Applying the Lesson

Back when I cleaned the bedroom and tidied the nightstands, I decided that I needed something to bridge the surface of the nightstand to the height of the lamps.

At first, I thought I would find a piece of artwork to put on the wall. Obviously, I haven't enough room to put anything on the nightstands proper. I'd forgotten all about these images with the mirrors:

source: Cote de Texas

 

source: our suburban cottage



I'm glad.

As a result of the tchotchke challenge, I realised I didn't want a meaningless mirror or a mass produced piece of art. Instead, I wanted something personal. Fortunately, Ikea had a sale on frames last week, so I picked up a few. Then, I set about looking for photos of landscapes I've taken and had them printed up as 8 x 10s.

 Moose Lake, Mount Robson Provincial Park

Looking south towards Montana at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park

I took these on two separate vacations.

Some people would prefer pictures of their kids, and that's fine, for them. My bedroom, though, is my sanctuary and at the moment, my kids are not what I think of when I think "escape" and "calm."

Last night I fell asleep with a huge smile on my face.

Lessons Learned from the Tchotchke Challenge.

 

Following a nudge from the Nester, I cleared all my surfaces of all the stuff that was on them for the month of June. Here's the post showing what I did, with befores and afters.

I decided to participate in a Home Tour without the tchotchkes. (Side note: Has there ever been a word whose spelling has never been more matched to its meaning? I mean, really, look at all those letters!)

Cleaning up for the Home Tour led to some significant insights for me.

The most consequential of all? My clutter threshold is even lower than I thought it was. It has been getting steadily lower as the years have gone by, but my tolerance for clutter is at zero. Really. Absolute zero. Without the tchotchkes, the only things out were the things we left out --both intentional things, like projects I'm in the midst of doing) and unintentional things, like dishes, socks and shoes, and you know. Both were unacceptable.

I found myself getting antsy, uncomfortable and, unfortunately, cranky. I wish it were not that way, but there it is.

A few other take-aways:

1) More real things, please. As I mentioned in my mid-month musing, I want more plants in my life. Tricky, as I have North facing windows and a black thumb. But, I'll try.

Look at that vast expanse of uncluttered surface space. I like it. It's a great example of how negative space certainly helps define the focal point!

2) I want more flowers more regularly. I had some lovely white and yellow mums this month--I carried them from the kitchen to the living room and back again. Without tchotchkes they were indisputably the focus of the room. I liked that.

3) Something about store-bought tchotchkes seems highly artificial to me. I really only want things which are meaningful or hand-made. I am resisting putting things back because I do not want to re-introduce all that artificiality back into my house--but we'll see how dedicated a purist I really am. I loved the punch of red my artificial tulips gave the entry way.

trying out some picture frames in the tall "holes" of my dining room/home office/craft room shelving

4) I love landscape paintings made by amateur artists that I find in thrift stores. I purchased a new one just last night. I have decided to hang my modest collection en masse, bad frames and all.

5) I want to paint my own landscapes.

6) Even without tchotchkes, I have too much clutter.

7) I am beginning to seriously examine my attachment to my books.

This was a great challenge. In fact, I think we should go further. It brought home just how much I enjoy clutter-free surfaces and it helped me define and refine what I want around me in my home.

I will be taking my time putting things back.

Linking to the Nester's Thoughts Post, of course.

Another Way

I had not moved my couch in fifteen years.

It sat along this wall, in roughly this spot since we plunked it here when we rescued it. (I can't even remember where it was when we found it. It had originally belonged to the mother of my mother's third ex-husband. I love the couch, not its history.) I will not block my window.

I have always wanted to float the couch, but I know there's not enough room: that back wall is only fourteen feet.  Still, with the furniture mostly cleared out so my daughter and her friends could have a sleep over on blow-up mattresses, I decided to try putting the couch another way.

I tucked the chairs into this corner.

Obviously, the "gallery wall" is in the wrong place and there's far too much matchy matchy wood, but I like the idea.

