In Praise of Pretty Brooms – A Pretty Happy Home

I’ve got pretty brooms on my mind today for one simple reason.

I’m at the point in life where if I have to do a chore, I want the item assisting me with this chore to not only be functional but pretty too.

That’s not too much to ask, is it?

Frankly, it WAS too much to ask for ALL chores to be banished from my life. Don’t ask me how I know.

So, I’m going for the next best thing – pretty brooms and pretty tools that are functional too.

I recently purchased a classic broom with a black handle that blended in with my decor and didn’t make my insides shrivel up and die every time I had to use it.

Not that I’m melodramatic about sweeping or anything.

In my search for pretty brooms, I found a bunch of options that looked far better than the bedraggled one I had been using to push the dirt around.

Here are my top contenders for the pretty brooms and their accompanying dustpans that are available right now.

Oh, World Market, you had me at a broom and dustpan combo with a smiley face.

I kid you not, I own a yellow dustpan with a smiley face. I’ve probably had it for 20 years and I can’t look at it without smiling. It’s so happy for a humble little thing that scoops up dirt!

(image: World Market)

I did not realize until I embarked on this pretty brooms odyssey that broomcorn can be dyed in different colors. I also didn’t know it was called broomcorn.

Broom Chick has over 14,000 sales on Etsy and a 5-star rating. I take that to mean their pretty brooms are pretty amazing.

Broom Chick’s brooms come in natural, rust, black, or mixed-colored broomcorn. The handles are made from kiln-dried hardwood from a sustainable reforestation project in Oregon.

(image: Broom Chick via Etsy)

Even CB2 is getting in on the pretty broom action with this broom and dustpan combo they call the Mr. and Mrs. Clynk Black. (The country music lover in me chuckled at that.)

The top of the dustpan handle has a metal circle that holds the broom upright. Clever, right?

It looks to me like this broom and dustpan are dancing.

(image: CB2)

Here’s another pretty broom and dustpan combo from Pottery Barn.

I’ve noticed several dustpan designs similar to this one from Pottery Barn that have a spiky part that is there, I assume, to clean off your broom. I’m not sure if that’s hype or if it really helps. I usually just reach down like a barbarian and yank off the hair or whatever else that has become caught in the broom.

I wouldn’t normally think to buy a broom and dustpan from Pottery Barn, but I stumbled upon this one in my research and it was just as affordable as some of the ones on Amazon. Go figure.

(image: Pottery Barn)

Meckley Brooms on Etsy makes pretty brooms AND wood and leather dustpans. Holy dustballs! I didn’t know a wood dustpan was a thing, but this is so cool.

You can choose the type of wood you want your dustpan made out of too. Looks like the price right now is around $54. Considering the cost of materials and the time it takes to make one, that seems like a good deal.

(image: Meckley Brooms via Etsy)

Aren’t those all pretty brooms and dustpans? I’d happily, but not THAT happily use any one of them.

I don’t actually sweep all that much inside my house because of the gaps in our old hardwood floors. It’s more efficient to vacuum dirt up.

I don’t mind sweeping our front porch though. I can only figure this is because I’ve romanticized having a large covered front porch for so long. Now that I have one, I enjoy happily puttering out there.

Do you care about pretty brooms and other household tools? Or do you just care that it gets the job done? I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer. Feel free to share your opinion by emailing me here or by reaching out on Instagram and Facebook.

If you’re interested in knowing how a broom was made in the 1700s, I found this video to be very interesting.

If the YouTube video doesn’t load, here’s the direct link.

P.S. This is the broom I ordered. A broom ships in ridiculous-looking packaging, by the way.

This broom is heavier than the broom I was used to using due to the wood handle.

I carefully added a screw-in hook to the top of it so that I can hang it from another hook in our laundry room and keep it off the floor. It works like a charm.