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.

Grace Note: Celebrating Pattern

Grace notes

remind us that it is often the little things, the small revelations, that make a great deal of difference in handling disappointment, frustration and loss. They help us celebrate moments of joy by enabling us to unearth the underlying goodness of things.

Alexandra Stoddard.

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?

June Challenge: Update

I'm not sure whether this small project should be considered an organizing project or a decorating project. Sometimes, the two confuse me--and that's a good thing, really!

Back in May when I painted the board with hooks in my back entry way, I also took a small board outside and painted it. I intended to put hooks on it and hang it, too.

Because I couldn't mount the board horizontally, I had to figure out how to put the hooks on. Finally, I set my brain to the task. It wasn't difficult.

I used whatever hooks we had on hand. I am thinking I should paint a stripe between the two boards to connect them visually. I love that colour-- it's too bad it comes from a can of spray paint!

My husband insists on taking his lunch in an old plastic Safeway bag.

 

 

I am not getting as much done this month as I had thought I would. I thought I would continue to do something everyday even though I wouldn't post every day but it hasn't worked out like that. Doing a post is still driving the activity, though. Yesterday, I figured I'd better do something to have a post for today, so I picked this project, hoping it'd be quick and easy. It was.  

 

I have been in a bit of a funk, too. The sun is visiting only intermittently, usually just popping her head in at sunset to say goodnight.

 

So, I'm not sure which is contributing more to my lethargy: taking the pressure off of posting or the lack of sun but this month has not been the beehive of activity I had hoped it would be. 

 

 

Linking to Jules at Pancakes and French Fries, grateful to have the push to do something!



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.