I thought it might be fun to walk around the house with the Flip cam and show you guys how each room can look on an average day. You know, before we pick the clothes up off the floor, put away Clara’s toys, and fold the big blankets that we snuggle under on the sofa. So here’s an impromptu house tour (while John and Clara ducked out to the post office and grocery store) in all of its average everyday glory:
Things to note:
- Ugh, I have a cold. Sorry about my annoying voice. Who am I kidding, my voice annoys me even when I’m not crazy congested.
- I’m terrible at walking around, talking, and holding a camera (too much multitasking, pardon the Blair Witch Project-esque jolts).
- For those who requested updated office photos in this post, you can see it in 3-D (well, almost) in the vid.
- Burger is so cute. I love how he comes running in and steals the show (and is later seen relaxing in the window).
- I have no idea why I take the time to explain Clara’s music class kit. It’s so weird what you think is noteworthy.
- You can sneak a peek at John’s behind the sofa console project’s progress. Oh and when I say it’s not level and it slopes away from the wall, it’s because our floors are slanted, not because John’s work is shoddy (more pics and details on the big console build this afternoon).
- Yes, my ceramic pooch is still sitting on on the back patio. I just can’t bring myself to let go of him yet. But I’m working up to it. One day at a time.
- You can sneak a peek at the two 30 x 40″ canvases that we got super cheap at Michael’s (more details on our plans for them soon).
- I have no idea why at the end I’m talking about other rooms while walking back through the house and aiming the camera at the dining room and the kitchen (it’s just odd to show the kitchen and say “the messy playroom”). It’s official: I’m no Spielberg.
- My dramatic ending on my purse is beyond weird. What is wrong with me?
Here’s some bonus “ordinary day” behavior. We always tell people how Burger sleeps like a human (with his head on the pillow and his body tucked under the covers) but people rarely believe just how hilarious this is. So here’s some visual evidence that I snapped this morning. I promise this isn’t staged. John got up first today, so I reached over and took some pics after Burger crawled up from the bottom of the bed to “steal” John’s place and sleep in at least four more hours. What a life.
What about you guys. What would people see if you randomly shot photos (or a shaky nausea-inducing video) of your house before cleaning up? Anything embarrassing out there like a teddy bear in the bed or a man-thong on the floor? Thank goodness I put John’s leopard one away before filming that video. Haha. Kidding. Sorry honey. I know just reading that is gonna make you all flustered.
Lilly says
God I love u for that video! Isn’t crazy how we’re all happy about ur house bn a mess? Now I officially don’t feel as bad for my house. It’s not as messy at the moment but my house is like half the size thank God, because I don’t know how u do it. I have a 19 month old and I’m 36wks pregos, so it isn’t easy to keep it up to date. But I think I might just take the day off thanks 2 u. I wondered how u guys keep the house so pic ready all the time, so I am relieved to know that u guys can have messes too. U really are normal, crazy, fun loving human bns.
Lorrie says
Dog toys EVERYWHERE is what you would find at my house, and half chewed rawhides!
Winnie says
That’s exactly how my two shih-chis sleep! I can’t manage to snap evidence since they always decide to run back under my covers when the camera is out. Cute to see Burger doing the same thing :)
Nikki T says
Great tour!
Our dog also sleeps like a human in the bed…but she’s a 75lb chocolate lab!! :)
Ally says
My dog Chloe (min pin/doxie mix) does the same as Burger! If I can’t find her I can go to the bedroom and sure enough shes tucked in like a person. I am glad other dogs do it too :-)
Emily says
Our min pin/chihuahua sleeps the exact same way, well when he’s lucky! He starts out at the foot of the bed between us but when I get up in the morning he scoots himself to my pillow. There’s always a little jealousy when I see them still sound asleep and I’m up for work.
Amy Blake says
Too funny! We live like this too! Love, love, love Burger sleeping on the pillow. We have a mini-weinie dog who does this too. We call her a human-dog. It’s really cute when she does it while sleeping with our kids but not so cute when she is in the bed with me and tries to sleep on my pillow (while my head is still
on it)!!
Kelley says
I know this has been said before in the comments, but it’s so cute that you can see your napkin in your purse in the last shot!
Jodie says
Love this post!!! You ARE normal :D
Not counting your super-natural diy-ing skills and extraordinary decorating sense, of course!
