“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”- William Morris
I am compelled to write this article because I just came back from inspecting a home that has left me wondering at our tendency to hoard things for things sake?
As I took a tour of this home, I couldn't help feeling that I was in some kind of antique shop,
NO PLACE WAS EXEMPT, every room was chock full. We literally had to be moving sofas filled with cloths to get around the windows to measure; little wonder the client told me that they needed an overhaul of the house. Everything from the cots her children slept in as babies to the last sofa they had in their old home before moving to this present house were all still in the house even the cars had their garage taken over by her many possessions and had to be parked outside as though on display!
They had little or no regards for the architectural design of the house, she had an “everything- I- own- must- fit- in” mentality, little wonder the house left her depressed as she confessed when commissioning us.
Why wouldn't it ? I mused to myself when every available space has been filled with some piece of something or the other. The house was cluttered in fact, over cluttered in my humble opinion.
Are you guilty of the same thing in your home? Take my quiz and find out if your home is clutter free or not!
- Are you a hoarder? Hoarding every piece of item you have ever bought in your life or is your home clutter free like it is supposed to be?
- Do you tiptoe around items in your home just to reach other items?
- Are these items useful or just plain junk e.g broken chairs, 10 year old mattresses, 4 year old pillows, 6years old Persian rugs?
- Do you find it difficult to clean because of the clutter in your home?
- Do you find that you own more pieces of furniture than you ever get to use?
- How is the air in your home, Fresh? Stale? Humid or outright putrid?
- If you answered yes to more than 2 of my questions then, it is time to remove the clutter, and enjoy a tidy home once again.
Furniture gathers moisture from use (sweat from our bodies, saliva from our mouths as we drool in sleep, food particles rubbed on to a sofa over the years etc etc)and without constant cleaning and airing, you are unknowingly turning your home into an incubator for disease breeding which will in turn cause you a lot of dis-ease in the home.
De-cluttering a home makes it look better, bigger, airier and of course healthier for all who live in it. Once clutter free, it becomes easy to appreciate and enjoy the furniture and furnishing in your space.
Here are some strategies for getting started on your own space.
Start with the end in mind: Visualize what you would want each room to look like first (There is so much help available now) You can goggle images of sitting rooms for instance or even buy interior magazines, fall in love with a design that resonates with you then, armed with the picture, walk through your home as though you were an inspection officer and determine (& make a list of) what you want to keep, give away or maybe sell.
It is always advisable to choose pictures as close to your actual layout as possible as it makes it easier to fit your stuff.
Work a room at a time: They eye is a fearful organ and it will take one look at what needs to be done and send a message to your brain that it can’t be done and you may develop cold feet. My advice? Work a room at a time... start with the easiest from your point of view. Once one room is done and you can see and appreciate the work you have done, I bet you will be energised to do the same for the rest of the house.
Catalogue your books: Old books have a way of cluttering the house and smelling horrid, get rid of them or catalogue and shelve them away neatly where they can be properly ventilated. We are all guilty of this- hanging unto our kids books long after they have ceased to need them. I wonder why? Sentiments maybe but those books just get stale and stink up the house so we need to pack them up and send them to children who may need them to study or even to libraries if there is any around you if you don't have the space.
Clean out your closets and make sure they can close properly: This is a major culprit in the home, closets (wardrobes) and drawers bursting and brimming over with stuff that we have been hoarding over many years, rubber bands, old batteries, or old keys, school bags, old shoes and such like. Ridiculous items that we should have done away with long before now.
Clutter leads to a feeling of disorganization, which though we may think is a show of how much we own, is actually stealing our lives, time, and energy: A home is meant to be lived in and enjoyed, set the tone now and start the decluttering process
Till I come your way again, live fully alive and be home proud!
