Do you get tired of your decor? I sure do!
Have you recently browsed a few design magazines and are now suddenly wanting to revamp your whole living room?
STOP! Before you go shopping…
Read this post and shop your house instead.
All you might need is fewer items so you can appreciate the ones you keep. Or you may already have elements that could be used in a different location for a refreshed look.
Continuing on minimalism this month, and getting inspired by this post from the January Cure at Apartment Therapy, I’m decluttering my decor, just in time to let spring in.
I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now, because:
- I’m sort of tired of seeing the same stuff around me;
- I hate dusting, so I’m using this exercise to potentially retire some decor items;
- It’s a quick fix to my cabin fever!
How to Shop Your House
1. Corral all the bits and bobs in one spot
I commandeered our dining room table and brought everything I could to one spot. This step is really helpful to see how much stuff you have.
Too much of a good thing is never great. I like glass jars and candles, but realized how many we had across the whole house. Time to reduce, or at least store them in cupboards and only take them out when I need to create some ambience.
2. Live with the empty space for a couple days
See how that feels.
You might be surprised at the peacefulness of all the white space you now have.
Often, we fail to appreciate what we have because we can’t see it anymore among the cluttered corners of our space.
3. Shop your kitchen for pretty containers
Many of us have bowls, plates, service ware, cups that only get used once in a while (or never). If you really like them, why not use them in your decor and get better mileage out of them?
They could be used to corral smaller items like jewellery, remote controls, keys and wallets in the entrance, etc.
4. Put aside what doesn’t fit anymore
A few decor pieces may not fit with anything anymore. Or you may not remember why you bought it in the first place or where it came from. Set it aside for now.
See if maybe someone else might like it, but be careful not to dump your unwanted bébelles (tchotchkes in English) on someone else.
5. Add only a few items at a time
Start by adding only the articles you absolutely love and can’t live without.
Don’t worry too much if they are magazine worthy but make sure to keep the things that speak to you or mean something.
For us, photos and artwork had to stay. Also, our Buddha Frog is a non-negotiable, it’s one of the first things we bought together and looking at it one can’t help but smile.
This mantel and side cubbies can get quite cluttered. Now with only a few items, we can actually appreciate our art.
Although I did have too much glassware, some contain sand and rocks from places we visited together, so we kept a few.
Try the items out in a few different locations to see where they are going to have the greatest impact or be showcased the best.
Experiment, take a step back and have a look. Give your new set up at least a couple hours or days to see if you like it or not.
I’m really bad with plants, I can’t seem to keep mine for a very long time. But, if you include plants like I did here, it’s a good opportunity to figure out where they should go to grow better. Not all our windows get direct sunlight and we also have a puppy that likes to bite greenery. I needed to pay extra attention to my plant locations.
6. Arrange and organize
Group things together by colour or by type to arrange them in a vignette; they look more grown up than items littered all over the place.
Here I’ve paired down our bar display, this is not all of it. We have more hidden in the cupboard below 😉 .
I also tend to add some decorations to my bookshelves. Sometimes it gets to be too many things.
I know it doesn’t look like much, but by just moving a few items around, I was able to get a more “spacious“ bookshelf and move the boxes that were on top, to the bookcase, making the whole thing feel less busy.
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- Before
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- After
7. Pair down and donate what you don’t love anymore
Free yourself from the extra stuff by donating to your local second hand store.
If there are items you still like, but would maybe do better in a different season, box them up and store them for the next time you feel like refreshing your decor.
Do you consider yourself a minimalist or a maximalist? Or maybe like me, you’re somewhere in the middle.
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