The Things Nobody Says Out Loud (But Everybody's Kitchen Knows)
I didn't set out to make wall art about dishwashers.
But here's the thing about running a house — any house, doesn't matter whose — you start collecting a mental list of things that are just true. Nobody taught you these truths. Nobody wrote them down. They just accumulate, the way dishes accumulate, the way laundry accumulates, the way that one drawer full of takeout menus and dead batteries accumulates.
Things like: the smoke alarm doubles as a timer now. Things like: the good napkins are for nobody. Things like: every sock has a partner, and neither of them is here.
That's what Kitchen Notes and Laundry Notes are. Not jokes, exactly. More like transcripts. Things I've said out loud in my own kitchen, to nobody, that turned out to be things everyone's said in their own kitchen, to nobody.
Why a Kitchen and a Laundry Room, Specifically
If you've followed State the Obvious for a while, you know the whole brand started from one place: saying the quiet part out loud. First it was Words Are Hard — funny definition prints for anyone who's ever lost an argument with the English language. Then it became clear the same voice worked anywhere there's a room people actually live in.
Turns out the kitchen and the laundry room are where the truth comes out fastest. Nobody's laundry room has ever been fully caught up. Nobody's kitchen towel has ever only dried dishes. These aren't complaints. They're just... facts. Obviously.
What's New
Kitchen Notes is a growing collection of framed prints for the room where "I'll deal with it later" lives permanently — from "My kitchen, my rules" to "The dishwasher is where hope goes to dry."
Laundry Notes does the same thing for the room with the basket that's always full. "Every sock has a partner. Neither of them is here." "The clean clothes have become tomorrow's problem." If you've ever stood in front of a full dryer and just... closed the door again, this collection already knows you.
Both are available now as framed prints — 8x10, 12x14, and 16x20 — with more designs added as I write them (which, if you know me, is often, and usually while doing the actual dishes).
Where to Find Them
Everything's live on the Etsy shop now, with more from the Animal Notes and Bathroom Notes lines coming soon. If a phrase makes you laugh because it's a little too accurate, that's the whole point.
State the Obvious. Obviously.
Shop the full collection at statetheobv.etsy.com
