Every once in a while, there’s a moment when your house starts to feel slightly… off.

Not messy (necessarily) or broken. Just heavy or tired, or a little stale.

That’s usually when people either ignore and carry on living in a room they don’t really love right now, or panic and decide they need a full refresh.

You don’t. Don’t start re-painting because you’re restless.

You don’t have to go buy more decor, or totally overhaul a room. Just a functional reset is where to start…a reset that actually makes daily life feel lighter.

Here are the seasonal home resets that make a real difference.

Reset the light

Light changes more than we realize.

In winter, we rely on lamps and overhead lighting. In summer, we get more natural light. Think about as the seasons change.

Try this:

• Swap heavy lampshades for lighter ones
• Change bulb temperature if needed (generally I only like warm bulbs, but I know people feel pretty passionately about this! I do use a cooler one in the kitchen in winter so I don’t fall asleep at 4pm)
• Move a lamp to a darker corner
• Simplify window treatments, and make sure they are hung high and wide enough to show the WHOLE window while they’re open.

It’s not redecorating, just adjusting how the room feels at 7 p.m.

That alone can change your entire mood in a space.

Clear surfaces that slowly filled up

Surfaces accumulate things gradually. Mail. Seasonal clutter. Items you meant to put away (don’t look at my house right now).

Once a season, clear your most-used surfaces completely: kitchen counters, entry table, coffee table, bathroom vanity…

Put everything somewhere else temporarily. Then only return what actually belongs.

Don’t think of this as just tidying, but of making sure everything that was out is needed/wanted and actually has a home.

You’ll usually realize that half of what was there didn’t need to be. And if you want to go further, read more simplifying tips.

Rotate textiles, not decor themes

You really don’t need bins of seasonal decorations.

You probably just need different textures (you know how much I preach about texture!).

• Heavier throws swapped for lighter ones
• Linen curtains instead of thick panels
• Lighter blankets instead of lots of thick, layered bedding
• A washable rug rotated in for muddy months

Textiles change how a room feels more than accessories do. They’re also practical.

This makes the house respond to the season instead of fighting it.

(Also…texture > color when it comes to making a room feel finished…I can’t help but squeeze that in there.)

Reevaluate your entry points

Your entryway works differently in July than it does in January.

Shoes change. Outerwear changes. Daily routines shift.

Once a season, ask:

• What is landing here that doesn’t have a home?
• What are we stepping over or around?
• What storage worked last season but doesn’t now?

Small tweaks here prevent friction everywhere else.

Edit one drawer or cabinet

Not the whole kitchen. Not the whole bathroom. Just one drawer.

Seasonal resets work best when they’re focused.

Pick one space that annoys you slightly and reset it fully:

• Remove everything
• Wipe it down
• Only put back what you use right now

Of course, you don’t want to throw away things like lotions you only use in winter, but it’s a good time to move it out of your every-day drawer and into a basket for later.

You’ll feel that improvement every day.

Adjust for how you actually use the room right now

Rooms aren’t static.

In winter, you may gather more in the living room. In summer, you may live closer to the kitchen or outside.

Move furniture if needed. Shift a chair toward better light. Pull a small table closer to where you sit most often.

You’re not redesigning the room. You’re letting it evolve with you.

This is one of the most overlooked resets.

A home that adjusts gently with the seasons feels calmer than one that reinvents itself four times a year.

You don’t have to do all of this at once

Pick one reset. Do it slowly and notice how the room feels afterward.

Small seasonal shifts compound over time. The house starts to feel responsive instead of stagnant.

And that’s usually what we’re craving when we say we want a refresh. Better flow instead of new things.

The post Seasonal Home Resets that Actually Make a Difference appeared first on Little Victorian.

When I adopted my Golden Retriever 16 years ago, I was maddened by the dog smell. He was 9 months old and didn’t have any accidents inside, he didn’t go in the carpeted areas of the house, and I cleaned constantly, but still couldn’t get rid of the smell.

Since then, I’ve had another (even stinkier) dog and hosted over 150 dogs in my house (up to 7 at a time!) with my dog-sitting business. I have been so excited to hear many times throughout all that, guests commenting that they couldn’t smell the dogs or see the fur anywhere.

