What Jollifiers Do You Have in Your Home?

I have so many- My nephew sent us a letter that just said ‘I love you boy cousins’ for my three sons. It’s framed in our hallway. Next to it is a cutout my youngest made at the y of a car, but it looks like a penis. Framed! I also have plates with my kids names and birthdays from highland stoneware. They are beautiful and I love them. Over the mirror in my bedroom is a handmade scroll my middle son made of coupons – a dog walk, tea etc. I always say the only present I want is time with them. Lastly is a necklace my oldest made at school, it is like a dog tag necklace and he etched mom into it. Love it.

I recently hung up a recipe card my Gram wrote in her beautiful Palmer method cursive for dried beef and egg casserole which is one of those strange but delicious recipes from the 50s. Miss her all the time but seeing her handwriting is like a warm hug while I’m standing at the kitchen sink.

On my desk I have a framed note my husband wrote to himself at ~11 “your the best of the best so play hard -Erik” the incorrect your makes it so much sweeter, I smile every time I see it.

We have a banner that says “I’m pretty sure we partied” hanging in our den. It’s a line from a song by a band we love. It’s especially funny to me, since my favorite thing to do is go to bed at 8:30.

About two months before Halloween my four year old and I were talking about costume ideas and I told him my best costume ever was a slice of pizza costume that my mom made. He immediately told me he wanted to be a pretzel for Halloween, and before he could change his mind to something like Mario or Spider-Man, I jumped on it and started making it. I made the pretzel out of wire, bubble wrap, paper mache, and the salt crystals out of air dry clay. I was so nervous that it would be unwearable but it worked! And I loved it so much that I hung it on the wall of our playroom. It makes me happy every time I walk by.

I have a bright, almost cartoonish painting of a toucan on my mantel shelf that brings me daily joy. It was painted by Davis Wohlford from the North Pole Studio in Portland, Oregon, a studio of artists with autism and intellectual/developmental disabilities. I highly recommend checking out the studio, and the NIAD Art Center in Richmond, California, which similarly supports artists with developmental disabilities. The work from these studios often has a kind of unrestrained creativity and joy that I find moving and delightful.

Cacti. So many cacti! Many of which have googly eyes stuck on them courtesy of my niece and nephews. They are cheerful reminders of my beloved southwest in the upper Midwest.

Is jollifier an actual word? I love it! And have many around my house – treasured seashells, a conch shell and a magnificently rippled piece of coral from my second home in Jamaica, a starlight made by the women’s group there, a cactus in a pink pot that my son gave me for Mother’s Day a few years ago, wooden carvings of animals from my travels in different parts of Africa and so much more!

On my cookbook shelf, I have a silver llama figurine with sparkly disco ball style boots. His name is “Fritz the Disco Llama” and he is a full-name only kind of llama. Never just Fritz. Always Fritz the Disco Llama

I dare everyone to look up Snow Pond Ceramics and not be delighted in her art. Small ceramic houses with adorable dogs and cats, colorful suns and moons, each unique and full of whimsy. I have one sitting on the windowsill above my kitchen sink and it brings me joy every day.

Prisms in every window! Rainbow surprises all year long.

I like rocks, so, there are hundreds of them. E v e r y w h e r e.

Handmade items in every room, by almost every member of the extended family. A framed drawing of a piece of toast with jelly on it. A clay sculpture of my husband’s face that looks nothing like him. A papier-mache monkey. A little box made of glued-together wooden dominoes. A red wooden question mark. Watercolors, handmade cards, sculptures, afghans. And the Lego “mommy” that my daughter made to keep “me” nearby when I went back to work 14 years ago.

I want that Toss Your Phone into the Sea poster.

love jollifiers and MOMA design store! current favorites are a kelly green Sabre Paris butter spreader, and a beautiful locally made ceramic tray I got while on a work trip in New Mexico.

I bought my boys Mushi Mushroom lamps for their bedrooms for Easter and they are so cute :) Also as far as lamps go, more indestructible than most. (Key for my kids)

Felt flowers. They’re the right amount of whimsy for me. So cozy and sweet. https://www.humankindslo.org/brands/gry-and-sif/

I thrifted a small crystal piano for my brother and told him to put french onion dip in it for his next party. A huge hit!

I have a tiny book store nestled into my bookshelf. It was a very relaxing craft (just follow the directions and assemble). It brings me great joy and my 4yo always asks if he can look at it and turn on the tiny light. I found it at a local bookstore and I’ve seen a bunch of other bookstores carrying them if you don’t want to buy via amazon. https://shorturl.at/sk4QF

I love this question! I have a few sonny angels perched in my bathroom. They make me happy.

Those salt and pepper shakers are part of my go-to wedding gift… they are delightful and charming and always strike a smile!

