So you know how I feel about cleaning...

...But it actually just got a little better.  

And if you don't know how I feel about cleaning:  Although I love a clean house, I STRONGLY dislike the act of cleaning itself.  A lot.  I mean, like buying the better-looking cleaning supplies they now offer and I'm okay with a little here & there, but when it comes to vacuuming and mopping & all of that... ugghhhh.  There's something about doing the same thing over and over that feels futile to me.  No thinking required in cleaning really, just doing.  The same thing you did yesterday.  (Or let's be honest... with me, a couple of weeks ago ;) ;)

A few months ago, I was contacted by someone from Black & Decker about doing a post on a product of theirs with an emphasis on showing how I "embrace the luxury in cleaning" with their product.  (With the way I feel about cleaning, I thought this was laughable...  Cleaning has never been luxurious for me and usually involves sweatpants and a ponytail.) I often say no to product pitches, but when I saw what is was, I said, "send it to me!!!"...   I was definitely seeing how this product could make cleaning more luxurious for me...

It's a dust buster.  But seriously the best dust buster ever.  It's from their Platinum Lithium Series.  

What I liked about it when I saw the photo was that it's small and light...

There were no cords to worry about...

 (Do you see where I'm going yet??)

It arrived and we charged her up.

It can be used effortlessly.  

"Hey boys! Look at this machine we got in the mail!!"

"What is it mommy?!!"

"It's your very OWN vacuum!!"

{Merry Christmas Christian!!!}

"And it's for you too Justin!!"

"But you have to promise me you boys are going to share it."

I have really embraced the luxury in cleaning with the Platinum Vacuum because I can literally be sitting as my house gets cleaned!!

The boys use it to clean up their messes almost every day (why does it seem like we could feed a small army with what falls on the floor under their chairs??) and we keep it right in the kitchen.  It's so light & powerful that they literally just have to walk around with it in the right general area and it sucks up all the crumbs.

But in all honesty, I use it a lot too.  I love it because I can just grab it from the kitchen drawer to clean a quick mess...  which usually leads to an entire floor vacuuming (It's addictive!!) but what I like about it is that when I take it out to vacuum something, I'm not committed the way I am when I take out the big vacuum.   This way, I can stop whenever I feel like it.  And I don't have to deal with the plug.  I've used other dust busters over the years and haven't really been impressed before.  But I've had it for a couple of months, it's still going strong, and I love this thing.  (And especially how it involves my kids in helping with free labor chores.;)

If you want to check it out, here's the link to it: BLACK AND DECKER PLATINUM LINK
Feel free to embrace the luxury of cleaning too ;) ;)



If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Visiting Sadie + Stella

I'm over at my blog friend's Lindsay's today to be a part of her "Favorite Room" Series...  Lindsay writes Sadie + Stella and she's fun and sassy (yes I said sassy...  do people still use that word?? ;) and talented...

I shared more details on a favorite project of mine- the DC Row House that was recently featured in Small Rooms Decorating Magazine:

I'm thrilled & honored to be sharing over at Sadie + Stella today- thanks Lindsay!!  Click here to visit!

On another note, I've got some really exciting things in the works with the fabric line & I will share with you as SOON as I can!!!




If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Our Kitchen Island Continued... And a note on Honed Marble

Hope you had a great weekend!!  We got the teensiest bit of snow (not enough!!) and hung around home for the most part.  The guys worked on our island and I'm loving how it's coming out:

The reclaimed wood from Lorimer was applied horizontally across the drawer fronts.  It's almost totally flat when you look at it and the guys did an amazing job of keeping the wood flush on the sides of the drawers.

Here, Spiderman is investigating the newly applied tape "pulls" on the drawers:

(This means he can now get into the drawers himself which makes my life easier.   The kids can grab cups and get water from the spout on the outside of the fridge..  They can ask for a snack and I can say go ahead & get it.  Ahhh drawer pulls- who knew?!!)

Anyway, they still have three more sides to go, so we're only part way there, but I am so excited with the results so far!!  To read more abou the process, check out my last post here.  And finally, we have white honed marble on top of the island and I LOVE it.  It's super-easy to take care of  and looks and feels so good.  I really wish it didn't have such a bad rap.  (And I have two boys and a baby, we entertain a lot and we are faaaar from careful.)   In general I find that people (who've never been exposed to it & are listening to the stone companies)  are so afraid of using it & I feel like they're really missing out on something special.  Yes, some things can stain it (red wine is the only thing I've noticed when it's sat out for hours on there) but the stains turn into pretty gray marks... I don't even notice them with the movement in the marble.  I'm actually dying to dirty this thing up a bit.  I've left so much stuff on it in the hopes of seeing what it would do and not much has happened though it's definitely gotten prettier as it's seen more use of the past couple of months.   Like what I love about most natural things, life changes it and makes an impression on it.   I don't get why unchanging and perfection should equal beauty.  I feel the opposite.  (Except about my face haha!! j/k)

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.