In The Sims 4, little knick knacks and objects placed on shelves, table tops, counters, etc. are identified as "clutter." If that's so, there are a few items that I look at around my house every single day that quantify as such and here are a few of them.
BEDROOM - Bedside table
A. This decorative piece made of wood is, I guess, made to look like it was a huge game piece off of a chessboard. A knight. Like all the items in these photos, take my recalling of the dates of acquisition, heck, even the places they've come from, with a grain of salt. A lot of them are kind of old, and I guess so am I now, so my memory of when I got them and how can be a little shaky. With that in mind, I think I got this decorative knight as part of my hunt for items to decorate my tiny High Street house in Lake Mary.
B. I don't remember when I got this little wooden picture frame. My guess is sometime in the '80s actually when I actually had photos of people to put in things like this. Maybe the frame once held a picture of Lisa in her bright blue woolen coat and neon orange scarf taken while we spent a brisk afternoon at a park in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Maybe it was of Nancy in her jean jacket taken while we strolled along Horseneck Beach one winter morning in the mid 80s. Perhaps it was Michelle being caught off guard in a snapshot around the same time as the other two pictures. If so, she'd be wincing as she didn't like to be photographed. But no I know it wasn't any of those. I guess it doesn't matter anymore. Now it houses just a color printout of an Inkarnate fantasy map of the Norglobe peninsula.
D. When I last roomed with Ric back in 2007, one of the parting gifts he allowed me to take was this alarm clock radio. It was part of the furnishings he bought along with the condo.
E. This thing is relatively new. I bought it a couple years ago on a whim. It's actually a kids room décor piece. It's a lamp that projects stars and moons in various colors on the walls and ceiling. A motor inside keeps the projection rotating slowly. I never use it. It kind of looks good as it is just a shiny plastic black ball.
BATHROOM - Basins and counter
A. Barely seen in the low light, this spiny thing is a fake plant I got at IKEA as part of the Goldfinger acquisition of 2014 for the Sunshadow Drive apartment. Thankfully being fake it happily endures this low light environment.
B. A bottle of astringent that has a powerful eucalyptus scent. I bought it at the nearby Goodwill. In my late teens and early twenties I would use astringents like this regularly to alleviate the oily skin problems of my face. I don't have those problems anymore. I don't think I have hormones anymore. I've got other problems. I've never used this.
C. Nor have I used these cotton balls sitting in this former candle converted into a pretty glass decanter. It's just for show. Or if I have young men over that have oily facial skin that needs astringing treatments. IDK.
D. These essential oils of various scents are used occasionally in the diffuser to the right. They sit in a blue ceramic dish I stole from Lakewood. Actually, it held a small dessert item that I grabbed from the old Hickory kitchen fridge, brought up to the Health Center to eat, and was too lazy to go back to Hickory to return it so I washed it out in the break room sink and just threw it into one of my cargo pants pockets.
E. Another Goldfinger buy, I used to have this little lamp on 24/7 in the bathroom at the Sunshadow place. Here, I only turn it on to when I'm in the bathroom and need to see. I like the dim light of the next item for all-hours illumination. I'd love to be able to flick on the overhead fluorescent tube lights but these went kapoot after of spin cycle of the mini-washer/spinner machine. I think it burned out a thing called a ballast or something? I'm too chicken to work with electrical things to fix it though I read it'd cost only about $15 for the part. Ah well, little lamp it is then.
F. The diffuser mentioned earlier. I occasionally use it as a diffuser, allowing the bathroom to fill with a delicately scented mist. Otherwise, I keep it on 24/7 as a night light that continually rotates through a LED light provided spectrum of rainbow colors.
G. I usually buy Colgate 'cause it's the cheapest toothpaste but Crest was on sale. I usually buy new toothbrushes, again the cheapest I can find, usually Equate or some other store brand, every 6 months or so. I'm pretty close to meeting to replace these. There's an electric toothbrush I got for about 15 bucks on Amazon somewhere in here. I never use it. It feels like a dentist drill. Who needs that shit?
H. Last year for Amazon Prime day, I picked up some Mrs. Myers hand soap on the cheap. Still going strong and I do use it frequently. Not bad but I wouldn't pay the full price they ask for. I still think it's one of those products that people see and go "ohhh" like they're so impressed you're so bougie. Again, since I'm way past my bougie days, who gives a fuck?
