When we first moved to RI from Chicago and into our current home, I had grand visions of friends and family coming to visit. I made our fourth bedroom into a lovely guest room: fluffy pillows, baskets of magazines, bedside water decanters... you get the picture. I even found antique luggage stands (one tall and one short) for my guests to rest their suitcases upon. If you make it pretty, they will come...NOT.
Fast forward five years...we have house guests maybe two times a year (we travel out more than they travel in) and the fourth bedroom is now my studio/office (a huge mess, I might add). My B & B vision of home-sweet-home was hit with a hard dose of reality...two growing boys, hectic schedules, a house that is more lived in than pretty, and lack of time or will to be concerned.
As I was cleaning my studio closet, I found the two luggage stands. I had purchased them for just a few dollars each and even embellished one with lovely new ribbons. As they are useful those few times when someone visits, I didn't want to put them into the abyss of my basement. It dawned on me that they'd be great to use in the laundry room for my baskets. One most conveniently slides next to my dryer and pulls out easily when needed. And what a relief on my back - bonus! BTW, my primary laundry baskets are cute wicker ones because they make me feel a bit more Martha while doing my laundry. It's the little things, yes?!
I have also been known to use the stands with trays placed on top. They become a great makeshift table for temporary projects or even handy for your salad bowls at dinner.
If you have unused luggage stands lying around, I encourage you to think outside of the suitcase and find ways to use them. What random object have you fashioned into something useful? Do tell...
oh...I have one of those guest room too...exactly as you describe yours, but never got luggage stands! I even had (past tense is key) a selection of chocolate goodies. I think our guests became scared when we moved to the desert boonies....
ReplyDelete