One of the things my husband and I argue the most over is the clutter that gathers on our kitchen counter. It’s where all the mail, kids’ school papers (so. many. papers.), toys, and general stuff tends to land. We both hate it, but neither of us has been concerned enough to come up with an alternate solution.

This is what I mean. My home is far from glamorous, and this proves it. Plus, my daughter just had surgery, so apparently we look like a pharmacy too. Good times.

I’ve been on Pinterest and Google in hopes of finding a solution. Heck, I’d even settle for a spark of inspiration. Once I had found a picture of a hanging basket, I knew I could work with it.

I found rattan hanging baskets that I loved at World Market for all of the papers to land in. My goal was to bring the mail in and immediately toss it in the basket. At World Market I also found gorgeous paper trays. The colors were so pretty, and at only $4.99 I had to get a couple of them.

I found a good location right across from our kitchen above an antique piano. It’s for looks only, no one plays it, so I figured my baskets wouldn’t be in anyone’s way.

 

I got everything measured and nailed up, and stood back to look at my accomplishment. To quote Men on Film, “Hated it!” I love the baskets, and I love the idea of hanging them for sorting purposes, but I was completely underwhelmed when I saw it all together. Womp, womp.

See how gorgeous those baskets are?? My home is nothing if not colorful, so they fit right in.

Once I started this project, it snowballed. My entire house became If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. I like to move my art around periodically for a refresh. So once I moved a few things to go over the piano, other things had to be moved to replace the previous art. So on, and so on. And I hated it. All of it. So, I’m back to the drawing board. For everything. Until I come up with a solution all of my art is piled on the floor, and my walls are bare.

I’d consider this project a failure. I’m totally ok with that, because as all good failures are, it’s definitely a lesson learned. I now know what I DON’T want. And that’s a step closer to what I DO want.

Do you have anything that you were excited about that didn’t quite turn out?