Home'scool Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I saw this article online. A woman posted a picture of her living room and asked if people thought it was messy or not. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5507145/Do-think-living-rooms-messy.html What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 (edited) To me, it’s “normal†messy. My family room looks similar on any given day. ETA: funny, I’m looking around the room and we even have a back roller sitting in the middle of the floor. I voted yes, but I actually feel different about “is this messy?†vs “is this a mess?†To me, the the second statement is stronger. I would say it’s messy, but it’s not a mess. Just to be difficult. Edited March 16, 2018 by Sassenach 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angie in VA Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 To me, it’s “normal†messy. My family room looks similar on any given day. :iagree: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Yes, it's messy, but on the messy scale of 1-10 (10 being hoarders) - I would say it's a 1 or 2. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I vote messy mainly because it looks like someone sleeps on that sofa, and they could have at least folded the blankets! But I can’t imagine that anyone would consider the room to be tidy. It’s definitely “lived-in,†at best. :) 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneezyone Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Things like that give me the heebee jeebies. I cannot have that kind of clutter on the floor and feel good about my space. It would have to be shoved to the sides, stacked, etc. I don't think it's a lot of stuff, it's just the placement. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I'd have said the first photo looks messy, the third tidy. I'd say it probably didn't take long to tidy it. But I would not say it looks like a tip. To me that tends to mean a mess that would be more difficult to tidy, because there is so much and maybe no place to put it, or requires a lot of sorting things. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 It's messy (and it looks like my living room), but it's not a disaster. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Depends how you define "messy." To me it looks like "today's mess," which is only worth noting if it is still there tomorrow in addition to tomorrow's mess. :P If I was having company in 5 minutes, I would consider that room messy and clean it up. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 TO add - I'd see that almost as a room in use. Like, my kids are around playing and such. Usually I would tidy it at least before supper, and maybe at lunch too. But if I tried to keep it tidy even when kids are playing around it would seem pointless. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 What's a tip? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 What's a tip? Like a big industrial garbage can, the kind you put construction waste into, or outside a shop in the alley. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 It would be beyond messy and creeping into disaster range for us. But it's also not to the point that I'd think anything about it in someone else's house. I can't be mentally peaceful in that kind of clutter, but I know it doesn't bother others. So . . . shrug. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Home'scool Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 To me it is messy and would give me anxiety being in it. Now, if my kids were young and in the middle of playing some game that required stuff being strewn around, then fine. But I would be moving the jacket hanging on the door and definitely putting away anything that is not being used right at the moment. And the rug ... its pushed to far into the hearth. That would make my OCD start yelling haha. Although in the "neat" picture it has been removed so maybe it caused someone else too much anxiety too :laugh: I cannot sit and relax in a messy room. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I vote messy, but that’s by my standard in my own home. In actuality, if I were a guest in that home it wouldn’t bother me at all and I wouldn’t be thinking, “What a mess†1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heatherwith4 Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 It’s messy, but it would only take about 5 minutes to clean up. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I would be thrilled if my living room was that tidy. I don’t think it is “company ready “ but no, I don’t think that it is messy. I don’t live in a house that looks like a magazine picture. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 (edited) Like a big industrial garbage can, the kind you put construction waste into, or outside a shop in the alley. In the UK a tip is where the town's rubbish gets taken and piled up - a garbage heap. The industrial garbage can is a skip. Edited March 16, 2018 by Laura Corin 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Not as messy as my house. :) But yeah, still a little messy. It needs like three minutes of straightening up and then it would be tidy. I would not be uncomfortable if I went to someone's house and it was that level of messy. I would actually feel happy that they were comfortable having me over without needing to make their house perfectly picked up. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 1. There are things out that could be put up so it is "messy" in that sense. 2. All of these things could be easily and quickly straightened up even if there was no designated place for them to go so not "messy" in that sense. 