Beautiful Versions of Boring Things, Pt. 2

Even more everyday items that don’t have to be ugly

Last fall I wrote a newsletter that went semi-viral. It was filled with objects you’d find in any ordinary home, but the least aesthetically offensive versions of those objects. I wrote about how so many brands from the last decade have sought to “disrupt” everyday items—pet accessories, cookware, gardening tools—and how, as a result, we’ve all ended up with a bunch of plasticky, candy-colored junk.

Writer Flora Wiström’s Swedish kitchen.

I’m not immune to an Instagram ad or a quick Amazon purchase, and I can concede that not everything we own needs to be a work of art. I would have loved to buy this beautiful pill cutter instead of the bright blue plastic one I got last week for $4, but even I have my limits. I don’t want to have you believing that my Scotch tape is in a beautiful vintage dispenser or that my sticky notes are from some family-owned paperie that’s been around for 150 years, because we all have to make not-fun utility purchases, and no one wants to spend a bunch of money on something that sits in a drawer.

The Oxford Brush Company in the Cotswolds.

But—you knew there was a “but” coming—I just cannot shut off the part of my brain that compulsively has to look for the most beautiful version of a boring thing, even if ultimately I know I can’t (or shouldn’t) buy it. If I’m buying a notebook to journal in, I want it to be a journal I’d be excited to pick up every day. Or if I’m doing an at-home workout, I want my hand weights and yoga mat to be in colors that feel right in my living room. I simply can’t help it, and I bet if you’re reading this, you can’t either.

Designer Beata Heuman’s entryway.

So I’ve made a part two to last year’s list—one that really runs the gamut across cleaning supplies, pet stuff, kitchen things, organizational tools, and everything else that might be hiding behind a cabinet door in your home. Even dumbbells! Read on.