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Love It or List It Vancouver's Jillian Harris shares the trick to quick cleans and social snaps at home
Jillian Harris is not afraid to label her personal style “high brow-low brow.” It’s precisely that relatable charm—and her undeniable style—that have endeared her to viewers of The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and Love It or List It Vancouver. As she continues to steer a celebrated personal brand online, she is clearly focused on both visuals and value. “I love creating things that are beautiful and inspiring and fresh and inviting, she explains. “But I’m a thrifty shopper!”
Television personality, design guru and now spokesperson for the new PC Optimum points program, she knows the secrets and the shortcuts to making your days more efficient, your dollar go further and your home more Instagram-worthy.
Here she shares her tips for living beautifully without breaking the bank…
I love storage. I love the idea of everything having a place. If you look at my pictures, it always seems like I don’t have a lot of clutter but I do! I use a lot of baskets and a lot of bins and any type of built-in furniture: cabinetry, dressers. I shove everything in. If you opened up the doors to our cabinets, toys would pour out of there. Toys… and probably snacks. And bottles. Milk bottles and wine bottles!
I love our home. I’m very proud of it. But I don’t believe you should have to spend $400 on a duvet cover. I mean, you can spend the money, but you don’t have to. You can get the same great look for less. I get my bedding, sheets, pillows—all of that—from Superstore. Their Everyday Essentials collection. I have a $50 duvet cover. And I let Nacho sleep on it. By the time Sunday comes around and it’s time to do our laundry, that duvet cover is disgusting. There’s hair on it. There’s probably a little puke on it. It’s not pretty. I throw it in, and add a little bleach. It’s lasted me almost five years! That’s $10 a year for a duvet cover!
For a quick clean, get the whole family involved. My mom used to do this when I was a little girl: everyone would walk around the house and decide what in the house needs to be done. We would write it all down on a piece of paper, rip it up into pieces and put them all into a hat. Then we would all pick items until the hat was empty, crank the music and race to get our list done. The first one to get their list done would get a prize. My mom would open the windows, let the fresh air in, blast the music and we’d all being going crazy. We’d have such a great time!
If you want to turn your chaotic life into a pretty Instagram picture, my number one tip is this: natural light! Take your photos at a time of day when you have the most natural light in your room. Turn off all of the incandescent lighting. Open up curtains. Open up the doors. Get the maximum sun exposure! Even if it seems a little bit dark, you can always brighten it in an app. You’ll never see a picture of my home after dark. It’s just muddy. You can’t get the full impact.
I am always doing the open concept kitchen/dining room. You can be in the kitchen prepping, getting appies together and—no matter what!—everyone is always crowded around the island in the kitchen. That’s where everybody wants to be! The kitchen is where it’s at.”
“I love entertaining. I love the idea of the kids being able to run around the house together. I would like to have a craft room. I may never have [those things] but everybody needs to have a goal. I’m not your 8,000 square foot house kind of gal. But I definitely wouldn’t turn away a 4,000 square foot house.”
The whole spring cleaning thing doesn’t work for me because I already want to be outside. I don’t want to be cleaning! In the winter, spend weekends purging and spraying and cleaning. Then, when the sun comes, get outside!”
“Function is much more important to me than it used to be because I am moving at such a high speed. I know I am not the only one who feels like this. If you’re tight on time, you don’t have to invest a lot of money in function and design. Change your furniture around. Clear the clutter. Make sure your pathways are clear, so you’re not wasting all of your time always looking for your keys or your jacket.