If you’re like me, you love pretty things and you also crave a simple and functional home. If you love the idea of having more style with less stuff, then welcome to the club–you’re a Cozy Minimalist!

In an ideal world everything in my home has to both work hard in some way and look great.

I thought I’d share a few items that have been going above and beyond when it comes to looking great and earning their keep, things I think every home, no matter the style, could benefit from.

1. Wall Cabinet With A Solid Door 

This vintage medicine cabinet is one of my favorite things. I found it 15 years ago at a yard sale and get ready to slap me, because people I paid ONE DOLLAR for it. I know. I rode that garage sale high for YEARS!

Why I love it: it’s just pretty enough to work in any room–we’ve moved 1.5 million times and over the years, I’ve used it in the kitchen, bathroom, family room, my office and even the boy’s room.

The solid door on the front makes all the difference.

I’ve got two other medicine cabinet type pieces and I love them but they have glass doors. Glass doors are great if you want to show off what’s inside your cabinet, but you can’t be messy or store things in them you don’t want to look at or it will visually junk up your space.

I just recently cleaned out this cabinet, (and also I recently did a lousy paint job on it) and currently it holds a few essential oils and bottles of water for my diffuser. You know when you have people over and they leave bottles of water sitting around the house? I save those and use that water in my diffuser, if you’re wondering.

Sadly, I can’t just link to Target where they sell cute cabinets like this. But, that’s also what makes it special. If you have a local antique mall, take a few hours to walk slowly through it keeping your eyes peeled for a vintage medicine cabinet with a solid door. I promise you’ll want one in every room.

2. A  Slide-Under-The-Sofa-Table

I’ve been considering one of these side tables that slides under the sofa for months now and finally tried one. I was afraid it would look like one of those rolling tables they use in the hospital, but no, it doesn’t! Now I don’t know how we lived without it. Since it slides under the sofa, it barely takes up any room, but it provides so much functional surface area for a drink, computer, book, or a plate of pizza.

I appreciate the function of this piece slightly more than the form, but now we are addicted to it and we can never not have one again.

I found this table at HomeGoods, other great options are from Target , Amazon  and Target again.

3. A Decorative Ladder Pretend ladder?  Fake ladder? Faux Ladder? Fladder?

Listen, I almost didn’t buy this. I thought they were kind of weird and dumb. But now I realize that they are great multi-taskers of the home and I have THREE of these!

Fladders don’t take up much physical space but when draped with throws they take up a lot of visual space. This is ideal for a Cozy Minimalist because you get lots of style without using up a bunch of floor space.

Fladders can hold and display favorite throws that you already have. I’ve got a few special throws that I adore and use lightly, but really love that I can show them off without the cats using them as a home. These decorative ladders are a perfect solution to get my special throws off the bed and they add lots of texture and fill up some wall space with purpose

Speaking of texture, if you’re in need of some, displaying throws on a fladder is a great start.  Most homes don’t have enough texture and they could SO benefit from some roughage for the home.

Working in my bedroom today and here’s a shot of the fladder with throws. Also, you can see one of my glass front medicine cabinets in the corner–I keep my essential oils all organized in rainbowetical order in there, so I don’t mind the glass.

Fladder in the family room with neatly folded throws for those who require a little more tidy in their lives.

That same fladder outside on our side porch.

I found this rickety vintage ladder at an antique market, at first I used it out in the barn to hold extra blankets, now it’s perfect to hold extra throws and towels on the covered porch in our backyard.

Ladders like this can work in just about any room, bedroom, family room, porch, even to hold towels in the bathroom.

Here are a few options I found online some are more rustic, one is more modern: White ladder , Black ladder, Metal ladder

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Wondering where to shop for all those beautiful, functional things you need for your home? I create a full color shopping guide with my favorite places to find everything you need for your house. You can print it out, or read it on your computer.

click here for your guide