deodorant & shoes.

i've been reading the 31 days series. [ok, i admit it... some i've glossed over... and i'm like 20 days behind on 31 days to a better photo... mostly b/c i'm actually trying to do everything she recommends.]

the nester invited us to blog about a change we've made to our home to make it less messy. i'm going to let you in on a little secret... my husband has smelly feet... and when he wears flip-flops, he sprays them with his deodorant. i don't mind this... it makes him smell nice, from his toes to his underarms... what i don't love is that he leaves the deodorant next to the door. and since we live in arizona, and he wears flip-flops regularly, he leaves the deodorant out. regularly.
i know this is going to come as a shocker, but a can of aerosol deodorant is not part of the look i'm going for. i just haven't seen it in any design blogs... and surprisingly, martha hasn't featured it in any recent tablescapes.

ok, so here's our shoe cubbies (milk crates i spray painted red a few years ago, turned on their side), with the mail holder thingy and the can o' deodorant.

i decided to follow the nester's advise... here's my synthesis of a few days of her 31-day series...

--day #10: find a simple solution

--day #9: create a man station

--day #25: don't put stuff where it belongs

i was tired of putting the deodorant back in the bathroom, and tired of trying to find kind and gentle [as opposed to rude and nagging] ways of "asking" my husband to put it back and/or remember to put it back next time. so i decided to find a simple solution that worked for both of us, and let the deodorant live by the door, in an easy-to-reach place.


i commissioned a well-loved cigar box. [note that the color goes oh-so-well with my fresh green :) eeek!] i had to empty it out and find a home for its contents... but once that was done, i found it a home on top of the shoe cubby... and raised up the mail holder, so that it wasn't just clutter a'top the shoes. [the shoes provide enough clutter as it is...]


and i wasn't in love with the location of the mail holder... so i moved it to the wall...

i don't know that this qualifies, per se', as a man station... but maybe it can also become a place for him to put his keys, etc, that end up scattered?? we'll see... :)

[ps... did you know that you can friend me on facebook??? there's a link on the right side of the page :) also... there's only a few days left in the poll... pop on over and vote if you haven't yet!! :) ]