I moved the poang chair to the dining room and I love it there. My husband and kids are actually coming into the dining room and plunking themselves down to visit. (A mixed blessing, sometimes)though I've enjoyed it a couple of times as a place to read while someone is busy watching TV in the living room.

The TV is the elephant in the room. I would love to locate it elsewhere in the house--but there is no other place.

This arrangement is perfect for watching TV.

This was taken from behind the couch. The "fireplace" is behind me, the window is to the right)

I love sitting by the window. I used to sit in the chair that was there. That is my spot--but now I can have someone sit beside me. Last night it was my daughter for a while, then my husband and I sat and read with the dog between us. I realised then that we rarely sit in this room at the same time unless we're watching a movie--and then we sit on different pieces of furniture.

I am not sure I will keep things this way. It looks weird to me--like everything is off kilter. Ignoring the fireplace, even though it's totally faux and isn't all that attractive anyway feels like turning my back on all things good and righteous.

I'm not at all sure what to do.

Linking to Pancakes and French Fries so all can have a say.

Consumed

Our homes affect our lives profoundly.

It can be hard to grasp. I came across a Canadian show last night, called Consumed, which illustrates this dramatically. It's much better than Hoarders. Watching Hoarders, I often felt uncomfortable: I did not like being a part of exploiting someone's mental illness for entertainment. It has also been proven that their approach was too abrupt, too jarring --individuals with hoarding problems are never, ever "cured" with this kind of clean out.

In this show, though things are removed from the home, it is stored. The family doesn't actually go through their stuff until they have lived with next to nothing for 29 days. It makes my participation in the Nester's 30-day accessory-free challenge look like nursery school.

More emphasis is placed on helping the family work through the dynamics and the dysfunctions that have evolved as the clutter has taken over their lives. I find that part of it fascinating. Our relationship to our stuff affects our relationships with the people in our lives. It is a sobering thought.

The show also deals with the physical space and employs a carpenter/cabinet maker to make the house more functional. They also decorate and style the home with some of the stuff the family has decided to keep. Though there seems to be an awful lot of red, it's awesome.

Season 1 has been posted to You Tube.

PS. I kind of want everyone to do this. Get rid of everything. Live with nothing for a while. Bring back only what's meaningful, useful and beautiful. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Accessory-less: 5 Things I've Noticed.

Wow. Is it the middle of June, already? I had a great time getting ready for the Home Tour. Pictures are a funny thing. I can learn more from the picture, sometimes, than I can from standing in front of the actual room!

Seeing all my pictures like that gave me a fresh perspective on my taste, my likes and dislikes.

1)  I had not realised how colourful my home really is. Without the tchotchkes to distract me, to catch my eye, I could settle on looking at what's actually, really, solidly there.

2) I have not been deliberate about pattern. It is true, there is a dirth of decent, affordable fabric stores around here, but I wonder--have I simply used that as an excuse for too long? Am I afraid I will tire of my choice long before I can afford to replace it? May be. But there are ways to work with that.

I like this combination of vintage bedding--an old flannel sheet with an old cotton pillowcase. Thing is, I really have to hunt for these sorts of things and I just don't like shopping that much. (Is that whiny? Sorry.)

I'm on the look out for other ways to use pattern and combine them when I can.


3) I bought a plant for the hallway shelf. I couldn't stand to see it bare! I've been meaning to get a plant for a while, too, so I'm happy.

More plants, instead of things, may be in my future.

4) It is astonishing how much the state of my house affects my mood. It is not just that a clean and clutter free house makes me happy, but that my house, when it's littered with the detritus of the everyday depresses me. It all just overwhelms me and things go from mildly messy to ghastly quite quickly.

When discussing how she plans a colour palette, Emily Henderson mentioned that her life is at times so chaotic that she cannot live with as much colour as she would like. In her own words:

I am a messy person that has WAY too many things coming constantly in and out of the house and I have a lot of mental and physical chaos in my life, so while I am an extremely high energy person, I’ve realized (it was a hard lesson) that I need my color palette to be limited because I’m not clean or organized enough to handle the amount of color that I actually want to bring into my house. 