3. All of these things could easily be provided with a designated place because there are not that many things laying about that really need a designated place so this is easy to address. In other words, while the room is a bit messy it is something that could quickly be taken care of, either for that afternoon or with a longer term solution in mind. This is not hoarder level in any way, shape or form so it would not bother me to have that room in my house one iota. I could probably have it straight and looking much neater within a few minutes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Buckin' Longhorn Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Way too messy for me! But I like a super-clean house AND I don’t have children at home anymore. Just a lap dog and he’s neater than all the people that live here. He has middle class doggy privilege, LOL. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Messy is a tricky word for me. We usually talk about tidy or untidy and dirty or clean. That room looks clean but untidy in the first picture. Once she tidied up, it looks clean and mostly tidy, though her space isn't sleek or anything. Loose blankets draped on a sofa are always going to look slightly untidy to me. But that's okay - we do things like that here too because we actually live here with kids. None of y'all who think that's horrible should ever come to my house. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 In the UK a tip is where the rubbish gets taken and piled up - a garbage heap. So what we would call a dump. No, it's definitely not a dump. I think some people lack life experience if that makes them think "dump." :P 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 For me this is super messy. I couldn’t breath if my living room was so messed up. Other rooms I can close the door and ignore them, but living room has to be tidy if I am to survive a day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 (edited) It is messy but it could be tidied up in five minutes. My question is more: does it matter? If it matters to the individuals who live there, then that's their decision, but I don't see any moral imperative to be tidy. Is the word 'messy' pejorative? Edited March 16, 2018 by Laura Corin 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinevere Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I think it is messy because it seems those are items that an adult left behind. If the items strewn about were toys, and underneath the child clutter was tidy, I wouldn't think a thing of it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 It looks like normal messiness from daily living, which could be tidied away in just a few minutes. My house usually runs this level of messy on a daily basis. I don't love it, but like the original photo poster, no matter what I do it always seems to come back to that state. Like a set point. :p (As I look around: my kitchen is in the middle of a big reno project, and we've reached new levels of messiness. Plastic tacked up, dining set in middle of small living room, tools and such piled everywhere. I long for normal messiness!!) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 The article said that Mom thought it was neither messy nor tidy. I'd kind of agree with that. It's a lived in room, that would take less than 10 minutes to put in shape. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Quite messy, but 10 minutes would fix it. Another 20 would make it clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 There's normal messes of living (stuff you have out, stuff you didn't find a way to deal with, new stuff coming into your house) and just plain being a slob and not having basic habits. A jacket on the door frame?? Really?? That's being a slob and not having a place to put your coat and making the effort to put it there. I expect messes to happen, new stuff to come into the house, projects to be going, but I also expect people in my house to have basic habits like hang up your coat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 So, did anyone else read this thread and decide to go tidy up a bit? Or was it just me? :blushing: FWIW, my living room is normally similar to picture 1. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 It looks lived in. Yes a tad messy, but not gross messy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 It looks a little bit messy but since there’s not a lot of stuff in the room it would take less than 5 minutes to make it tidy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornblower Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 There's a dog on one of the couches so imo the room is quite perfect. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyofsixreboot Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Yes. Not a mess that would take long to clean up though. We all have our comfort levels. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 So, did anyone else read this thread and decide to go tidy up a bit? Or was it just me? :blushing: FWIW, my living room is normally similar to picture 1. No. I vowed only to invite relaxed people to my house. Which I already do so I'm good. I'm always trying to tidy and declutter and tackle my house but if my house looked like that I would go enjoy my people, play a game, go on a hike, bake something yummy. . . If I knew someone was coming over I would take the five minutes to tidy to "company ready" levels but if they showed up unannounced then I wouldn't sweat it. My personal opinion is that life is too short to try to live in a magazine. But as someone else said, we all have different standards. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Yep, that's a mess. I wouldn't care if someone else's house looked like that, but if it was my house, it would make me all antsy. I have zero ability to tolerate clutter and disorder in my own house. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 To me it looks a little messy but nothing terrible and it could be easily tidied. I'm wondering if those on this thread having a panic attack about its terrible mess cope with going to other people's houses or do you just steer clear of them because I would say there are quite a few untidy houses around these days with so many having such busy schedules. