool Mom, I am sure they would be happy to help.

    [Oh, and I LOVE your artfully arranged shots of what you consider messy. A full on Lego explosion would’ve supported the post better. Then again, that’s just me. hee]

    1. Yeah, I definitely trained them that mom will clean up after them, unfortunately. I’m working on that and they’ve done a better job at picking up…when reminded. I just need to stick with it!

       I actually picked up a LOT of Legos and toys and then took the pictures. I just didn’t think about posting about it until after I did the picking up. I don’t mind toys of the floor too much, though. It’s the dirt that was really bugging me.

44. haha. I love hearing the little comments your kiddos make. cracks me up. they sound like a riot!

45. My girls are away with my parents for a week. I have cleaned a lot, but have projects going all over the house!! I am being messy all on my own! Enjoy your clean family room while it lasts!

46. Thanks goodness I feel normal….the house was clean for the July 4th party….it took 4 of us 5 days….thanks sister for helping….now it’s back to normal…don’t send Better Homes and Gardens to my house unless you give me 5 days notice…lol. And thanks for making us feel normal….I would have never posted a picture of my craft room before it was cleaned! Miss Mseed we love you and your crafty mess!

47. Thanks for sharing your mess.

    I have 3 furkids, and my leg is still broken. I just have to pick and choose what gets done. Life is too short, and I found out it can change in an instant.. Getting things done just has to be a day at a time. It feels great when I get help!

48. Your mess is my clean. A few years back I was diagnosed with RA. Yep, don’t believe all the commercials you see on TV, where the Mom plays in the yard with the kids, fixes dinner, all while looking like a model. It doesn’t look or feel that way to the vast majority of us with RA. Believe me…our houses show it too! I can’t believe the adjustment I have had to make dealing with this mess. My poor husband does what he can, but it’s soooo different and I hate what our life has become. I would love to be able to clean a room in a few hours from top to bottom……your home is lovely.

49. You are so funny. Your home is so pretty, and I love the blue! I dont even have any kids at home anymore, and my house has crumbs and dust bunnies too! Life is messy, isnt it? I get stressed out too, when things are not clean and organized. Why do we do that to ourselves. our kids grow up and move out, and the time with them is so precious. Enjoy the rest of your summer, and your beautiful home!

50. I have always done my own cleaning and by many standards I would say we have a clean home. Not baseboard clean– but no crumbs, junk lying around, etc. I clean all the bathrooms every Friday and vaccuum the entryway and kitchen every night. I found that I never had time for the “extras” like the windows, baseboards, wood floor cleaner. In January I FINALLY treated myself to cleaning ladies. It is definately money well spent. Their first run through of the house blew me away. Now that we have done a “once over” they come every two weeks for 1 1/2 hours (was 2) and basically vaccuum the entire house, clean all the floors, wipe down all the kitchen cupboards, and dust. Having that done for me is such a stress reliever–knowing it’s done and I didn’t break MY back doing it! My girls are 10 and 13 and know to pick up after themselves for the most part. Rooms and the craft room can get out of hand at times but I let that go some. As for beautifying the home–we always make a mess (temporarily) to make something else beautiful in our home!

51. That’s so funny! No kids here but a little white dog and the foo-foo puffs all over the place drive me nuts! I’ve hurt my back so it’s pretty hard to get on the floor, and these floors need to be cleaned so badly. Waiting for a cool crisp fall day to wash windows… actually looking forward to that. 🙂

52. Marian, I can relate to that therapeutic feeling though of having a quiet house, you can get soo much done! It’s sometimes much faster and easier than asking, listening to the drama of “that’s not mine” or “I didn’t play with that”.I guess it depends alot on how much time and patience we have at the time the clean up is needed!

53. I adore your home crumbs and all. It is so refreshing. Can you tell me if your white chairs are slipcovered and if you bought them or sewed them yourself? I would love to slipcover several wing back chairs and bought an instruction book but it seems overwhelming. I would love to buy some. PS/ I love your blue and brown under the table.

