My 6 Favorite (Easy!) Houseplants

I loooove a good houseplant. I can hardly walk past the plants at Lowe's without bringing one home.
But, believe it or not, I didn't always feel this way! In fact, a few years ago I killed every plant I touched. You know how greenery is supposed to liven up your home? Well my home was a graveyard for shriveled plant dreams. But somehow, one by one, I've found a few hearty houseplants that even I can't kill. And now I have plants in nearly every corner of my home!

Check out how I propagate those plants to get more plants for free here. 
And how to make a DIY macrame plant hanger here.

So today I want to share my top 6 favorite houseplants that are super easy to care for - and a great place to start if you struggle to find your "green thumb" like I did. I'll also share a few of my favorite tips on caring for and displaying your plants - and hopefully hear some of your favorites, too!

I mixed fake plants in with my house plants on the mantle before I decided to simplify the space. No shame in the fake plant game!

There are a few important things to consider when you're choosing houseplants, but probably the most important detail is how much light the plant needs. You need plants that will do well in your home environment and many rooms don't get a ton of natural light, so you need to choose low-light plants that can thrive there! A full-sun plant in a dim corner just doesn't stand a chance. Luckily, I've got you covered with plants for just about anywhere. 

Easy $10 Fireplace Door Upgrade

One of the first things I loved about this house was the fireplace.  And now that we've given it a few updates? I love it even more. It's come a long way since move-in day, and we've done it all on a super small budget. I know I sound like a broken record, but you CAN create a home you love without spending a fortune. If you take one thing away today, let it be that.

If you take away a second thing, it can be this handy hack.

So let's check out the fireplace, because it's looking better than ever with it's snazzy new fireplace door! Except it's not actually a new fireplace door. It's the same old door with a fresh new look that cost under $10!

But before we jump into this latest update, let's throwback a few years. At this point we had painted the walls a light gray, but that was our only change so far:

Guys, small changes really do add up. It feels so much more cohesive and fitting to this old farmhouse now than it ever did back then. Partly because of the updates and partly due to my minimizing and learning to style the Cozy Minimalist way (so. much. stuff. on that old mantle). Here's a quick rundown of what we've done so far:

The MLH Creed

My towels don't match.

I mean, I did find four green ones for our open shelving, which gives the impression that I have things more "together" than I do. But I just feel like you need to know that. I don't want you guys to get the wrong idea. It's easy online and in pictures for things to look just right. Crop out the clutter. Angle high so we don't see the floor. Everything in place, everything matching, everything perfect. But that's not life. At least not in the MLH house.

My four almost matching towels.

Don't get me wrong, I love beautiful spaces. I love when my house looks cute and at least somewhat put together. I get bored and want to mix things up. I like to decorate and paint. I like everything to have it's own place and fit perfectly and be always tidy. I like order and neatness. So that's the stuff I blog about. But whatever you read from me, I hope you take what I say with this grain of salt:

It's okay if it's not. And it's okay if you don't.

It's okay if you don't do everything, if it's all not perfect, if your towels don't match. It's okay if you don't have a new couch, if you never replace that tile you don't care for. It's okay to be okay with the way things are. Even if it's a little less than perfect.

Life is so much more than pictures of pretty houses. 

Planning DIY Built-Ins

Our first project of 2020 is all about bringing more storage and better organization to one of the most under-used spaces in our home. Because the best way to turn your house into your home is to make it work for your family - and this room definitely isn't doing that. Yet.

We have this little nook of our kitchen - it's probably supposed to be a breakfast room or something fancy like that. But, alas, we are not fancy folks. And I have no interest in a breakfast nook, because we eat breakfast at our big farmhouse table. So I toyed with a few other ideas for the space: a playroom (but we don't have that many toys and don't need another room for them), a homeschool room (I actually set it up for this for awhile, but we always end up in our cozy library/office for homework), and a craft room for the kids. So far, the craft room is the thing that seemed to stick. I'm a crafty mom and I have so far produced three crafty kids (and I expect the fourth will follow his brothers), so we have no shortage of art supplies and half-completed projects. But we do have a shortage of storage space and organizational genius to corral those things. Hence our first project of the year:

We're building DIY built-ins!

Storage that's not working for us.