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 In the UK a tip is where the town's rubbish gets taken and piled up - a garbage heap. The industrial garbage can is a skip. Ah, interesting. I wonder if they are related words. Anyway, I think the sense of a dump is abut the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Buckin' Longhorn Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I personally have no opinion or judgement on other people’s homes, unless they veer into hoarder territory, which I consider a mental health issue. I like a very clean home to live in. I was raised in a clean home and so have many decades of experience. It comes very natural to me. I also would like to point out that one can have a very clean home and still value and enjoy their people. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkacz Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 (edited) There's something discordant? about that room. Even with every item picked up, I think there would still be something jarring about it. With the white, white walls and dark furniture and rug on the floor, it just doesn't feel comfortable. Because of that, every item that is out of place seems wore than it is. I have a throw blanket (or 2) on my couches, but they don't seem as messy. The room just doesn't feel joyful for some reason. Edited March 16, 2018 by Jkacz 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 It’s messy but not disgusting or anything. I wouldn’t be able to leave things like that. It’s not the items on the floor that bother me, maybe because with kids there are almost always things out. It’s the large things draping all over that make it look so cluttered. The jacket on the door, the blanket on the couch (that’s even there in the second picture), socks or scarves on the couches, the blanket on the floor. Those are the things that bug me because they look like they don’t belong in the room and were just dropped there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMS83 Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 A Mess? Nah. Somewhat cluttered, sure. But cluttered like, "We used this room today." Not cluttered like, "We don't have enough space for all our STUUUFF!" If that makes sense. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornblower Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I personally have no opinion or judgement on other people’s homes, unless they veer into hoarder territory, which I consider a mental health issue. I like a very clean home to live in. I was raised in a clean home and so have many decades of experience. It comes very natural to me. I also would like to point out that one can have a very clean home and still value and enjoy their people. yeah but just ftr clean is not the opposite of messy homes can be messy and clean they can be organized and dirty fwiw, I was raised by 2 neatfreaks. It didn't take. I can tolerate a pretty significant amount of art and life and creative and pets clutter before I go squirrely. I like it when dh goes all minimalist and starts organizing and clearing stuff but it only lasts like a day or two before the rest of us create a chaos of stuff everywhere. but certainly - I have no judgement of people who manage to create and maintain order in their spaces. It's all good. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I personally have no opinion or judgement on other people’s homes, unless they veer into hoarder territory, which I consider a mental health issue. I like a very clean home to live in. I was raised in a clean home and so have many decades of experience. It comes very natural to me. I also would like to point out that one can have a very clean home and still value and enjoy their people. I said that I would feel comfortable leaving it that way to go "enjoy my people" in the sense that I would feel comfortable going out (or in) to do stuff without feeling like I had to clean or tidy first. It was actually just one thing in a list of things I would do. I never said that people with cleaner homes don't enjoy their people. Keeping house is important to me - otherwise I wouldn't have a daily tackle list - but it is not something I enjoy. And for me and MY standards, my "family ready" house is different from my "company ready" house. That room looks "family ready" to me. So I would do stuff with my family. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I would say, yes, messy. It would bother me in my house. I’m like other people who posted saying they have a hard time resting or feeling mentally at peace when there is clutter or things are untidy. But I wouldn’t think much of it at someone else’s house. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Messy. But not enough to make me twitchy. I actually wouldn’t mind it being that messy for my own sake and could leave it like that for days, but DH gets twitchier sooner than I do, so once it was at that point, I’d start feeling twitchy in anticipation of DH’s twitchiness. I like a perfectly cleaned room, but not enough to stop doing other things to keep up with perfectly cleaned rooms all day long. There are books to be read... 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Yes, it's messy. Less messy than mine, but that doesn't mean it's tidy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Messy but not something I would flip over. If I can clean it up within 10 minutes I'm usually okay with leaving it for a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I like a perfectly cleaned room, but not enough to stop doing other things to keep up with perfectly cleaned rooms all day long. There are books to be read... :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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