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J

JBloggs

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I am really a clean out freak. If it sits there it is gone... So now that the foyer is totally empty, which I love, it is time to put the furniture back in.
The desk doesn't have much on it, I have the basket of rack cards and candy dish, and pens, note pad, a few awards we have won. But not a whole lot. It is already a pain to dust that area. I used the inside and drawers for stuff tho.
How much is too much to have on display for guests? I learned year one that people have made their plans mostly before arriving, so have a full slate of stuff, in multiple is not what we do. We have info in the rooms.
What have you found never gets used or touched so you removed it? Magazines? Maps? Newspapers? Review Cards?
 
Having had it pointed out to me years ago by an old boyfriend that I am a "pile-it" I try to avoid flat surfaces. Having a radiator in the foyer that is (a) too heavy to move which is why the PO did not (b) emergency heat source if power is off as it is a straight gas - light it and it heats (c) a dreaded flat surface, DH built me a brochure rack that covers it. My guests often stop in front of it to get ideas for their next trip (it has local and out-of-area stuff). I would love to remove it to make the foyer have a larger "feel" but being "to myself be true" do not dare!
 
Having just completed a large 'clean out' what I found was it was MY areas that I kept stuff, not in the guest areas. It still becomes a mess, it still collects dust that travels throughout. I am not through but far less to skirt around, I can go into spring with most of the spring cleaning behind me and can enjoy the weather!!!
Brochures - I love them as they provide so much info on great places, the problem is they get looked at and dropped in any horizontal surface. The larger bulk tourist books seem to work better in general. We keep the state, big city near us and our local ones books, some more like a nice magazine which has everything. We do keep a few brochures but have begun to ask them to view and return, but they can keep the big book if they would like. I find if they leave the big book, it is placed back with the others. We also keep one of them in each guest room in the top drawer. This is the place I also find gets cluttered as guests like leaving behind brochures they picked up along their travels.
 
copperhead said:
Having just completed a large 'clean out' what I found was it was MY areas that I kept stuff, not in the guest areas. It still becomes a mess, it still collects dust that travels throughout. I am not through but far less to skirt around, I can go into spring with most of the spring cleaning behind me and can enjoy the weather!!!
Brochures - I love them as they provide so much info on great places, the problem is they get looked at and dropped in any horizontal surface. The larger bulk tourist books seem to work better in general. We keep the state, big city near us and our local ones books, some more like a nice magazine which has everything. We do keep a few brochures but have begun to ask them to view and return, but they can keep the big book if they would like. I find if they leave the big book, it is placed back with the others. We also keep one of them in each guest room in the top drawer. This is the place I also find gets cluttered as guests like leaving behind brochures they picked up along their travels..
Click to expand...
Having just hauled 3 LARGE garbage bags of "stuff' from just my Library (my office) I understand. I probably have one more BEFORE I even start looking into what is jammed in the secretary. I opened one of the plastic tubs in the storage room - another week worth of plow-through. The guest area is not cluttered because I do not want to have to clean around it.
 
There is not much I have gotten rid of. A lot of it I have expanded! You know what I might toss? The room books. They are so out of date and given the number of times we are asked 'what's the WiFi code' I know no one looks at them!
I expanded the brochure area, even buying a new table for it. It makes it easy for me. If asked what there is to do I can easily grab a brochure so the guest has it with all the times and schedules. (I have those plastic rack card holders- a few triples and singles.)
Menus. Tons of them. They get a LOT of use. Just got a restaurant to give me their new one last night. Have to go fix that one in the holder.
Magazines will take over my house. I have a rack of them and there are 5-6 in each room. Maps are everywhere and I am always running out. Newspapers are in the living room and get read all the time. I have the local big city paper, the local town paper, the local area paper, the local 'waterfront' newspaper, the museum publications.
Books. We moved a full-size bookcase into the living room last year. It's full. The half-shelf alongside the fireplace is still full even tho I have the huge bookcase! I'd move another bookcase into the hallway if I thought DH would stand it!
However, no one ever took the review cards so I did toss those.
Like CH, the 'crap' ends up in my space. We just did a half-assed clean out of the basement when the new furnace went in. BUT, it is amazing how much better everything looks with the shelves cleaned off and the spider webs gone!
What I did get rid of were the doilies. Years ago. Amazing how much 'cleaner' everything looks without them. (NOT wanting to 'start' something here, just saying how it helped to declutter the 'look' here.)
 
