Since the beginning of 2022, I've written several times here on the blog about feeling more drawn to minimal spaces right now. It's a new dawn, it's a new day I suppose. I've also written about feeling the need to edit our home, beginning the process of pairing down and living with less stuff. A shedding of some sort. And I might add, a process that's happening in more areas of my life than just our interiors. I'm not completely sure yet how far I'll be taking this editing thing, but I'm definitely on a mission to reduce the visual chaos I've been experiencing in our interior spaces.

I guess you could say like most people we've accumulated our share of household goods over the years. And being a designer, perhaps more than most. Have I mentioned I'm a collector of home goods? There, I said it! Lamps, rugs, art, accessories (my favorite), you name it, and I have lots of it over here. And I mean lots! Admittedly, I'm not always the best purger either. In my mind, I hold onto things with the intention of using them at some point down the road. Perhaps it's the idea I have for an Airbnb or doing an addition with a creative space. I'll need all this extra stuff, right? Well, even IF one or both of those things actually comes to fruition, the chances of me using all these items is probably really low.

I actually enjoy the hunting and gathering part, the search, the thrill of the find and curating all the things. Back in my interior design days, I would sell many of those great finds to clients. Since I'm not currently designing for clients, I collect all the goods. It may be time to find a different creative outlet to feed this treasure hunter's soul. Seems like a better alternative than displaying ALL the curiosities in my own home.

And then there's the storage part of accumulating all the said stuff. When we designed our current home, we purposeful plan did not include having a lot of extra storage space. We have no attic and no garage so there aren't many places for things we aren't using. It's actually good as it's forcing us to be honest about what we have space for and want to keep. But then, as time has passed, and we've lived in our home for over a year, it's occurred to me I'm storing all the stuff, not in a storage area, but in all of the living spaces of our home. Yikes! There's a lot of over accessorizing and packed areas, less negative space, less of a visual break.

And how is it going with the edit? Well, I'm slowly making some progress which makes me happy. Below is a little visual update capturing the progress we've made so far. First let me say, it takes time, and this will most definitely be an ongoing process. As I'm editing and rearranging, I'm also selling much of what isn't staying. And in fact, if you're local to Charlotte, I'm currently selling some of these referenced homewares at a local home store, Nave. It's all really good stuff and letting go has been an interesting process too. For those of us non-purging types, there tends to be some sort of emotional attachment to the stuff. That's actually an entirely different blog post right there!

For now though, I'm celebrating a little progress, change and a little lighter load. I'm also loving the reduced visual chaos. You could say we're actually enjoying this pairing down and living with less stuff! Spring seems like a good time for this to all be happening too. Sure there's no coincidence there. Here's to shedding, purging, editing, fresh starts, clean slates and the new! Happy Spring friends!

✖︎ ✖︎