So here’s what I did to keep our house smelling and looking clean, AND keeping the dogs comfortable, clean, and happy:

Daily cleaning tasks with dogs:

• Run the robot vacuum (automatically–and bonus tip: run it on a schedule, so it forces you to tidy the floor before it runs). I’ve tried many of these, and in 100% honesty, I LOVED the inexpensive ones and nearly despised the expensive name brand ones. My favorites are the Deebot and the iLife.
• Run a lint roller over your clothes. I do this before cooking (we keep one in a kitchen drawer). It keeps fur out of the food of course, but also off of everything else you touch and sit on.

As-needed cleaning through the week:

• Spritz Kids-N-Pets enzyme cleaner on problem areas or areas the pets frequent takes care of small odor issues.
• Spot clean any carpeted areas or fabric furniture that are stinky for whatever reason. You can use Kids-N-Pets diluted in water with a towel to scrub and then cover with a clean, dry towel, or use a spot cleaner. This spot cleaner gets regular use around here.
• A couple times a week, brush the dogs (outside) to keep loose fur out. You can use any brush for this, even a hairbrush works well on many dogs.
• Clean their paws. Doggy feet get stinky and transfer that stink to the floors, so when needed use the MudBuster paw cleaner–usually once or twice a week. Then dry with a towel. You’ll have less stink on the soft floors and less paw prints on the hard floors. If you don’t have a MudBuster, use a very wet towel to scrub, then a dry towel.
• Dry shampoo the dogs, my DIY dry shampoo recipe is my favorite, and it’s practically free. For me, this is usually about once a month, in between baths.
• Shake out rugs. I was impressed by how much these rugs actually work. We keep one outside the back door (on a covered deck) and one inside the door for double the dirt catching. I would like to shake them out daily, but it’s usually once or twice a week.

Weekly cleaning tasks:

• Use a deshedding brush on the dogs.
  If you have a double-coated dog, you might want to take pictures of the second dog you could create out of the fur…fur that would be all over your house otherwise.
  Different deshedding brushes work on different breeds. For double coated dogs, the ShedMonster has been my absolute favorite. For short-haired dogs (and cats), I love the EquiGroomer (I learned about it from the great groomer, Girl With The Dogs, so it’s safe and effective.)
• Remove fur from fabric furniture. Very lightly mist the fabric with water, then put on rubber cleaning gloves and wipe the furniture down with your hands. It’s AMAZING how much better this works than a lint roller, and there is no burning through roller refills either.
  It picks up all the fur way better than a lint roller does, and there’s no waste and no refills to buy.
• Remove fur from bedding. Your bedding and theirs. The Chom Chom is so good for large surfaces.
• Run a full-sized vacuum on carpeted areas. Twice in a row. You’ll be amazed at what comes up with a second cleaning, whether you have dogs or not, but especially if you do.
• Mop hard floors. (Don’t use Kids-N-Pets in your mopping liquid, it makes them VERY slippery.) You can do a full mop, but even a Swiffer-style wet mop will make a big difference.
• Wash the rugs in the hottest water you can. If you get the rugs I recommend, don’t use vinegar on them as it will break down the non-slip backing. If they are stinky, soak them in water with Oxiclean overnight before washing.

Bi-monthly or monthly cleaning:

• Clean the carpet. After running the vacuum (twice!), clean the carpet with a carpet cleaner, preferably using Kids-N-Pets as your cleaning solution (it’s natural and actually eliminates the odor instead of masking it with fake ones and it’s the most effective natural ones we’ve found). And don’t worry, cleaning the carpet with the right cleaner is just as easy as vacuuming.
  This is my favorite carpet cleaner for dogs. It does a great job at getting out the gross, and if you take your time, it dries the carpet pretty well too.
  For the first year or so, I kept everybody (human and dog) off the carpets while they dried, but then realized it didn’t really matter in the end. Before bed is a great time to do it though if you’d rather not walk on damp carpet.
• Bathe the dogs.
  There’s much advice about how often to bathe your dog. After having 3 of my own, and having over 150 visiting dogs, I’ve found that every dog has different needs. Some need a bath monthly, some weekly. When your dog no longer smells neutral or feels pleasant, they’re are likely feeling it too and start scratching and rolling in the grass excessively. Give ’em a bath. For double coated dogs, a silicone dog brush helps tremendously to get the shampoo all the way to the skin when bathing. It’s important to get all the way to the skin if you’re going to remove the smell. (If you struggle to get the shampoo all the way to the skin, that might mean they have slightly matted fur, use a “slicker” brush to clean that up, then bathe.) I do 2 to 4 shampoos per bath, depending on how clean the fur feels. Start with 2 if you’re not sure.
  Dry thoroughly after the bath, otherwise they’ll just bring in fresh wet dog smell and undo everything. Towel dry (2 to 3 towels with lots of encouraged “Shake” in between, then let them run around outside while you clean up–tossing some kibble into the grass keeps them excited by engaging their hunting needs and keeps them busy while they dry out a little–we say “Kibble hunt!”). Then once you’re ready, blow dry to make sure they’re dry to the skin.
• Wash their bedding in the hottest water you can. I like to spray it down with Kids-N-Pets first and lay it outside to dry, then wash normally with soap, but using vinegar instead of fabric softener. It comes out with the least smell and the softest that way.