For shoots, when things are all clean, organized, and put away, I bring out the hot pink/red. 

But in reality, for everyday I need it to feel less chaotic, and a quick way to do that is to remove the color that feels the most distracting. source

Light bulb moment.

On the one hand, I love colour and I want to introduce more pattern into my life. On the other, it may be easier and less overwhelming to me if I go in the opposite direction and pare back on everything: colour, pattern and the totchkes.

5) This gallery wall has to go.

It is too dinky, too cluttery and doesn't really have any meaning for us.

Summer Home Tour: Accessory Free!

Brace yourselves. This home tour is going to be a little different.

I accepted The Nester's challenge to go accessory free for 30 days. I thought I might put a few tchotchkes back for this home tour, but when it came time to do that, I was paralysed. Which ones should I pick? Where should I put them? If I put something here and not there, will it look weird? I was driving myself crazy. I'm just not ready to put anything back.

I am joining the house tour anyway, for a very personal reason.

I'm probably going to over-explain, so feel free to jump down to the pictures. But, please know this. Getting ready for this Home Tour was a fantastic challenge for me--and the reason I did it. This post--and joinng Gina's wonderful tour is my "reward."

When I first found out about Gina's Summer Tour of Homes, I was so excited! I flirted with the idea of getting all my rooms spiffed up and ready for a photo. I was thrilled to think I could join the party on Friday and show off my home.

Then, I got a head cold.

I began thinking that my rooms were too unfinished. I have a million plans for my living room: it will be completely transformed (I hope) by the end of August. My bedroom still has paint splotches waiting for me to figure out what colour I want. (You'll see.) And, sadly, I thought, my home probably wouldn't be "good enough" anyway.

I started looking at the beautiful homes Gina lined up for us Monday through Thursday and instead of feeling envious and defeated--which I had fully expected to feel as I have felt that in the past--I started to "get" the commitment and passion and the love of home expressed by the women behind the cameras. It was wonderful. It was liberating. It was inspiring.

I have the same passion, the same love for my home. I struggle with the consistency which cleaning demands, though. Fortunately, my kids aren't littles anymore, so my home is never a complete disaster everywhere all at once. But rarely is it ever clean and tidy all at once, either. As a result, I have this absurd notion that I cannot have all the spaces in my home clean at the same time.

See the word "therapy" up there in the title of my blog? It is there for a reason! My blog is my accountability place. I find it incredibly motivating to take pictures and write about what I've done. In fact, I just finished a challenge to do one procrastinated project a day for the entire month of May. (I did 24! I'm so pleased.) I decided to participate in the house tour to challenge that nasty, self-defeating thought. I can have all my rooms clean, tidy and ready for company. Of course I can. I just needed to do it.

OK. Enough talking. Thanks for bearing with me.  Hope you enjoy our small home. One other thing: it's been raining for a few days, it will rain, yet, for a few more. The house is darker than usual.

Geesh, you must be thinking, why is she bothering?

Well, it's clean! That's a reason to celebrate!

So..................................

Welcome!

Our family, my husband, myself, our 15 year old son, our 12 (almost 13!) year old daughter and our Beagle live in our home which was built in 1949. War shortages were still in effect. Our house is 1230 square feet (or 114.3 square meters). It has three bedrooms (one on the main floor) and a bath and a half.

We tore out an old overgrown cedar bush and a topped off tree too close to the house a few years ago. I know nothing about gardening so restoring this area has been slow going. This area is also super challenging because it faces north. A few bushes I've tried to plant here have died.

But, hey, come on in.

This is our modest front entry. It's really just a hallway! I used to have a cabinet here, but it ate up too much space. I took it down and after living with nothing, realised I needed something. I just recently put up this little shelf. The bucket below holds our library returns.

This nook used to house the telephone, back in the day.

To the left we have our living room.

I quite like this room all cleaned up!

