<p>I have a close friend whose home looks like it is featured in Home and Gardens. My children hated going there to visit, I had them take off their shoes and they were under strict orders, “don’t touch anything”. Everything was top of the line, fragile, and spotless. Coats were never left out of the closet, pillows, (color coordinated), were fluffed and you were afraid to lean on them. Her biggest fear in life is breaking a nail and not getting her favorite nail manicurist to repair it. Sigh… I still love my home because it is a HOME, not a house.</p>
<p>I do not have room to store all kinds of doodads for different seasons. Martha has different homes and staff that get her homes ready for guests.</p>
<p>I am however very curious to learn if her foreman a few years ago at the Bedford house, is the same man whom Peter Zuckerman wrote about in Buried in The Sky.
[Meet</a> my Foreman Chhiring Sherpa - The Martha Stewart Blog](<a href=“http://www.themarthablog.com/2008/01/meet-my-foreman-chhiring-sherpa.html]Meet”>Meet my Foreman Chhiring Sherpa - The Martha Stewart Blog)
[Overview</a> Buried in the Sky A Book by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan](<a href=“http://buriedinthesky.com/overview/]Overview”>http://buriedinthesky.com/overview/)</p>
<p>I do like to decorate, but the things I change are just accents, like wreaths and dried arrangements to fresh. ( and because our house is so small, and many things are built in, there is only so many ways to rearrange things)
I do find that rearranging things,makes it easier to keep things nice, because it looks new & I notice when stuff is getting piled up more.
I also change slipcovers rather than getting new furniture.
I did learn that I have to store things that I still want to use occasionally in clear boxes, otherwise it is like burying them in the backyard- never to be seen again!</p>
<p>I had an old brass lamp that I spray painted chrome and changed the shade, it looks great. I’ve recently painted some old pine end tables, think cottage chic, and changed the hardware to glass pulls and handles. Changing slip covers or pillows, adding small throw rugs, changing or removing a window treatment can give the room look a brand new look.</p>
<p>I’m a pretty happy guy anyway, but some of my happiest childhood memories were the two summers my family lived in a tent in the woods. Our only furniture was a picnic table borrowed from the US Forest Service. </p>
<p>I tried to avoid going to my friend’s house where we weren’t allowed into the dining room or living room. We could only sit on the couch, not on the floor, or his father’s recliner, or his mother’s chair. Trying to raise kids in a sterile environment really misses some of the major points of human nature.</p>
<p>When my kids were younger & I drove carpools more often, I was always one of the favorites to ride with because I not only let them eat in the car, but when I would pick them up after swimming, I brought them * monster cookies* from the bakery at my community college.
( monster cookies are peanut butter/ choc chip & oatmeal)</p>
<p>It was a lot more fun than worrying about your car getting crumbs. ( & the wet/dry vacuums are very powerful- I did have seat covers, but fabric ones, not the vinyl that my grandparents used to have)</p>
<p>Speaking of kids eating in cars- My husband rode bikes with a group of men that all had older children; we still had the mini van and drove carpool. Once a year they took a long bike ride from an area about 1.5 hours from our home and would drive to the location. As we had the mini van, they would put the bikes in the back and drive together. The joke with the men was that if they looked under and between the seats they could probably make a meal out of the food they found 
In truth, it really was only crumb and some french fries, but every year they would joke about what they would find!</p>
<p>I’ve always admired my grandmother’s housekeeping and would like to try to emulate it someday. Her home decor could DEFINITELY give Martha a run for her money, but the beautiful things she does with her home are functional. You can roll around on the floor with the dog and climb over the couch and when you come back to the room later you would never know. When us grandkids would come we could spill things and drag our feet around as much as we wanted and her house could take it. Her little knicknacks and trinkets were mostly unbreakable, the fragile ones out of reach. She raised two kids and a collie dog in that house and you’d never know it. She just turned 80, my grandfather is even older, and she just adopted a new dog-- her home is as beatiful as ever. It’s really a talent. </p>
<p>I feel it’s sort of dismissive to suggest that anyone <em>too</em> into housekeeping probably doesn’t allow anyone to actually “live” in their home. Those are the lazy housekeepers, imo, that are only concerned with form over function. It’s easy to have a beautiful home if you don’t let anyone touch it. Not everybody whose home looks that way has that kind of lifestyle.</p>
<p>My best friend is somehow able to keep a home that always looks just-right, yet her family definitely “lives” in it. It’s a talent I do not have. As I said, my home is clean but cluttered. I would love to have a home that never looks “tired,” as mine so often seems to. My house is nicely decorated, but it just isn’t as put-together as I wish it could be. When we redecorate, I am thinking of using a decorator — I want someone who can help me use things I have as well as mix in new things for a fresh look. I have been looking through magazines, Houzz, etc. One of my coworkers is moving to a new home because she & her husband find that easier than redecorating their existing home! :)</p>