Melody says
I LOVE the Burger bed shots!
Lilly says
Also I have to put one of those baby dividers on my back of the hose mini mudroom because my daughter is also interested in the garbage,LOL so I too had to put mines overthere because it is not safe in the kitchen and I have to keep the bathroom door closed for that matter too. Isn’t funny with so many pretty colored, clean, good smelling toys and she wants to peek in the trash can.Yuk. I’d like to add that part of the reason why my house is cleaner now than b4 is also thanks to u guys when I started reading ur blog um bout a yr ago I am ottoman crazy. I own like 5 of them and I don’t know if I’ll ever stop buying them where addicted to concealed messes. So thank u, thank u, thank u.
lisa says
baha! i love burger. my dog tries to sleep like that, but she’s lucky i let her on the bed!
if i were to snap some photos right now you’d see a lot of dog toys all over the living room floor, dog fur on the sofa AND my bed (naughty girl sleeps on both while i’m at work), and currently a tiny trash can filled with tissues. i’m also fighting a cold. it’s not so awesome…
Jerri says
I was so looking forward to seeing Clara sleeping in her crib! One of the sweetest things in life is to watch a child sleep!
Meredith says
Yes, I LOVE posts like these! Also, I was cracking up about the redbox and random articles of clothes strung everywhere–that is totally our house!
Reenie says
Thx for keeping it real!! :)
Love the pic of Burger
I hope you feel better soon Sherry.
Love my NETI POT for allergies and sinus probs.
Rachael says
Yay! Glad to know you’re not perfect. I was starting to wonder if Clara had any large-ish baby toys. Makes me feel better when my house starts to look like a day care centre puked all over it. Thanks for the laugh!
Georgia Rowe says
I have a cold at the moment, and i am currently grossing my collegues out by blowing my nose every 5 mins… *so* embarressing! argh!
My dogs diesel and vincent sleep like that everyday! haha
Oh wouldnt you love a dogs life! :)
emmy A says
thanks for the video. i was just wondering to myself the other day where clara’s toys are. there are always toys scattered in our living room and i just never see them in your house pictures. it’s good to see the “real deal.” it gives me hope that my house isn’t a total pit. AND i can tell my husband that it’s ok if i leave my blanket on the couch because i’m just going to use it again the next day. he’s always following behind me folding it up.
Meredith says
I loved this tour! I think that’s how our home looks on any given day as well. Why do clothes always end up on the chairs in the bedroom? We have a mountain of clothes there and it’s always that way! Thanks for letting us know into your home:)
Martha says
You know, I have to say that I really appreciate seeing that everything is not perfect in your house. I often feel bad that our place is kind of cluttered during the week and mail sometimes piles up, so it’s nice to see that it’s not just us!
Jessica says
Yup, I love you even more now. Our house looks exactly like this on any given day (probably worse since all of our stuff is strewn over less than 1,000 square feet). But somehow I don’t feel so bad about that now. They’re all signs of happy play and life well lived – or so I tell myself :)
Debra says
HA!! My dog sleeps just like that. Every morning after my hubby leaves I wake up to the the site of my Beagles head on my hubbys pillow. SOOO funny!
Snickrsnack Katie says
OMG, you totally DO sound like Natalie Portman. Wow. I have been trying to put my finger on that one for the longest time. That is almost uncanny. And yeah, I can hear a little Mila Kunis, too. You have a great voice! Don’t be embarrassed by it. :)
I love seeing your house in slight disarray. Makes you guys seem even more real. I always felt like “Damn, these folks are so neat and tidy all the time!” It is nice to see a tiny bit of clutter here and there. Thanks for sharing!
Chris says
So my first comment on your blog, and I’m going to be a total girl and ask “where did you get your purse???…I LOVE the color!”.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, that’s from a boutique in NY (don’t remember the name) but I spent over $150 on it and never sweated so hard after a purchase. Well, that was over six years ago and I still wear it almost every day! Best money I ever spent.
xo,
s
Cindy says
Oh, thank God. I feel better now that my house has stuff laying around too. Whew.
Burger? How funny. And your purse is super cute. “Man thong” made me retch a bit. haha xo
ginai says
Awww, LOL!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE that you did this video! I LOVE you Sherry! U are so lovable really! U just put it all out there mess and all and showed that U guys REALLY ARE Normal! and at the end your purse… you have that Napkin in it! heehee!!
love everything that you guys do! everything!!!!
