Household goods have a shelf life
Decluttering is great, but some things you can’t just toss; you must get another to take its place. If something is looking shabby or worn, replacing it will give your home a lift.
Designer Lauren Liess shares her home with husband and business partner David, five children, three dogs, and a gaggle of geese.
In the midst of this, she tries to keep the volume of items in her house under control.
We asked her which household items she was targeting for replacement – here is her list.
Bath towels
You might think towels last forever, but they really don’t. Every once in a while, she has to weed out those that are looking dingy or frayed.
‘‘My towels last only a few years, and they need freshening up as they turn kind of grey,’’ Liess says.
She keeps it simple by using all white for her bathrooms and black or grey towels for her dogs.
Bed pillows
It’s so easy to just forget about your pillows, Liess says. But they need to be examined at least every other year, because they get flattened and stained, especially with lots of kids in the house. She usually buys replacements filled with down or synthetic down.
‘‘I’m not keeping up with this one; I need to check on my guest pillows,’’ she says.
Doormats
Your doormat is the first welcome guests get when they arrive. A fresh mat is a good way to give your house some street appeal, even on a dreary day, and wet weather may have given your mat a workout.
Liess is a fan of natural coir mats and often uses them at clients’ homes. ‘‘I like the relaxed, timeless look and feel of coir,’’ she says.
Hand towels
Liess uses linen and cotton tea towels in her kitchen and powder room.
She keeps a basket of them in her kitchen, usually solid colours or stripes in natural flax tones.
‘‘I replace the ones in the powder room about once a week,’’ she says, taking them out of the dryer while slightly damp, folding them in thirds and smoothing them down.
House plants
‘‘We get used to looking at them, but it’s a good idea to go in with a critical eye to every room and get rid of the ones that don’t look good,’’ Leiss says.
Liess likes a bit of green in a room and prefers larger plants that make an impact. She has a stash of pots she reuses. She is partial to jade plants and loves a good fern.
‘‘I have good luck with ferns, even though I’m a plant killer,’’ she says.
Her favourite that she often finds at her local garden centre is asparagus fern.
She also sometimes looks for foxtail ferns.