Bowls

     I love bowls so much! Not just for my oatmeal, soup, or (who am I kidding???) ice cream.

     I love them for decorating and cozying up. In much the same way as you use a tray, bowls are used today for gathering practical items and then making them pretty. (Or a little bowl of candy is always cozy; it's that time of year.)

     When I say "practical items", I mean whatever little items you have lying around. Take a bathroom for instance. You could use a bowl for hair ties, lip balms/sticks, bobby pins, or small makeup containers. I say "or" because that's what I mean.

     Here's where the differences between bowls and trays come into play. You can arrange a variety of medium-sized things on a tray: hair brush, comb, toothbrush, tissue, etc., in keeping with our bathroom theme.

     But don't throw the hair ties and all those other little things in the same bowl! That's messed up for two reasons:

1. Your bowl is too big. Trust me. Use any bowl the size of a cereal bowl (about six inches in diameter) or smaller.

2. It won't actually make things more organized or pretty, which defeats the purpose.

      On a nightstand, you could use a bowl for small book marks (or book darts!), loose change, or keys.

     In the kitchen, you could use a bowl for creamers, tomatoes, or ketchup packets.

     Here are my two bowls in my room right now.

     The blue and yellow one is from Anthropologie. I got it for Easter 2015. The white with gold rim one was on clearance at West Elm because it had on tiny black mark, which I always just spin around, so the mark faces the wall.

     Both of these are being used around my nightstand. How is that possible? I'll show you.

Current nightstand

(my nightstand's I-woke-up-like-this look, with drawer opened so you can see inside)

15-second tidied nightstand

(a place for everything and everything in its place)

Picture-worthy nightstand

(closed the drawer)

 

     So you see, bowls are cozy whether they are in plain sight as décor or tucked away in a drawer. My Anthro bowl has my stash of book darts in it.

     "But, Madeline, the Anthro bowl is so pretty!"

     I know. Trust me, I love it even more than you do. And it's not being neglected. I use it every day! I've had it out of the drawer before, and it will be shifted around again one day and get to be on display.

     But not everything has to be on display all the time. Even if it's your favorite.

     Action point: I know you have at least one non-plastic bowl in your house! Pull it out of the kitchen cupboard and gather some little things in it.

~Madeline

This post is part of my 31 Ways to Cozy Up Your Space series.