Skip to Content

Does your kitchen ever get so messy that you just don’t know where to start?

Clearly, I never have that problem.

A messy kitchen view.

When it gets like this, I usually just tell myself to start somewhere, to clear one section of counter space.

And, one section at a time, it really does improve. It’s not show-room clean, but in-good-shape-to-cook clean.

A tidied kitchen view.

I feel so much better cooking in a space that’s clean…when I have no clear counter space left, cooking stresses me out something fierce. I just hate having no place to set things down!

Of course, shortly after I took the second picture, I got my kitchen messy again and cleaned it up again.

It’s the ebb and flow of life in a house that’s well lived-in….get it messy, clean it up, get it messy, clean it up.

I don’t like the messy part of that ebb and flow, but on the other hand, I wouldn’t really want a house that never got messy because of what that would mean.

No toys on the floor would mean no children were there playing with them.

A consistently sparkling kitchen would probably mean that few meals were cooked there.

A perfectly neat bookshelf is pretty much only possible if no one reads the books.

A neatly folded blanket can’t be used to make a tent.

A piano without fingerprints and sheet music would be a silent one.

A tidy, shelved bag of towels and suits belongs to a family that hasn’t gone swimming.

Living is messy, isn’t it?

But I want a home where lots of living is going on, so messy, clean, messy, clean, messy, clean is just where I’ll need to be.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Michelle Binkley

Monday 2nd of July 2012

Can you tell me the color gray that is in the room shown here? It's beautiful!

KT

Sunday 1st of July 2012

Wonderful post and reminder.

Eva

Sunday 1st of July 2012

I should remind myself of this every single day... Thank you a lot for posting this, Kristen. I love this post.

Marija

Saturday 30th of June 2012

This post really resonates with me. I'm keeping it unread so I'll see it a few more times. Thanks for the reminder that messy means you're living! Now just gotta on the cleaning part of the cycle ;)

Grammomsblog

Friday 29th of June 2012

My house sure lookes "lived in"! lol . But when I get up in the morning, I like to have clean counters to start out........well at least the toaster and kettle counter!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.