54. Marion, you are so awesome to share your home. It is beautiful, crumbs and all! I so enjoy your posts and can’t wait to open your emails! Thank you for all the inspiration everyday. I too would like to know about the white chairs. I hope you tell me you bought slipcovers, because I can’t sew a stitch.

    1. Oh, Sherry. I did make them! Those were chairs that were given to me for free (leftover from a yard sale) and I slipcovered them in drop cloths about 6 years ago. Have you checked out my six part video series on making slipcovers. I’ve heard from a lot of people who have never sewn before that they were able to follow it…

55. Oh my, even with crumbs your house looks perfect to me. 🙂 I can’t get my 16 yo son and 40 yo, ahem, husband to clean up after themselves. *sigh* Love the rug under the dining table. I dream of the day I can rip out the cheap carpet the previous owners put in and put down some type of dark wood product and a pretty rug. 🙂

56. I’m with ya sister! Still looks gorgeous, though!

57. I love that they offered to mess it up again for you. Instead of leaving bowls in our family room, my children leave cups. But, when I ask who the cups belong to. Well, they belong to “not mine”. Funny that I ended up with this invisible kid named ” not mine”. He sure does leave a mess some days. 🙂

58. How perfectly refreshing to have you share the messy side of life! We see your beautiful home and wonder how you manage to keep it that way with children and your business. I just got married and combined our families with seven children total. I moved into his bachelor home and have been very busy cleaning, decorating, unpacking, and, oh yeah, adjusting to being the stepmother of five children along with my two (LOL). Your blog has been like a breath of fresh air. It has inspired me and brought a smile to my face. May the Lord bless you in your giving of your time and commitment to serving others!

59. Sounds like the child has a bit of whimsy in him! Your home is astounding. Could you please tell me what type of hangers/brackets do you use to hang the heavier platters on your walls? I am holding off adding them to my bedroom as I fear they will fall off!

60. Your house is lovely and full of so much goodness that I’m sure no one can even see the crumbs! Mine gets the same way though and it is indeed therapeutic to have a good cleaning day. Blessings to you dear Marion, Patti@OldThingsNew

61. Beautiful family room Marian – can you please tell me where you got that gorgeous blue and white rug?

    1. Hi Marian!
       I just found your website and I absolutely love your style! If possible I too would love to know where you got your family room rug…it is heaven. The fabric you use in your master bath is beautiful will you be giving out that info?
       Thanks so much I love your site
       Lucy

62. I love the hutch in the background of your family room. Can you tell me where you got it? I’m looking for two just like that to flank a window in my kitchen. I love free standing hutches! Thanks!

63. Thanks for sharing “real life pics”…..although I think your house is beautiful crumbs and all! I have to say that my husband would think I am nuts for having cream-colored furniture with 3 children and 2 dogs (2 of which are boys…and I didn’t include my husband)! I LOATH the cream and cripsness!! How do you keep it that way?? I would likely be following the boys around saying “Don’t wipe your hands (or face) on that!! Do you keep Tide pens on hand (LOL)??

64. …so funny – love your curtains, I don’t think I noticed them before 🙂

65. Marian, I feel the exact same way. I painted a huge built-in for 4 days straight last week and man, was my house a deeesaaaaster!!!! I love that your little guy has such great humor! : ) It looks lovely even if it’s only for a day or week or whatever! Take care!

66. Darling, your before picture looks like my “after cleaning” picture. I too have a 6 year old with a wild look in his eye, but it’s the new puppy that’s doing me in. Still, a couple of friends are coming over Saturday afternoon to do some painting, drink some wine and the housework can wait. I love love the new navy color. Cheers!

67. I just love your style. I can totally relate to your feelings about a mess. It stresses me out, too. Everything is just lovely!

68. I love the blue and white rugs in your living room! Where did you find those?