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9 Easy Cures for a Messy House

By Elizabeth Weiss McGolerick

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Do you live in a messy house with shoes scattered by the door, papers and books piled high, toys strewn about or, gulp, pawprints in every room and sticky fingerprints on every reflective surface? Is your partner or are your kids less than aware of the chaos? Does your pet only add to the mess? Is the disarray making you lose your mind?

Washington, D.C.-based interior designer Debbie Wiener, author of Slob Proof! Real-Life Design Solutions, coined the phrase "slobproofing," a philosophy she describes as "a combination of the aesthetics of Martha Stewart with the practicality of World Wrestling Entertainment's Friday Night SmackDown!" Though in her childhood Wiener drew on walls, this reformed scribbler now teaches others the tricks of how to live happily and neatly, even when it seems as though slobs rule the roost.

When it feels like the clutter and disorder could quite possibly bury you alive, it's time to dig out – though perhaps in less obvious ways than you might think. Here are 10 low-cost and easy-to-maintain solutions, courtesy of Wiener, for busy moms who live with slobs (or is a slob herself) but still want to keep a beautiful house.

Embrace color. No more neutrals! Most homeowners are at fault for the messes they live in – the carpet is beige, the walls white and the furniture beige! No wonder floors are stained, sofas smudged and walls spotted. Color is camouflage! Use it everywhere – on floors, walls and seating. If you can't see the spots and spills, why worry?

Carry a quick fixer-upper. Keep Wite-Out on hand to correct dings and dents in white trim, moldings and doors. They'll always look freshly painted.

See the light. Upgrade light bulbs to keep your home looking as bright as possible. Get more out of your existing lighting without calling an electrician – use the right bulbs in recessed lights and low-wattage bulbs in table and floor lamps.

Ink it. Use permanent ink markers to correct scratches and missing finish on your table and chair legs.

Let it be. Don't expect children to act like neatness-obsessed adults. Let them be kids. They make messes – that's the price you pay for the privilege of being a parent. Don't let it interfere with enjoying your kids and making them feel wanted at home, which is exactly where you'll want them to be when they become teens and want to hang out with their friends.

Pile on pillows. Replace old, flat toss pillows with fluffy, colorful new ones to make seating look cleaner, newer and much more comfortable.

Support a budding artist. Frame and hang little masterpieces. It'll not only make your kids happy, but give your walls an original, colorful art display that no one can ever duplicate.

Feel for Fido. It's cruel and inhumane to keep a pet locked up all day in a cage to prevent an "accident" in the house. If you want the responsibility of owning a pet, accept that they need to be walked regularly or they will have accidents. If necessary, get anti-microbial carpet padding and use indoor-outdoor carpet.

Go for sense, not trends. Decorate for the way you really live – not the way you'd like to live. Spend money wisely on pieces that wear and clean well. You don't have to sacrifice style and comfort for more practical concerns, but you can marry the two to create a durable and slobproof home.

And, speaking of marriage…

When coping with a less-than-neat spouse, "You have two choices – divorce or acceptance," says Weiner, because people don't change. "I could either fight constantly with my husband over dirty dishes in the sink or snack wrappers all over the sofa or I could get over it and enjoy our life." So she replaced damaged items with furnishings that could stand up to whatever her sloppy husband could dish out. "Twenty-four years later we're happily married and he's still a slob."

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