Recommended products to keep dog smell out

To keep the dogs clean

Paw cleaner

Effective at cleaning stinky paws before the smell transfers to the house.

Buy Now

ShedMonster

For deshedding double-coated breeds, I recommend this twice a week.

Buy Now

Equigroomer

Originally made for horses, this works so well on short-haired dogs (and great on my cat too!).

Buy Now

Silicone Dog Brush

Great for our Berner who has fine hair, both for de-shedding and bathing

Buy Now

To keep the house clean

Oxiclean

Oxiclean takes the dog smell straight out of clothes and bedding. For really strong smells, soak overnight.

Buy Now

Carpet and furniture spot cleaner

This is perfect for accidents on carpet, or just frequently used areas. I use it on my upholstered living room chairs as well with great results.

Buy Now

Chom Chom Roller

Much more effective than a traditional lint roller on large surfaces, and no refills to buy!

Buy Now

Door mats

They’re not all that cute, but they make a big difference!

Buy Now

Gloves for picking up fur

These gloves work way better than lint rollers for gathering fur. Just a light mist of water on the surface of your furniture or clothes, then swipe with the gloves and you’re done! So easy.

Buy Now

Carpet Cleaner

Carpet cleaner that’s as easy to use as a vacuum. This runs weekly in our house to keep the dog smell away.

Buy Now

Kids-n-pets

The most effective odor eliminator (even urine). Great for spraying directly on accidents, or for using in the carpet cleaner.

Buy Now

Deebot Robot Vacuum

Our favorite vacuum if you DO have a smart house. (WAY better than Roomba from our experience–and way more affordable.)

Buy Now

ILife Robot Vacuum

Perfect vacuum to run daily if you DON’T have a smart house. (Currently only $99)

Buy Now

Dyson Animal Vacuum (Refubished)

We’ve been using our refurbished (half-price) Dyson for 8 years and it’s still working beautifully.

Buy Now

And one last point: humidity makes a huge difference. The less humid your house is, the less it will smell like dog. Even if you do everything listed above, if your house is very humid, you’re going to smell the dog(s). Consider a dehumidifier if it’s an ongoing problem, otherwise, just remember it’s temporary and you’ll be back to normal when the humidity is.

Pin it for later!

The post How to keep your house from smelling like dogs appeared first on Little Victorian.

It seems most mother’s day gift ideas are for gifts from children to adult parents.  Well…I’m an adult woman with no children and an even more adult mom who happens to be a big fan of simplifying.  And I would still like to give my mom a gift for Mother’s Day!  I’m not a very good gift-buyer in the first place, so coming up with last-minute mother’s day gifts for a minimalist mom is definitely not what I call “fun.”

Here’s some proof that my poor gifting skills have been life-long:

We were told in class to write down words that we thought of when we thought of our moms.  That’s all I had.  Oh mom…hello, you are exolint.

But back to 2018.

Of course, the first stop for ideas is Pinterest.  It’s a gift idea goldmine, right?  I got pretty excited about all the results…until I read all the posts and common recommendations were:

1. A really good hug!
2. Flowers
3. A day of doing the chores
4. Flower-y weeds from the yard
5. …(I was done reading at this point)

I might be crazy, but I don’t think a hug counts as a gift.  And as much as I love flowers, it just never seems worth it…it’s a lot of money for something that only lasts a couple days, and a florist almost never delivers what you actually ordered.  And maybe it’s just me, but it seems like being an adult and going to clean your adult mom’s house as a mother’s day gift would just be a little awkward.  Besides, my parents live 10 hours away.

