For the past number of weeks we’ve looked at the ingredient side of cleaning with great interest. Who knew that so many of the household products we used every day could be so harmful to the environment not to mention the children, pets, as well as the floral and fauna in the general area.

Yikes. We seemed to have addressed many of those concerns with safer and more friendly products, and now that we are all using these on a regular basis we can pat each other on the back for a moment.

Now it’s time to move on to the really tough jobs when it comes to house cleaning (the germs appear to be under control). I’m now concerned about the junk piled high in that space you call a living room (we’ll talk about other rooms of the house next week). For today, let’s give pause and consideration to the room we live in; the Living Room.

Sometimes called the great room, in times past it was called the Great Hall, the Reception Room, the Parlor… etc. You get the point. It is typically the larger of the common spaces within the house and is usually used to entertain guests of important stature which today could be your gaming buddies or the CEO of your husband/wife’s company.

When was the last time you really looked at your “Living Room”? I ask this question fully knowing that most people are lucky if they remember what color the drapery is in their Living Room.

How interesting that two of your children’s school science projects are still stored in the corner next to the failing Fichus tree (yes, the one with the braided trunk!). And whose idea was it to store the fishing tackle boxes behind the sofa? How many issues of National Geographic do you intend to include in that makeshift side table?

I always wonder when, like a house of cards, this world of decorating wonder will slide to its demise?

What’s my point? Let’s start by cleaning things up. You will be amazed at how much more beautiful clean and neat it is. Imagine how great it will look when we actually start making it really beautiful.