In case you were wondering why I still have cushions on my couch in an Accessory-Free challenge--

That's why!

Opposite the living room is where I spend most of my time. It is the dining room, but we only eat here on special occasions.

I do a lot of my projects here, work on the computer, plan my menus, work on the budget, and sew. It's a busy room!

Behind it is another busy place: the kitchen! It is small with almost no storage, barely room for the table, and an extremely bad layout. Notice, too, there's no dishwasher.

We all have to traipse through here to go to the basement or to the back yard (door to both is on the right)

Still, it is my favourite room in the house. I love my black and white checkerboard floor and decided to riff with the whole black and white graphic theme with my stencil on that soffit (in the picture above) and the little glass curtains I made.

I love having a big mirror here. It's like having another window and it just magnifies the best thing about this kitchen: all the light! (Sorry you missed it. There was a tornado watch in effect when I took these photos and it was hailing outside.)

Let's head back out of the kitchen to the hallway.

I will paint the back part to match the front, I just haven't done it quite yet!

That's my son's room straight ahead. Out of respect for his privacy (and my pride!) we won't go in there today. To his credit, he does keep it tidy.

This is our scheduling and school paper station.

The bathroom is tiny. The sink is original to the house though and I love it. I believe it is a half moon Crane.

I made the curtains from drop cloth and tea towels.

Let's head upstairs where we have the master bedroom, my daughter's room (not on the tour!), and a half bath tucked under the eaves.

I have a mini-library on the landing.

Here is our master en-suite.

I kid! It's a teeny tiny powder room. It's become another favourite room since I spiffied it up.

The Master Bedroom almost didn't make the tour.

I put those paint splotches on the wall more than a year ago. I have paint, but I have fallen out of love with it and I'm trying to decide whether to be sensible and use it or wait until I find the perfect, affordable duvet cover to coordinate with. I am mighty tired of those splotches, though!

I'm aching to do something with the headboard wall.

You may have noticed the laundry room didn't make the tour. Oh well. Progress, not perfection, right? Click the link if you'd like to see it right after we transformed it.

Thank you so much for coming! It has been an enormous treat to have you. If you have a moment, leave a comment. I'd love to "talk" with you, just as if we were sitting here at my banged up kitchen table.

Care for an orange?

 

See all the fabulous and wonderful inspiring home tours here. I have!

The Tchotchke Challenge

The Nester has thrown the gauntlet: pack away your accessories for 30 days! Get them gone from all your surfaces.

When the Nester first proposed the challenge, I figured I wouldn't bother participating. I don't have too many accessories. I'm not addicted to my pretty things. I don't need to do this.

But I thought about it a bit too much, wondering what it would be like to live with nothing but the useful about me.

So, today, after grocery shopping, I started clearing.

The first challenge, of course, is to identify an accessory. What is it, exactly?

Some things are easy. Mostly everything here, for example.

And here.

But what about the kids' artwork? Projects from shop class?

The grasshopper on wheels is my son's project from shop class. My daughter made the bowl on the shelf below at a ceramics shop. (It holds my stretchie bands for my workouts.)

I decided, somewhat arbitrarily, that if the item was on the wall, it could stay. Anything either leaning, or on a stand, that would be taken down.

If it was decorative but it held something useful (and ugly) it could also stay. I'm just being lazy, really. I didn't want to have to try and find homes for these things.

But that is part of my decorating philosophy, such as it is. Something beautiful is nice, but it is better if it can also be useful. I like things to earn their keep.

And what about this?

These are our dishes. We use them multiple times a day. I am not putting them back in the cupboard. The idea is not to live the month of June without beauty. It is not to un-decorate, but to de-accessorize; to refresh our eyes, not make them sad.

After I filled the laundry basket for the third time, I figured this challenge just may be a good idea after all.

 

 

 There are weird gaps in my house and I don't promise not to shuffle things around. (Actually, I started already.)

The basket holds sewing projects in progress.

But, so far, this feels good. Let's see what happens.