Laundry Days

to 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kcTb8DnPVW4/S1rUgaUEEII/AAAAAAAAEEA/-1WXckCya2o/s400/112.JPG” border=”0″ />Dear Diva Readers,

top:2px;padding-right:5px;font-family:times;”>I’d like to tell you that at Diva Headquarters a magical fairy comes along and does my dirty laundry, but alas even Divas have laundry to do. No matter how much I send out to the dry cleaners, mountains of it still pile up if I’m not careful. And then, as soon as I get caught up, my husband or I wear more clothes and the problem starts all over again. Short of joining a nudist colony, my only option on fighting the battle of the laundry is to at least make my time in the laundry room not feel like such a dismal chore. Realizing that I can’t cut the process any more than I already have, I decided that at least I would make the process more asthetically pleasing to my eye!

to 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 183px; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kcTb8DnPVW4/S1rUg8CxmCI/AAAAAAAAEEI/h5eTDXmqxc4/s400/padaste+manor.jpg” border=”0″ />

Photo Courtesy of Padaste Manor website

Nearly 5 years ago my husband and I visited the Baltics, spending a sensational week at Padaste Manor on Muhu Island off the northern coast of Estonia. We had champagne for breakfast and again for dinner and what I remember of that vacation always puts me in a perky mood. One of the days after horseback riding in the woods nearby the resort (or was it after the spa? or our Nordic fishing expedition?), my husband and I ventured into the nearest town. Naturally the first antique shop we saw beckoned us inside and I fell in love with a set of red polka dot kitchen canisters written in Estonian on one side and Russian on the other. I had to have the set, coming home with 32 canisters in total. Unfortunately, once I got home I realized that most of the canisters didn’t have a perfect seal and thus weren’t airtight for using in my kitchen as intended. That said, they were ideal for storing my laundry detergent and accessories!

Almost every time I speak at a women’s club or decorative fine arts association on the topic of antique shopping in Europe, I’m asked, “What do you do with all the vintage pieces and antiques you purchase?” As I hate to dust, almost as much as I hate to do laundry, the answer is simple – I only buy items that I can use in a practical way!

All those items that come in cardboard boxes covered in marketing jargon are decanted into containers that make me smile – that take me on a mental voyage, adding beauty (or in the case of these canisters – kitsch charm) to my everyday life! I don’t just do it in my laundry room but in every room of my house! My mouthwash is stored in an Eiffel Tower shaped wine decanter and my cotton balls can be found in a 19th C apothecary jar! Cookies are stored in a Delft print tin while all my pastas are decanted into vintage Bell jars I got from my Grandma!

Decanting from marketing-jargon cardboard boxes to unique storage containers is just one way of making your home more personal.

Live Everyday with a Smile!

The Antiques Diva