Design & Space
Finishing a room, and knowing when to stop
Rooms are frequently abandoned at ninety per cent, and the remaining ten is where they become finished.
Rosalind Mayer
26 articles by Mayer
Design & Space
Making a home work for how you actually live
Most homes are arranged around an idea of domestic life rather than the one taking place inside them.
Kitchen
Bread, and why it is worth making
Bread requires four ingredients and mostly time, and the technique is simpler than its reputation.
Design & Space
Storage that is part of the room
Built-in and considered storage solves the clutter problem structurally rather than behaviourally.
Cleaning & Care
Cleaning as a household system
The question of what gets cleaned, how often, and by whom is a logistics problem before it is a cleaning problem.
Kitchen
Eating well on a small budget
The cheapest ingredients are frequently the best ones, and technique matters more than money.
Organising
Keeping records of the house itself
A house accumulates a history, and having it written down saves money and argument later.
Cleaning & Care
Caring for wood and other surfaces
Different materials require genuinely different treatment, and the wrong product causes damage that cannot be reversed.
Plants & Garden
Attracting wildlife to a small garden
Small changes produce disproportionate results, and several standard practices are actively unhelpful.
Kitchen
Shopping and planning meals
Most household food waste and most food overspending trace to shopping without a plan.
Organising
Moving house without losing everything
A move is the largest organising task most households undertake, and the preparation determines how bad it is.
Cleaning & Care
Removing stains
The category of stain determines the treatment, and applying the wrong one sets it permanently.
Plants & Garden
Indoor plants for difficult conditions
Dark rooms, dry heat, cold windowsills and neglect each have plants that tolerate them.
Kitchen
Batch cooking that works
Cooking in quantity saves time and money, and it fails when people cook things that do not keep well.
Organising
The weekly reset
A defined short routine holds a household steady, and it works because it is bounded rather than because it is thorough.
Plants & Garden
Pruning, and when not to
Cutting at the wrong time removes next year’s flowers, and the rule that prevents it is simple.
Kitchen
Getting the most from a freezer
The appliance most households use least effectively, and a small number of habits change that.
Organising
Organising a wardrobe
Most wardrobes contain a large proportion of items that are never worn, and identifying them is straightforward.
Cleaning & Care
Looking after floors
Different floor types require genuinely different treatment, and using the wrong method causes most of the damage.
Plants & Garden
Watering, and why plants die of it
Both too much and too little produce similar symptoms, which is why so many people water the wrong way.
Kitchen
Knives, boards and basic technique
A sharp knife and a stable board change cooking more than any appliance, and both are cheap.
Organising
Paperwork and what to keep
Households accumulate documents indefinitely because nobody knows what can go, and the answer is more permissive than people assume.
Plants & Garden
Growing food in a small space
A balcony or a windowsill produces a genuinely useful quantity of some things and almost none of others.
Cleaning & Care
Laundry, properly
Most laundry problems come from a small number of habits, and correcting them makes clothes last substantially longer.
Plants & Garden
Houseplants that survive
Most houseplant deaths have the same three causes, and matching the plant to the room solves most of it.
Organising
Why decluttering fails and what works instead
Most people declutter repeatedly and end up where they started, and the reason is a mechanism rather than a lack of discipline.