Random Clutter Collecting
January 18, 2018 § Leave a comment
Life — as in home life — does not always have to be clutter-free and artfully arranged. Who actually lives that way anyway…. Sometimes you just need a place to put stuff and if it’s random and eclectic, so be it. I have treasures from my childhood bedroom, purses of my mom’s, hats, glasses, books, and some things I use for staging. But all of it is stuff I like to look at and don’t want to shut away in boxes.
If I wanted to take the time to create a lovely geometric piece of artwork, I could, I suppose. But I simply loaded up the cubes with random items. The wall reminds me of things I’ve worn, places I have been, people no longer around, and how crazy my life is. The white sofa is a restful break from the clutter, and my husband likes to read the paper and drink his coffee there. I would never have predicted that.
Unless you’re selling your home in the near future and really do have to clear the clutter, don’t stress about a few little trinkets here and there. Group them if you want to remember them a certain way or display your collections.
Random can work! Look at this wall.
Grouping by color gets you closer to artistic order — truly a pleasure to behold for the color OCD in many of us.
Then there’s this. (Whattt??)
Embrace your stuff. Celebrate it. Display it. Love it. Happy Collecting!
Marital (Decorating) Mismatches
December 10, 2014 § Leave a comment
Are you and your significant other on the same page when it comes to the “stuff” of life around the house? The newspapers, magazines, mail, books, TV clickers, recycling cords and the like? Are you one to snatch the Sports Page right out of his or her hands as you make your daily pilgrimage to the recycling bin? Or are you content to let paper pile up on the coffee table until you get around to reading it? If you both treat life’s eternal clutter the same way… then congratulations. At least you don’t fight about it. But what if you are mismatched? Here are some ideas:
1. Make a deal to keep the main public space (maybe the living room) clear and ready for guests who pop in. At the end of each day, spend 5 minutes picking stuff up and putting it away. If you can only manage one room of the house, then that’s okay.
2. Contain clutter with baskets and bins. Little stuff on counters and tables may drive you crazy, but your partner needs to know where to find that restaurant receipt from last weekend. Make an agreement that things left on the kitchen counter can be found in a certain basket or bin by the recharging station.
3. Which brings me to the Recharging Station. Have one. That way you can find your phone when you are ready to leave for the day and more importantly, you can contain cords and loose devices to one particular spot instead of draping them out of every outlet. Rescue the TV clickers from under the cushions and keep them in a dedicated clicker basket.
4. And speaking of baskets and bins (see #2 above), invest in them. Closets, garages, spare bedrooms, offices, and every other clutter-prone area will benefit visually from containing the loose items in baskets rather than letting loose items and papers pile up. Both partners win. One gets to keep the stuff. The other sees some semblance of organization and unity.
5. If you are the neat one of the pair, give your partner space to mess up. For people who need everything out in full view instead of behind cupboard doors, your neatnik nagging is undoubtedly really annoying. Not everybody can be as organized as you. Give your spouse a space that he or she can call home and not be under constant pressure to pick stuff up.
6. If you are the messy one, appreciate how clutter can affect your partner’s mood and even creativity. Make an occasional attempt to go through piles and purge — even if you just move piles from one area to another. Any free space will encourage marital bliss.
7. Most importantly, take a chill pill. Fighting over “stuff” is pretty silly in the grand scheme of things.
Hope this helps.
Your Home & Color Coach 