My jollifier is a mug I bought about 10 years ago on a trip to Île de Ré, a little island on France’s Atlantic coast. It has the Phare des Baleines lighthouse on it which sits at the very tip of the island. My partner and I always joke that if it ever breaks, we’ll have to go all the way back to get another one… even though it’s literally on the opposite side of the country from where we live !

I love flowerpots and vases with faces …. I love my tiny Vanessa Bean vase (https://www.vanessabean.com/batches, I don’t think she still makes them) and my little cat and face planters that Target had a few years back. They just make me smile. Also, all things Bjorn Wiinblad, happiness from the seventies. You can just google his name and all kinds of fun stuff comes up on eBay.

I have this bowl from the Moma store that I bust out to serve whipped ricotta with focaccia when guests come over. The tiny house on the hill floating in a moat of cheese brings me so much joy. https://store.moma.org/products/la-maison-inondee-bowl-green?srsltid=AfmBOord1Fk-Ra8vDgYj04PNLyMXSsLInOdkPFi4opcCd9gurPubB-8Y I also once came home to a plastic door tag from a realtor that has a smiley face that says “I’m OK” on it. I have no idea what the purpose of the tag was intended to be but I hang it in my bathroom as a reminder on some days when I need it that I am, in fact, okay.

My jollifier sits on my desk. It’s 2×3-in. acrylic block frame, in which I put a note my daughter wrote me when she was younger like 6 years old and we also had 1 year-old twins. It just says “MOM” sitting above one of those little hand-drawn ribbony-y banners, drawn in a shaky child hand. And underneath that, it just says “GOOD JOB”.

We got a dog shortly after my husband and I started dating. (I convinced myself that *I* was getting a dog, but in retrospect it’s very clear that *we* were getting a dog.) This dog was exactly who I needed in that period of my life: he taught me how to heal and how to care for someone. He died a week after my baby was born, so truly, he shepherded me through the growth of dating and marriage so I could be the partner and parent I am today. But in addition to being emotionally perfect for me, he was a goofy-looking, stone-cold weirdo. He was a rescue maltipoo, so he was one of those ball of fluff types, sweet and aloof and totally unaware that at every moment of his life, he looked like he’d just woken up. And critically, we learned that Maltese and mini poodles appear in their fair share of art, from historical paintings to internet cartoons. We now have 3 framed prints, spanning genres and art periods, of look-alikes to this dog who taught me how to be. One is next to the front door and another is near the kitchen sink, so between those two, visitors will often double take and then ask, “Is that… your old dog?” So, my recommendation is: better than an actual pet portrait that might look not-quite-right, find art that captures the spirit of your pet, and it will never stop being joyful.

My fowl language mug brings me much more joy than it should. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fowl-language-14-oz-mug-ginger-fox/1139987995

Two favorites from my travels: a bright green Maille mustard crock that I bought in France after a mustard tasting at their store, and a bright blue steel pitcher that every restaurant in Greece uses for their litres of house wine. Both sit in my kitchen to remind me there is always another trip with my bestie to plan.

OMG. Smiskis! I am not a touchy feely person, but oh, wow. These sweet little people make my heart melt. https://smiski.com/e/smiski/

one of my most favorite objects is a little ceramic incense house I got off Etsy. the smoke drifts out the tiny chimney, it’s so cunning.

Whelp, just added so many things to my home wish list! We have a three foot high metal cactus we bought in San Antonio and flew home to Maryland. A Carl Kassel (from NPR) face pillow that lives on the guest bed. A solar-powered prism that hangs in the sunroom window and creates rainbows across the house!

I have vintage ones mostly. Penguin salt and pepper shakes that I keep on atop thick door frame, a small elephant that always sat on my grandparents TV, an old brass pig that sits by our cookbooks, and an old leaf pressing done by a child that my sister found in an abandoned house outside Chicago.

A few years ago I suddenly discovered a very small drawing of a window on our kitchen wall. I knew it must have been my then 4 year old son. He denied firmly it was his doing. I went out and bought a tiny gold frame at a thrift store and framed the tiny window. Only then did he confess it was in fact him, that created this appartently great masterpiece. It still brightens my day to see the little window reminding me of the small boy who secretly drew on the wall.

My husband likes to bring home miniature condiments that are given out complimentary in restaurants and on airplanes (e.g. a tiny bottle of maple syrup). The highlight of his collection is salt and pepper in tiny origami Hawaiian shirts. Once I made the mistake of using the Tabasco, but learned these items are just for gazing upon while smiling.

We have many, but a current favorite is an orange mushroom shaped lamp in our family room that puts off the best glow for the evenings. I have a jackalope hanging on the kitchen wall, his name is Jackalope McFarland and we decorate him for all the holidays lol.

