Design Choices to Avoid

(If You Happen to be a Neatnik)

Perhaps you have a tiny touch of OCD or some other little tic that makes you want things neat in your home. If you’re like me, your ears perked right up about now.

Recently I was watching an interior designer discussing popular design trends that are really difficult, if not impossible, to keep clean.

The popular choices are so enticing, but I think he had a great point in avoiding those design choices in you happen to be a neatnik.

Here are some of the things I’ve noticed (and avoided) myself.

Open Shelving

Especially in the kitchen, open shelving right now is so popular. You would never in 100 years see me putting open shelves in my kitchen.

Not only would I find them hard to keep clean, I find closed doors are better for me. Displaying beautiful pieces in the kitchen is not top of my list.

I do have a couple places I keep glasses out and I need to give them a little bath before I use them.

But they are really pretty and displaying them in my new arched cabinet makes me happy.

If everyday items are on open shelves and they get used and cleaned regularly, I think it would work fine.

What’s your opinion on that?

Shiny Surfaces

A few years ago, the glam look really took off. All the mirrored and glass surfaces in that décor are so beautiful.

But the thought of keeping a bottle of Windex on call is pretty daunting. Especially if you’ve ever seen my window cleaning prowess. Streaks are me.

But other shiny surfaces can be hard to keep up too.

In fact, our marble countertops in the kitchen are pretty marred up. Because guess why? Marble is soft. And we use our kitchen. A lot.

I had to really have a stern talk with myself that permanent marks on the countertop would not consume my attention.

And I was successful. I’m over it!

We do have a glass fronted media console in the family room. Luckily the vertical surfaces don’t build up much dust.

However, if you’re sitting in my living room and the sun hits just right, you might see a bit of dust and a few cat paw prints on our coffee table.

Actually, you might see it in dim light too.

Glass tables might not be the best choice if you’re a neatnik.

Chrome is another surface quite difficult to keep shiny and clean.

We do have chrome fixtures in our bathroom, but have found a brushed nickel finish to be a better choice.

Believe me when I tell you I wipe this shower handle down every single time I get out of the shower. The water spots make me crazy!

Lighting

Fancy chandeliers with a lot of crystals can be very painful to keep clean. As can be pendants or chandeliers that are hung very high. Since we all seem to have soaring ceilings these days.

A popular design trend right now are the rattan pendants and light shades.

Rattan and other basket weaves are beautiful and on trend, but really difficult to clean.

Luckily the light we chose for our dining room isn’t too hard to clean.

Free Standing Bathtubs

If you purchased a home built in the 90’s or 2000’s like we did, you might have a gigantic bathtub that never gets used.

Because it takes gallons of water and never stays warm enough for a good soak.

Oh, and how do you get in and out of those things?

The trend now is to remove the tub and put in a free-standing tub. And the problem with that?

If they are tucked into a nook or have a bit of free space underneath? Impossible to keep clean. Which is not a situation you want in a bathroom.

When we remodeled our bathroom, we completely removed the tub and made a large walk-in shower.

We still have our modestly sized tub in our main bathroom and it works just fine.

Light Colored Rugs

Give me a white rug every day of the week, please.

But keeping a white runner in the kitchen clean is pretty hard.

The best purchase I’ve made lately is this machine washable neutral kitchen runner with just enough foam backing to keep it slip proof.

Great purchase!

Wrap Up

Are you a neatnik? Are there design choices you made that you wish you could do differently?

Seeing all the influencers’ homes and their design choices is always so tantalizing. I MUST have this or that.

But sometimes if I sit back for a minute and let the fad pass, I’m happy I did because they are not all good fits for my lifestyle.

Thank you for listening to my little neatnik rant and I really do want your opinion. I’m always looking for ways to make life simpler.

God bless you and yours for a wonderful week.