-ginai
Ali says
I can not tell you how much this post made my day! I had no idea how happy it would make me but as I saw one messy room after another and so many projects in progress but not finished I began to feel better about our own messy house! I have like 5 projects going on at a time! But they do get done eventually – as do yours. And we have a junk room too!
I’m also glad that you are so forthcoming about what you remove when you stage photos – like the bench in your bedroom. It makes me realize it’s ok to remove some unsightly items for a good pic. It’s not lying – its just taking good photos!
You guys are the best!
xoxo
Ali
Kelly says
SO nice to see your house looking lived in! Not that I didn’t believe that you actually lived there, but I was starting to wonder about how the HECK you managed to keep your house so stinkin’ perfect with a child. I have a hard time WITHOUT children!
ginai says
*SnickrSnack…AGREED! not only does she SOUND like Natalie Portman, she totally LOOKS like her too!!!! ((:
Amanda says
I love to see that your house isn’t perfect all the time. I love a clean house, but the reality is that on any given weeknight you’ll find my work bag and lunch box next to the front door and Jon’s jacket and boots in the middle of the mudroom. The curtains on the laundry room will be open and something will be on the table. The goal is always to go to sleep Sunday night with a clean, picked up house so that we can at least start the week off on a good foot!
Tracy says
Thank you for posting this… I feel less freakishly slovenly.
Mike @HA says
Thanks for showing the real-life house! You cracked me up with the dramatic zoomon the purse ending :) Do you think Burger heard, “Burger’s leash” and got excited? We used to always have clothes on our bedroom chair and it drove me nuts. We cut an ikea chair in half and mounted it on the wall so we always have a “chair” to throw clothes on but can sit in our real chair:
http://www.athomealterations.com/2011/03/how-to-cut-chair-in-half.html
Thanks for the tour!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, yeah he heard me say his name and came running in like “what’d I miss?!”
xo,
s
Abbey says
That picture of Burger is so cute! We have a pug (Tank) and he does the EXACT same thing. I get up an hour before my husband and every morning he crawls up from the bottom of the bed and situates himself on my pillow the same way! If we allows him, he would sleep in between my husband and me that way all night.
Jordan says
Is it pathetic that I think I’ve read your ENTIRE blog since yesterday when I was introduced to it? I am in the midst of starting a blog and you guys are such inspiration! What web hosting site do you guys use??
LOVE everything you guys do.
You’re the greatest!
Jordan :)
YoungHouseLove says
Wow, you’re dedicated Jordan! That’s impressive.
As for our web host, we use Liquid Web and like them very, very much!
-John
Carolyn H. says
Your house looks like mine. I feel like I’m constantly picking my husband’s clothes up off the floor. And he feels like he’s constantly doing my dirty dishes.
It’s nice to read your blog as a kind of break from reality where everything is basically clean and pretty. It’s so soothing, consistent and even the problems are manageable. But it’s also nice to see the flaws, like in this post today. I think that I like you guys better and can relate when I see the mess.
The balance between a heavily-edited blog in which everything is perfect and a real-life blog in which the flaws show must be hard to achieve, but it’s much appreciated.
Erin B. Inspired says
This is one of my favorite Chihuahua traits. J is typically home on Fridays and the Chihuahuas sleep in our bed until I come home for lunch then go back to bed and sleep until 2 or so. Either J is really boring or they’re just really sleepy. I just love that they’re ready to snuggle 24/7. They make great sick buddies. :)
Sarah says
That was so refreshing!! haha Thanks for sharing :)
Kate says
This post just made me feel much better about myself and the state of my house.
I have a very random question. I have the exact same green glass soap dispenser in my bathrooms. Do you clean it? I find that it gets horribly clogged and then some unsuspecting guest tries to use it and it sprays them on their pants. Do you have any ideas on how to clean it? I thought of forcing a vinegar solution through it, but I haven’t tried it yet.
YoungHouseLove says
We use Dr. Bronner’s soap which recommends that you water it down so that seems to keep it from getting clogged. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Martha says
Still, looks nice and clean! Thank you for sharing; this makes me feel so much better about my own home, with my OCD tendencies…always worrying that things should be cleaned, picked up, and look like a magazine spread. Our daughter likes magnets now as well, how fun. And what is it with husbands and their randomly placed clothing throughout the house?!