So what do you buy last-minute for a lady who doesn’t want stuff?

(5 of these 8 ideas can be purchased as late as Mother’s Day itself. The other three might need a day or two.)
Some of the items listed are affiliate links.

Here are my last-minute mother’s day gifts for a minimalist:

Just have everyone send a phone video and merge them together (there are tons of apps and free programs that will do that).  Then upload it as an unlisted video to YouTube and send her the link.
I did this for her a couple years ago and she LOVED it.

If you’re crafty, you could knit a pretty + functional dishcloth.  Here’s a very pretty one from Nourish and Nestle.  These work amazingly well, guys, everytime I give one to someone they can never go back to a regular dishcloth.  

Make a quick (quick as in 10 minutes) and easy earring organizer.

A surprise flying card.

If she likes to learn, you could buy her unique, local one-day classes from Groupon.  You could also gift great online classes.  CreativeLive offers gift cards so the recipient can choose their own class, and Craftsy offers a “Gift This” option for any of their classes.

Update: Craftsy just announced two Mother’s Day specials. 

1. They are offering $25 in Craftsy coupons if you sign up for a monthly subscription that allows you to watch all the classes you’d like in a month (I would probably take a few days off and binge learn/craft), or $100 in coupons if you buy a one-year subscription!  (Craftsy also sells craft supplies, so Mom could use the coupons to buy supplies for a class she wants to take.)  Click here to check out the deal. (Expires May 16th)
2. A Mother’s Day Watchathon.
   You can watch all the classes you want COMPLETELY FREE this weekend (until midnight EST on Sunday).  If you live near mom, this would be so fun to do together!  I’m actually jealous if you do.  

So she can take a trip or use it for one of their newer “Exepriences” in bigger cities.  You can buy a gift card here.

The Q&A a Day journal just asks one question that makes you think each day, with spaces to answer for 5 years.  It’s fun to answer in the first place, and even more fun when years start going by to compare previous years’ answers.  We love ours and keep it on the nightstand.  They’re meant for one person, but the Hubs and I both like to answer (when we remember to).

If you’re a Prime member she’ll get it by Sunday!  You can also pick it up in-store at Anthropologie.

Buy special versions of things she already enjoys.  For example, a coffee subscription with really high-quality coffee like Go Coffee Go offers.

Subscriptions are always fun because she’ll continue to get to try new things every month.

Amazon has a new-ish offering called Amazon Home Services and you can hire people to clean, set up smart home devices, computers, assemble furniture…pretty much anything she wouldn’t want to do.  Does she have a room she’s been dying to have repainted for a while?  Have someone do it for her.

Who really has a mom who hasn’t been frustrated by setting up a computer or smart home device?  Even we get frustrated with them.

If she has a Kindle, you could get her a Kindle Unlimited Membership Plan.

Hopefully there are some actual gift ideas in here you can use too.  And whatever you end up getting, don’t forget to tell her how exolint she is.

The post Last-minute mother’s day gifts for a minimalist appeared first on Little Victorian.

Dogs just stink.  We love them like crazy, so we put up with it until we’re to the point of not even wanting to be in the same room anymore. 

In spite of what some vets recommend (and lots of people on the internet who are just quoting each other), our dogs do best with baths once a week.

But when your dogs are 70 & 80 pounds and double-coated, weekly baths are rarely not always going to happen that often.  So what do you do with two giant stink bombs in between baths?  DIY dry shampoo!

There are lots of dry shampoo recipes for dogs out there, and several commercial shampoos available too.  And we tried lots of them before experimenting on our own.

First, we tried the powders made from oats and cornstarch, baking soda, then one with just cornstarch and essential oils.  While they helped with the stink…I kinda hated them. 

Why most DIY dry shampoos don’t work

If your dog has missed enough baths, you know they get oily just like we do.  The cornstarch in the recipes very effectively absorbs the oil…but then it stays on the dog.  Then when you pet the dog, your fingers get coated with a layer of stinky, oily powder.  Not so pleasant.  Actually, it’s really unpleasant.