Madeleine said:
There is not much I have gotten rid of. A lot of it I have expanded! You know what I might toss? The room books. They are so out of date and given the number of times we are asked 'what's the WiFi code' I know no one looks at them!
I expanded the brochure area, even buying a new table for it. It makes it easy for me. If asked what there is to do I can easily grab a brochure so the guest has it with all the times and schedules. (I have those plastic rack card holders- a few triples and singles.)
Menus. Tons of them. They get a LOT of use. Just got a restaurant to give me their new one last night. Have to go fix that one in the holder.
Magazines will take over my house. I have a rack of them and there are 5-6 in each room. Maps are everywhere and I am always running out. Newspapers are in the living room and get read all the time. I have the local big city paper, the local town paper, the local area paper, the local 'waterfront' newspaper, the museum publications.
Books. We moved a full-size bookcase into the living room last year. It's full. The half-shelf alongside the fireplace is still full even tho I have the huge bookcase! I'd move another bookcase into the hallway if I thought DH would stand it!
However, no one ever took the review cards so I did toss those.
Like CH, the 'crap' ends up in my space. We just did a half-assed clean out of the basement when the new furnace went in. BUT, it is amazing how much better everything looks with the shelves cleaned off and the spider webs gone!
What I did get rid of were the doilies. Years ago. Amazing how much 'cleaner' everything looks without them. (NOT wanting to 'start' something here, just saying how it helped to declutter the 'look' here.).
Click to expand...
Funny I just added a doily.
Doilies are used, not for looks. I have one fern in the parlor (what a mess it is) anyway, I have it in a footed bowl and water drips from the top, so I put a small doily under it. Not sure it is even a doily, it is a hand crocheted small triangle thingy tho. Anyway, when I moved the small lamp that was near the window on this table I found big scratches all over it. I didn't cover them up, just a wet catcher doily.
You know what I got rid of a few years back, and this is almost blasphemous to innkeepers. The Guest Book. The reason I got rid of it was so many never signed it, that is looked like we had no guests. It was not making me happy, so I removed it.
 
Joey Bloggs said:
Madeleine said:
There is not much I have gotten rid of. A lot of it I have expanded! You know what I might toss? The room books. They are so out of date and given the number of times we are asked 'what's the WiFi code' I know no one looks at them!
I expanded the brochure area, even buying a new table for it. It makes it easy for me. If asked what there is to do I can easily grab a brochure so the guest has it with all the times and schedules. (I have those plastic rack card holders- a few triples and singles.)
Menus. Tons of them. They get a LOT of use. Just got a restaurant to give me their new one last night. Have to go fix that one in the holder.
Magazines will take over my house. I have a rack of them and there are 5-6 in each room. Maps are everywhere and I am always running out. Newspapers are in the living room and get read all the time. I have the local big city paper, the local town paper, the local area paper, the local 'waterfront' newspaper, the museum publications.
Books. We moved a full-size bookcase into the living room last year. It's full. The half-shelf alongside the fireplace is still full even tho I have the huge bookcase! I'd move another bookcase into the hallway if I thought DH would stand it!
However, no one ever took the review cards so I did toss those.
Like CH, the 'crap' ends up in my space. We just did a half-assed clean out of the basement when the new furnace went in. BUT, it is amazing how much better everything looks with the shelves cleaned off and the spider webs gone!
What I did get rid of were the doilies. Years ago. Amazing how much 'cleaner' everything looks without them. (NOT wanting to 'start' something here, just saying how it helped to declutter the 'look' here.).
Click to expand...
Funny I just added a doily.
Doilies are used, not for looks. I have one fern in the parlor (what a mess it is) anyway, I have it in a footed bowl and water drips from the top, so I put a small doily under it. Not sure it is even a doily, it is a hand crocheted small triangle thingy tho. Anyway, when I moved the small lamp that was near the window on this table I found big scratches all over it. I didn't cover them up, just a wet catcher doily.
You know what I got rid of a few years back, and this is almost blasphemous to innkeepers. The Guest Book. The reason I got rid of it was so many never signed it, that is looked like we had no guests. It was not making me happy, so I removed it.
.
Click to expand...
I have some rooms that are still on the same book from when we got here. Other rooms have been thru 2 books already. But, I had them in the rooms. Oddly, we find them opened, with a pen stuck in them and it's marking some other guest's comment!
 
Like you, I had gotten rid of the guest book. Folks wrote in the room journals.
I got rid of the basket with the assortment of brochures from all over. Our CVB puts out a brochure that lists things to do in the area (and has a local map) and it is updated pretty often. They did finally get me on a list to drop them off to me when the new ones came out. I put one of those in each of the room books. Since the CVB is really in walking distance, has pretty good info, and is in a cool, re-purposed building I would suggest that they go there for more info.
Our common areas had little clutter.
 

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