We have several cute bookstands, one of a girl reading a book (can be seen here:?resize=1024%2C1536&ssl=1), a friend gifted us one of a nose (that is of course standing next to our Gogol books :-)) and these brains: https://www.lyon-beton.com/product/gray-matters-bookends/ In our guest toilet, we have, from the same store as the brain bookstands, this cloud to hold the toilet paper: https://fr.lyon-beton.com/produit/cloud-545-support-papier-toilette/ Not funny necessarily, but I also use some old fruit cases from by great-grandfather (who was a farmer, wo sold mostly apples / cider) to hold my magazines, which brings me a lot of joy. And I’ve put my nickname on my mountainbike and my racing bike :-)

Man, we really needed pictures in the comments section for this!!

My kitchen windowsill holds: little carved wooden elephants on a walk, salt and pepper holders that are a turkey and a pumpkin and a pottery Anne Boleyn, made by my daughter when she was 8. She gets a lot of comments.

Number one is my cat, but second is my yellow scalamandre zebra shower curtain. My new apartment has a glass shower door so I hung it on the wall in the dining area and it looks soooo cool

We put big googly eyes on a tree in our front yard above a bark pattern that looks like an O. And we had a street sign made that we pinned to the back of our couch for our dog Levi who always takes a narrow route to the front door that reads Levi Ln.

A tiny handmade angel from Günter Reichel to mark the time I lived in Germany – any fellow fans out here? He has since closed his business. https://www.guenter-reichel.de/?newLanguage=en

I’ve been getting into trinket dishes lately…ceramic lemons, strawberries, mushrooms, rainbows! And I’ve shared them before, but I do love my glassybabies!

I have this frog reading a book and having a cup of coffee in an armchair, and I absolutely love it. It’s tucked away with my houseplants, and it brings me an inordinate amount of joy. https://www.amazon.com/Refintural-Miniature-Frog-Figurines-Accessories/dp/B0CM97X41K/ref=sr_1_3

I just love a museum shop! I was once wandering one with my equally besotted young daughter and we determined that being the buyer for a museum gift shop would be the best job in the world. My home office is filled with jollifiers, because the only criteria for what I see every weekday is “what will bring me joy?” — two I’d highlight are my math clock (bought from another museum store — the Art Institute of Chicago) and my framed print of a cartoon penguin who’s staring straight out and saying, “I am fucking freezing.” https://science-decor.com/products/original-wall-clock-mathematics

I have the cutest little handmade ceramic animals made by a local mama whose kids are and have been in my class. I’m obsessed with them right now and keep them (currently little kittens and a bunny) on my table. My 9 year old loves arranging them. Her shop is A Mist of Horses and they are the cutest; they also make sweet gifts for young and old. I had her do a custom golden retriever for my sister and my sister said it is her most prized possession.

My fave currently is a chopstick holder shaped like a bunch of bananas I got in Japan. Or a tiny ceramic bottle of tequila disguised as the top half of a skeleton. Or the gold plated pasta magnets my bestie mailed me just because. :)

Hoptimists are some of my favorite jollifiers! I have several — a bride and groom that were displayed at our wedding; one wearing a grad cap because I work in higher ed; and my favorite, Prins Kvak, a frog prince wearing a crown: https://www.boozt.com/eu/en/hoptimist/hoptimist-prince-kvak_32311755

i have so many they qualify as basic decor :-) but current favorite jollifier is my new little Rachel Presswood monster

Honestly, my kids arts and crafts they make at school. They’re festooned all over our bookshelves. Our National Park scratch off map. We received it as a gift but it’s missing 2 of the newer ones we’ve been to (New River Gorge and Indiana Dunes) so my husband put some leftover glittery 4 leaf clover stickers on it to represent trees. It makes me laugh whenever I glance up and see it.

We have a butt. It’s a framed etching, and it’s bigger than this (the etching within the mat is more like 4″x6″), but it looks a lot like this miniature by the same artist: https://www.cazasikes.com/auction-lot/pair-of-miniature-woodcuts_071433da48 It’s not being being carried away by some dirtbag Greek god, or lounging on a velvet fainting couch for a painter’s delectation, it’s toweling off after a swim at the YMCA, maybe, and I just cherish it. It’s right next to the front door at eye level, so if you turn to hang up a coat when you walk into our apartment, there’s the butt.

When we were engaged 15 years ago, my husband opened a fortune cookie to read: “You are domestically inclined and will be happily married.” He framed it in a tiny little frame, and we’ve always hung it on the wall of our kitchen. I hope it hangs there until we die!

On the mantel, I have a clear glass vase filled with a bouquet of boldly painted, animal maracas. They are a smile and a party all in one!