But wait a minute, just to the left of Item A is a little bulbous brown bottle of Halston 1-12. I bought that a couple years ago not with the intent of using it, because sure enough, I opened it and smelled it and it's still as strong as ever. The only reason I bought it was to have it sit around so I could look at it every now and then and it would remind me of those youthful days of "smelling like a French whore" and being all bougie gay boy.
I. I'm still old school when it comes to killing oral odiferous shit. Blast that pie hole with some bitter pain and keep it locked up in there for more than one minute. Sweat it out bitch!...Your breath be stank!
Er hem, I don't use it this way anymore.
KITCHEN - Sink and counter
A. A tiny corner of the range top. Apparently original, ie. from 1969, and fueled by propane. It, like Item H, the oven and broiler, may well still be operational but like the Balls before me (the Balls being the folks I bought this place from, remember?) I'm leery to use it. Plus I'm not keen on buying propane on a regular basis. That'd be nothing more than taking on another monthly bill.
B. With my counter space being pretty much everything you can see so therefore not much at all, I have to swap out things from time to time as they become more needed. Lately, I've been on a hot tea fix. Brewing up some delicious Lipton and sipping it out of my fancy cups. Wait a minute, again, I thought I wasn't about the bougie shit? Darling, it's not bougie if it's in your blood to be fabulous. This is the Hamilton Beach electric kettle I boil my water in. Don't worry, I'm still American, the Mr. Coffee coffee maker is in the cabinet under the sink and gets pulled out every other day or so for my morning joe.
C. All manner of kitchen utensils are crammed in the ceramic holder. The all metal chef's knife which I love using, numerous wooden and plastic spoons and spatulas, and Gary's little wooden handled chef's knife. It's amazing that all these years have gone by and I still have items like this from that simple housewarming package Gary gave me back in the midst of Koyo. I don't think I detailed much of that in Chronicles. I guess I'll need to post about that. Maybe a FLASHBACK post?
D. A little window and a valance. Whoopde fuckin' do. No, I really wanted to show this funky light fixture. I don't know if all 1969 Marlettes had this weird feature or if this was custom made by one of this mobile homes previous owners? It's an over the sink light which holds an almost entirely exposed light bulb (originally incandescent, now LED) surrounded by a rectangle metal "shade." More like a metal cage, if you ask me. Probably from the 60s since the mesh reminds me very much of some of the partitions used in the décor of crew cabins on the USS Enterprise from the Star Trek original series.
E. Here's another little item that seems to have been around forever. I don't think it's before Koyo, and probably not while I was living with Ric, maybe from the High Street days? It's a little bitty food processor and I swear it comes in so handy. I don't use it everyday but because of its tiny size it fills that little niche between the sink and the microwave and it's red to boot, so, yeah...there she sits.
F. This Galanz brand microwave/air fryer/conventional oven is godsend. Powerful, versatile, and attractive. What more could you want? Buy one now! Click on the link! Um, no. I'm no shill. I'm sure if I checked YouTube there are probably quite a few that are saying similar shit about this since I think this is made by one of those Chinese companies that will send free product out to YouTube "influencers" for almost free advertising. All that aside, I do actually love this microwave. It was only a little bit more expensive than the cheap $50 microwaves I usually buy. Notice, "I usually buy", like it's a regular thing. That's because it is. Cheap $50 microwaves don't last very long. This one closer to 100 bucks or so has kept going strong, being used every day, for a couple years now. Got it at the Sebring Walmart.
G. Another kitchen small appliance that I find essential. And yes, there are a million YouTube videos touting the Instant Pot as the next best kitchen item that Ron Popeil unfortunately can't hawk infomercial-style since he's dead.
H. The aforementioned never used oven. I do keep my oven pans in there which are also never used since they're too big for the microwave/conventional oven. Weary to open it too frequently though as it feels like the heavy door is about to fall off.
I. Just showcasing that even though I bought a gallon of paint to redo these cabinets over 2 years ago, I still haven't gotten around to doing it, painting that is. So the little scratches and chips in this old paint are converted through the magic of cognitive restructuring into merely decorative shabby chicness. Sure. Okay. That can of paint ain't going nowhere.