Ali says
Haha! Love Burger!! My husband and I have a chihuahua and she does the exact same thing. If she gets in bed before we do, we have to fight for pillow space until she retreats to the foot of the bed. She also will paw the freshly tucked in sheets while giving the sad puppy face after we’ve made the bed in the morning before leaving for work. Maybe it’s a chihuahua thing?
Shunta says
Oh this is a favorite post!! Thanks so much for the tour!! AND the pic of burger. I’m definitely passing this link on to friends to see Burger sleeping like a human!! LOL!!!
Ashley says
Our little dog, Bo, sleeps like a human too. It gets me everytime. Why are they just so cute?
Leslie says
Fun post! We like to keep the house (mainly downstairs) in a ‘lived in’ state that can easily be quick-cleaned if we have drop-in visitors. Of course we don’t have kids and I don’t tend to keep unnecessary things, so it is really easy to do that:) We also keep clothes in the chair of our bedroom (totally hubby, not me!) The guest bedroom is in constant ‘what do I do with this?’ purgatory, because I use the closet in there as an office and things tend to congregate in piles until I get sick of it and sort through it.
Shannon says
This is so timely, so THANK YOU! I was just finishing the playroom/craftroom redo yesterday and was talking with my sister about keeping the rest of the house neat while doing projects and how I was finding it just impossible to do. I’m so glad to see that your house looked a whole lot like ours on any given day. Like others have said, I tend to beat myself up because our house doesn’t stay company ready at all times so I’m glad to see you sharing that yours isn’t either. Thanks again!
alg says
I love that you did this post!
I’m working on getting my own DIY-type site going & I was just complaining this morning about how straightening-up the house in order to stage the ‘before/process/after’ pics is almost as much work as the projects themselves.
And frankly, it’s a little annoying how perfect houses/yards ALWAYS look on DIY blogs. I mean, I know that’s kinda the point, but still… we all live in the real world. And in the real world, your house might look fantastic overall, but you’re still going to have dishes in the sink & tennis shoes all over the living room.
Good for you for not being afraid to let your human side show!!
PS — I might be alone here, but the dining room chairs are kind of starting to grow on me. They bring that peacock-y, turquoise-y color (which I lovelovelove) from behind the shelves & right out into the room. I’m sure the chairs will look even better once you rehab them, but for the time being they’re really not impossible-to-live-with-let’s-just stash-them-until-they’re-redone.
Jacqueline says
Great post! I have a few quick questions for you. Do you have a set schedule for cleaning certain areas of the house (for ex. bathrooms on one day, bedrooms on another) Also, are there certain tasks that you make sure to do daily, weekly, etc. I ask because I’m having trouble coming up with a cleaning routine/schedule that works for me. Sometimes it feels like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to clean the house, do projects around the house, and actually get to enjoy it!
YoungHouseLove says
Check out this post for all that info. We also have a whole category on our Projects page (see that tab under our blog header?) devoted to cleaning, so there’s more info there.
xo,
s
Jacqueline says
Thank you! I try to read through comments/search the archives to make sure I’m not asking a question that’s already been answered, but sometimes I just don’t have the time :)
YoungHouseLove says
No worries at all! We know there are TONS of posts to sort through! Sometimes we even can’t find something we’re looking for. Haha.
xo,
s
Jessica says
I recently blogged about wanting to see before pics of magazine homes. Kudos for keeping it real.
Around our small house you’ll often find a trail of our (my husband and I) clothes from our room to the bathroom, toys in “heavy traffic” areas like the hallway or in doorways, and half-eaten baby-breakfast sitting on the counter that I haven’t cleaned up yet. Oops!
Sally says
Does your gray living room look more cheerful in person? It looks a little gloomy in the video.
YoungHouseLove says
Nope it looks even more gloomy in person. Just kidding! It’s very soft and sweet. We love the color (which is why we continued it into the hallway and will paint our office and dining room the same color). In general our camera is much better at capturing color (the Flip is a bit less crisp and accurate so things tend to look a bit darker).
xo,
s
Lisa says
I think I want Burger’s life, ha ha. Very cute.
Lana says
Hmm, everyone seems to be commenting that they love seeing this other non-perfect side of you. Well I’m still jealous: YOUR HUSBAND RUBS YOUR FEET??!!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, only when I’m sick and I look particularly miserable.
xo,
s