And it also makes them itchy.

It turns out, you need VERY LITTLE cornstarch to do the job effectively.  But if you apply the cornstarch as a powder, there’s no way to apply such a small amount evenly and effectively.

How to make DIY dry shampoo that DOES work

The key is spray DIY dry shampoo for dogs.  Most of the spray “shampoo” you can buy for dogs is basically just chemical fragrances to cover up the stink.  And then they’re not real ingredients, so not only did they always end up giving me a stomach and/or headache, there was NO TELLING what they were doing to the poor dogs.  Others that were more natural still did nothing to help with the oiliness, and they were expensive too.

After some experimentation, I came up with a no-rinse shampoo recipe that works perfectly for us.

How to make your own DIY dry shampoo for dogs:

The one tablespoon of rubbing alcohol helps it to dry quickly, but it’s not enough to dry out their skin or damage their fur.  And just one tablespoon of cornstarch is plenty for 1/4 cup of water.  Just enough to be effective, and not enough to coat the dog and everything he touches with greasy powder.

You could go without the alcohol, but your dog will stay wet for a while.

Super easy, and super affordable.  In fact, you probably already have all the supplies in your house–that would make it super free.

And this also makes a great gift idea for any friends or family with dogs!

No-rinse dog shampoo FAQs:

The post DIY dry shampoo for dogs appeared first on Little Victorian.

Back in the bedroom, I finally finished another itty bitty project that’s been waiting for months: DIY tie storage for The Hubs on our closet wall.

Until now, his many ties have been hanging precariously on one hanger.  But I fixed it, now they’re hanging on a toilet paper holder.  They don’t show it online, but it’s in IKEA’s Bygel series, it’s the same one my dresses hang from and it’s only a couple dollars (as are the rails that all of our clothes are hanging on).

Usually, I’m finding full-size items to use in the dollhouse, but this time, I found miniatures to use in the full-size house.  Aren’t those little hangers adorable?  I was considering buying the plastic tie hangers they use in retail stores–but those are ugly.  Then, likely because of my miniatures hobby, doll clothes hangers came to mind.  These are handmade by PaWoods, and they are perfect.  Very well made, nice and sturdy with no sharp edges that would snag anything.

(Affiliate links above)

This would be great for so many things.  I might hang some of my scarves on them as well, or The Hubs’ belts.  And they would be so cute as a jewelry display too–you could hang single hangers on finishing nails and then hang necklaces from them.  That could be the cutest little jewelry gallery wall.

The post DIY tie storage appeared first on Little Victorian.

When we had wardrobes in the bedroom, my jewelry was hanging on the backs of the doors in the jewelry organizers I used to make.  But when we removed the wardrobes, I was ready for something new.

Now it’s all hanging on two wall-mounted candle holders that we’ve had laying around for a very, very long time.

Necklaces are hanging on the branches and earrings and rings, and the Hubs’ cufflinks are in the dishes that are meant to hold the candles.

I’m still waffling on the arrangement, only because it makes the area feel a little cluttered to me.  So it may or may not be moved in the future.  For right now, we have other projects to get to.

The post Jewelry on display appeared first on Little Victorian.

Following a series of unfortunate events, most of my week has been spent in the kitchen instead of the bedroom.

The fun started when the dishwasher stopped cleaning the dishes.  They wouldn’t just come out still dirty, they actually had more gunk on them than they did when they went in.  So it was being used as a very big drying rack after hand-washing.

Then the fun continued when I found the raw chicken I had on the top shelf of the fridge was leaking…all over the rest of our food.  So most of our food had to be thrown out, and not only did I have a lot more dishes to wash, I had to wash the fridge components as well.

But that wasn’t all.  Before I began to wash the dishes that were taking up the whole counter, I turned the garbage disposal on.  At which point, the pipes under the sink broke apart.  It sounded like a waterfall.  And the cabinet, rug and my legs were covered in dirty, broccoli-filled water.  It took 3 days to get the kitchen back to looking clean again.

But, it did lead to me finishing a small project that had been sitting there for 6 months waiting to be done.  After the Hubs fixed the pipes, of course.

The sink cabinet wasn’t lined with anything, it was just a piece of plywood with no veneer covering.