This year we left our skinny Christmas tree up on our front porch (it’s enclosed) and it’s my jollifier every day. So far we’ve decorated it for Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s Days, Easter and it’s currently decorated with a mermaid/under the sea theme in turquoise and purple. My granddaughters and I have so much fun picking out decorations and putting them on the tree!

I have a canary yellow Haptic Lab sailing ship kite hanging in my entry/dining space! Happy and beautiful. https://www.hapticlab.com/products/sailing-ship-kite-white?variant=43202165571827

Such amazing timing. My colleague and I went on a lunch walk yesterday and were talking about the wonders of the Moma Design Store. I’m perpetually saving links in the “Christmas” folder of my email to order for my girls and will be adding many of these, too. Thank you for curating such a lovely selection.

My house is so full of jollifiers, I likely need some seriousfiers. One of my most ridiculous items is this set of candle holders (I did not pay anywhere close to this price for them, btw): https://www.etsy.com/listing/1297121602/art-deco-parrot-candlesticks-porcelain?ref=yr_purchases

We have a circle wall clock and on it is a hand giving a thumbs up with the words “everything’s gonna be super duper”. It broke 6 years ago but because of its message, it didn’t feel right throwing it away. So now it hangs defunct and hopeful and a source of delight

My garden gnomes! I have them all over and they bring so much joy. 🤩

I have a watercolor print of a deer wearing tube socks. It makes me chuckle at the most random times.

I have a little ceramic bathtub to hold my kitchen sink. It makes me happy! And my chip clips look like ladybugs.

One of my favorite jollifiers is a Kay Bojesen monkey that I hauled back from Copenhagen. He hangs in the leaves of my philodendron plant. I like to see the reactions of people who catch it as they walk by through the hallway! Also, our last name in German means rabbit, so I’ve taken to hiding one rabbit item in each room and I like to see if people who are visiting us can find all the bunnies! We have bunny hooks that hold our keys, bunny artwork and photos and figurines!

I have a Keith Haring red barking dog pull toy on a shelf next to a red airplane piloted by Mickey Mouse! .https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=KEith+Haring+red+dog+pull+toy&_sacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2332490.m570.l1313 These were purchased pre-children!

This post reminded me of a good memory. Several years back, a friend’s boyfriend (now husband!) came over to hang out at my little studio apartment for the first time, and he spent the first 20 minutes sort of methodically stalking around the space (in a respectful way, like my apartment was a museum gallery), pausing every so often at an object and asking me the story behind it. Reader, I loved this. I rarely buy decor for the sake of decor, so almost every “jollifier” I own has some kind of story, and that remains pretty much the only time anybody has ever asked to hear them. (I try to ask people about their things more, now, but I don’t know if I have the chutzpah or charisma to pull off the full museum tour thing haha.) Anyways, my favorite jollifiers are my ghost-shaped mirror from Lorien Stern, a painting my mom did of my cat in my kitchen that hangs just outside my kitchen, and the little hardware touches in the kitchen (fun brass cabinet knobs and orange checker floors).

A few years ago for my 30th birthday, my husband made things easy for himself and just bought me a bunch of things from the MoMA Design Store knowing there was a very good chance I’d like all of them — and he was right! He got me: – a Dusen Dusen card holder – a Hoptimist – a mosaic mirror – a milk pan Quite possibly one of his best years of gifting, if I’m being honest. All hail the MoMA!

One of the reviewers on the bowl below included a photo of it filled with Sun Chips, titled the review “My beautiful estate,” and commented this: “My hillside home and flowing fields of grain are the envy of all.” I laughed out loud. https://store.moma.org/products/la-maison-inondee-bowl-green

When my son was in kindergarten last year, his class collaborated with the local high school art students. The kindergarteners drew monsters and their high school buddies turned each drawing into a ceramic sculpture. I love having my son’s outrageous, tentacled monster immortalized on our bookshelf.

My dog is a jollifier. And the standing easel I bought myself last year for painting, because it’s always ready. And the self-portraits my adult kids have given me every year on my birthday for eons now.

Jollifier, such a great word! I think I probably have too many for words (well, too many for some people’s taste, not mine!). One of my favorites is a bouquet of long stem Lego flowers my daughter made, in a green and white painted art nouveau pitcher as a vase. I love the toy block blooms in a vintage find. It makes me smile every day! And they never need water, or throwing out. ;)

I have tiny statues of Hindu divinities nestled on the doorways of many rooms in our house to bless them — except my husband’s study, where this place of honor is held by the original Star Wars Yoda action figure from my childhood, which he claimed when I let it go many years ago.

I’ve got several in my kitchen that make me so happy: the 15 cent Goodwill small basket that holds my teas; my bright yellow fiesta ware pitcher that I use as a vase that was in my kitchen growing up; a painted cardboard box in the shape of a small cottage that used to hold the lotions that came in it, but is treasured as its own piece :)