Eyeballs on the Ceiling
November 17, 2009 by Katelyn Thomas
Filed under Home & Living
You know, you have this vision where your home looks like a magazine picture. Then, you’re sitting on the sofa folding laundry, you glance up at the ceiling and you see…No. Not cobwebs. No. What you see is this:
So, do you pack it in and realize you will never have that showplace? Well, sort of. You see, most of those homes in the magazine pictures don’t look like that either when you visit them in person. That’s because real people live in those homes. So, when you look at the magazine photo, what you don’t see is the towering pile of stuff right outside the camera’s range. You don’t see the magazine crew re-arranging and sometimes completely switching out accessories. You don’t see all of the hobbies, the dog toys, the kids’ toys that are crammed into a box on the back porch until the camera crew leaves. You don’t see life.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t create a magazine worthy space. Go ahead. Buy lovely furniture. Paint your walls that amazing shade. Replace your floor with that gorgeous new flooring. But when you are done? Invite your family to live in that space. It might not look as nice as that sleek magazine photo, but that isn’t a bad thing. It is a great thing. Eyeballs on the ceiling and all. Because a room that looks lived in is a room that feels like a home instead of a showplace.
(By the way, these are super sticky Halloween eyeballs and I haven’t been able to knock them off the ceiling with a yard stick. I’m going to have to pull out the step ladder and I’ll be bringing a Magic Eraser because there are black smudges from them, too. Sticky hands do fall down on their own, though. Odd the things you become an expert on over the years, isn’t it?)
Photo of my ceiling complete with sticky eyeball: K. Thomas
This article made me laugh. I have yogurt on my kitchen ceiling and salsa on the living room ceiling because of “spills” (well, more like explosive kid-style container droppings) that I thought I had completely cleaned until much later. The ceilings are high and I can’t reach them with my little step ladder.
Thanks for the warning too — I will immediately confiscate sticky eyeballs in future. The hands have always grossed me out anyway!
Ah Ha! Just when you think the kids are all grown up they pull an “eyeball on the ceiling” charade. My 20-something son lived and cared for our home while my husband and i were on vacation one year. We knew that he would have a party and were ok with the idea…sort of. When we got home there was a large greasy spot on the kitchen wallpaper. It looked like a stick of butter had been rubbed on the wall. Of course the son had no idea where it came from! Until the day we moved out…having built a new home…i still had no idea exactly how the spot came to be. That house now belongs to our daughter and son-in-law and the grease spot is soon to be removed permanently by a kitchen make-over.
I have been keeping a house for almost 40 years and the things you mention here are so true Katelyn, and very comical. My kids use to take a straw and some paper and spit the paper bits, through the straw, onto the ceiling and they stuck also.
Over the years I have found that as long as you fill your home with love it will always be beautiful.
Thanks for bringing back those memories.
I’m glad to hear that other people have had ceiling mishaps, too!
Kathy, that is so true. Love is definitely more important than a room that looks perfect.