After I scrubbed it clean, and let it dry, I put down peel-and-stick vinyl floor tiles (similar here).

They are easy to cut with an X-acto blade.  And they only cost $1.20 a piece, so it was less than $8 for a prettier and way easier to clean cabinet floor.

Just start with one corner and stick it down (I started with the front, so that in case I didn’t cut a perfectly straight line, it would be in the back and not noticeable). Then line the next pieces up to the first one. Once you hit the back of the cabinet, you *might* need to trim some off. Just flip the tile over, and mark on the paper backing where to cut.

Make your cut with an X-acto blade or an utility blade (this is my favorite) and then pop it in place. (Affiliate links)

Peel-and-stick tiles are so easy.

And now the cupboard is much easier to keep clean!

The Hubs had the brilliant idea to just take the fridge parts outside and use the hose on them (which actually led to a burst hose in the basement–but he got that fixed too).  And I finally got the dishwasher fixed yesterday.  Everything is clean and sparkly…for now.

The plan for this afternoon is to get back to work on the bedroom.

The post My rotten day at least led to a finished project appeared first on Little Victorian.

Remember the fabric wrapped hangers I made?  Well, they have been replaced.

As I’ve mentioned before, when you have fewer things, it makes it easier to splurge on making those fewer items higher quality.  So, because of this (and another reason I’ll be sharing soon), I splurged on wooden hangers.  You wouldn’t believe the difference it makes when you open your closet doors!

Even though I wanted them enough to splurge on them, I didn’t realize how much different they’d make my wardrobe feel.  It feels like a mini boutique every time I get dressed.  Wish I would have purchased these years ago.  (And I wish I had a before picture–but I was just too excited to get rid of the old plastic and metal hangers.)

Since we’re talking about my closet, I’m happy to report that 9 months (?!) after throwing out 75% of my clothes, I still only own 41 pieces of clothing!  I wasn’t going to be strict about the number unless I found myself battling the desire to buy clothes.

Thankfully, that never happened.

And I couldn’t be happier with the small amount of clothing.  Wondering what to wear and unhappily staring at the wardrobe every morning is just a distant memory, and I don’t miss it at all.

Also, speaking of simplifying…my necklaces look like they could use some weeding out (believe it or not, I’ve already gone through them twice).

The post Why you should upgrade your hangers appeared first on Little Victorian.

Back when I had the Etsy shop, I had to store shipping supplies in my little office.  To store those boxes and such, I hung 3 of IKEAs ($4!) metal napkin holders on the wall and put the supplies inside them.  It worked very well, but since I’m no longer selling physical products, I didn’t need the boxes any more.

This week, I finally emptied them out and filled them with things that kept cluttering my shelf.

You can go back and read the original post for more details, but it’s pretty simple: level your napkin holder on the wall and screw it into a stud!

Ever since I cleared my desk of everything but a tiny tray and my lamp, I could never go back to having anything else on my desk.  So these little wall shelves to hold my planner and papers are so helpful.  Now I just need a few cute file folders (some black and white ones to match my day planner would be nice) and it’ll be perfect.

The post Turning napkin holders into wall organizers–again appeared first on Little Victorian.

On Monday, I wrote about how to DIY a self-watering planter.  Wednesday, I remembered that, after making several of the planters last year, we tweaked the plans a bit from the Root Simple method.  Their method was to use two pots (or buckets in their case) nested, instead of a saucer.  We liked the saucer better because it was way cheaper and two nesting pots looked a little funny.  Like this:

Here is the ready made self-watering planter that we purchased from IKEA.  The price was good, but the style doesn’t fit in so well on our deck, and they don’t hold as much water or wick the water up as well as the home made planters.

(The strawberry bush that didn’t give me a single strawberry last year is back and blooming!  Total surprise.  Now I just have to harvest them before the birds do.  Unlike my sad attempt at a blueberry bush last year.)

Here is a better looking self-watering planter that we did, our little herb garden in an urn:

So there are lots of options for a self-watering planter.  All of them are pretty simple and very inexpensive.  And they give even the most horrendous plant killer like me a fighting chance.

I need to go get the finishing touches on the Mother’s Day gifts done and get them in the mail, already.  Ack, hopefully the mothers will still get them in time.

Helpful? Yay! Pin it to come back.

Hover over the image –> and click the PIN button.

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