I once went to a wedding where the grandmother of the bride was asked to give her opinion on what makes a successful marriage.  She said that in her 60 years of marriage, there was only one thing that guaranteed a successful marriage: separate bathrooms.

I’m not sure why that thought rings true.  But every time I go into someone’s house, I now look at their bathroom, and wonder, “how do they both fit in here?”  The modern trend has been to have multiple bathrooms.  But this isn’t always convenient.  Often multiple bathrooms end up being shared with kids or guests, which means we’re back to our original problem.
 
So if you can’t have separate bathrooms, maybe the next best thing is separate sides.

As you can see in the picture you have two matching counters, with matching cabinets.  It’s the symmetry of the whole room that really appeals to me.  You can also see on the right a nice shower tucked away for those of us who don’t actually like to sit in bathtubs.  The other amazing feature?  The round windows, which let in all that natural light (although after this winter in Cincinnati, I’m not sure I remember what natural light looks like.)

So what do you think?  Does a separate bathroom play into your marriage success?

Do you have a Neat Feature of your own?  Consider submitting it, and we may post it. 

When we think of Neat Features the first things that come to mind are rooms or large objects.  We think of Neat Features as being that unique fireplace or the amazing view from the master bedroom.  But Neat Features can be something small too.  Something as simple as how you’ve organized your kitchen cupboards.  

• Inventory – before you can do anything you need to know what you have.  So take some time to figure out what’s there.  You can do this the old fashioned way (paper and pencil) or you can get creative and use a bar code scanner.  A scanner will take longer up front, but if you manage the system well, you’ll always know exactly what you have and where it is. 

• Eliminate – Now that you know what you have it’s time to eliminate the stuff you don’t use anymore.  Don’t use that waffle iron Aunt Gertrude gave you for your birthday 10 years ago?  Get rid of it.  Not a fan of canned beets (and who is?) get rid of it.  Throw away the things that are spoiled, old, or just a hazard.  For the rest of the things take it to your local salvation army, church, or food bank.  There’s lots of places that would love your no longer wanted things.  Plus now you won’t have any guilt over throwing away “perfectly good” things.

• Reorganize – This might be the hardest part of the whole process.  Things got out of hand because we haven’t been organizing.  And for some of us, organization just doesn’t come easily.  That’s okay, there are lots of ways to get help here.  If you live near Ikea, they offer great storage solutions at reasonable prices.  Just make sure you have a place for everything.  Consider hanging pots and cooking utensils on hooks.  Save the cupboard space for the canned or baking goods.  You can also use drawer organizers to really keep track of silverware, spices, and all kinds of things. 

• Replenish – Now that you’ve eliminated the extra stuff, and reorganized the remaining things, it’s time to replenish.  Get the products that you know you’ll use.  But as you replenish, make sure to put everything where it belongs.  You’ve just spent time organizing your kitchen cupboards, let’s not mess that up so soon!

• Use – Actually use the products you buy.  I know that seems like it shouldn’t be advice, but we often end up buying things we neither want nor need.  I used to do it all the time when I went to the grocery store.  I would think, “I don’t really like green beans, but they are healthy, and that’s a good price, so I guess I should buy them.”  Into the cart they’d go, only to sit in the freezer until I finally threw them away.  If you don’t use what you buy, all the organizational power in the universe won’t help you!

Do you have a Neat Feature of your own?  Consider submitting it, and we may post it. 

The great thing about Neat Features is that they can be anywhere and be just about anything.  Take this room for example.  We all have walls, but not all of us have jungles!

Even the ceiling gets into the act with some nice blue sky and clouds.  I don’t know about you, but with all the grey snowy long winter we’ve had here in Cincinnati, I think I could live with a nice sky blue ceiling!

Do you have a Neat Feature of your own?  Consider submitting it, and we may post it.

I really do.  I hate washing dishes.  Which is what I found myself doing this weekend.  Instead of enjoying a nice weekend off, I was stuck doing the dishes.  “Not fair!” I thought.  “We’re in the 21^st century.  Shouldn’t we have a technology capable of washing our dishes for us?!”  Of course most people have this new fangled device known as a dishwasher.  I have one as well.  But th

e machine is only (and I am not making this up) wide enough to fit about 5 plates.  On top of its incredibly small size it also has the added feature of not working very well.  So even when I wash the dishes in there, I need to re-wash them because they came out dirty. 

Somewhere there is a sp0nge laughing at me. 

Normally I can man up and just get through it.  But I had let all the pots and pans gather.  Before you judge me, I know that you leave the pots and pans until last too!  Who doesn’t?  No one likes washing those by hand.  They are always the dirtiest, stickiest, and grossest of the dishes. 

That’s when I started thinking about this website, and the post on What Makes a Room Great? 

What I really needed was something to keep my attention.  Not to be stuck in a small room with only fluorescent light to keep me company.  That’s why I love this kitchen so much.  It has personality (it’s got a great view of the outside) and it’s worth living in.  While I’ll never enjoy doing the dishes, at least this way I could look at something interesting.

Of course I live in an apartment and having a window above my sink wouldn’t work.  Especially because it would just open up a view into the bathroom.  But some day I would love a window to the outside world.  Or at least a dishwasher that works.

I’m currently in the process of moving.  Well sort of.  I’m in the process of planning on moving.  Which means I have a lot of major decisions to make.  Do I continue renting?  Do I buy a house?  What does the economy look like now?  How about in 6 months?

There are so many choices that I’ve really wanted a way to narrow down what I’m looking for.  That’s why I’ve come up with three things I think any “great room” needs to have. 

• Worth living in - If you don't want to spend time there - it's not a great room!
• Attitude - Great rooms have attitude. They make people stop and notice.
• Personality - What's a room worth if it doesn't match your personality?

Let’s face it.  We spend a lot of time in our homes.  That’s the reason we bought them after all.  They are a place to have memories.  We remember them as our first house, or where our kids grew up.  Or maybe even where we watched that really awesome movie. 

That’s why great rooms are so important.  They give us a place to experience all of those things.  Now not all of us are going to live in a fancy high-rise penthouse or a multimillion dollar house.  The rest of us are going to have to choose something a bit different. 

But just because we can’t live in a Manhattan penthouse, doesn’t mean we can’t experience our own great room.  With just a little bit of work, and some creativity, every house can have a neat feature to call its own.

In the end, great rooms are all about the things that are uniquely you. They fit your personality, your attitude, and they make you want to be there.

Those are the things I want to have no matter where I am living in 6 months!

Most of us have grown up playing board games.  I know I personally started playing Risk when I was 7 or 8.  I still remember sitting outside on the porch playing with some friends.  Eventually Risk gave way to games like Monopoly, Clue and Trivial Pursuit.  But there is something special about playing board games.  Something that reminds us of a different era.  It brings us back to our childhood.

Of course, there are those of us who still love our board games (or maybe we just have kids that do).  So we find ourselves playing Monopoly or Sorry on a regular basis.

The problem is, board games take up a lot of space.  There is no easy place to put them.  If you stick them in a closet they are quickly forgotten.  If you put them on a shelf, they are hard to get to and awkward to put away.

So what do we do?

Well one solution is to hang them on your walls.  That’s exactly what Infarrantly Creative did.  What was once a cluttered mess has become a neat feature!  

I don’t know about you, but this makes me want to run to my nearest home good store and pick  up a few supplies!

For more pictures, and step-by-step instructions for how to create your own game board storage art, head on over to Infarrantly Creative.