I love decorating ― artistically designing a space ― making it beautiful for the person living there. However, I hadn’t redone it in my own home for years. In early adulthood, I chose the theme of lighthouses to remind me of what is real beyond where the ocean kisses the shore. As the title of this blog suggests, the beach is a powerful place for me. But as years went by, souvenirs from Africa started creeping into my living room, taking over, and I needed a change of scenery.
Around this time, I developed a renewed interest in material simplicity and started taking trips to the library in pursuit of books about this topic. My favorite book on cleaning things out and, most importantly, why we should and what effect all that stuff has on us, is Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston. You can find it on Amazon or at your local library. I HIGHLY recommend it.
Though getting rid of even unwanted items can be hard, I love how I feel afterward. In years past, I have written several times about the process of reducing what I own, but this never really changed what my space looked like. But last year, I conducted a major cleanout, going through everything in my apartment and getting rid of piles and piles of unwanted items. This seriously reduced what I had around me, and I learned some things from this process I want to share with you in the hope you might find it helpful in your own life.
I believe the more stuff we have around us, the more stressed out we are. With cupboards and drawers filled, items piled up on the floor and tables, it can be difficult to find things. As we look, we are reminded of all the things we haven’t attended to that need to be done, and these are each little weights laying on our subconscious. We put them off because we feel overwhelmed with everything needing to be done right away.
For example, behind my favorite chair in a convenient hidden corner is a quilt I need to send to the quilter and my camera that needs its sensor cleaned. They are things needing to be done that I am reminded of every time I have cause to look back there. What I need to do is just deal with them and get that weight of “I should do these things” off my mind.
How many times have you looked for something and been unable to find it? Perhaps it is in that pile of papers you haven’t sorted in months, or in the bottom of the closet and you don’t even remember the last time you cleaned that out. But what if all those papers were sorted and filed? What if you knew exactly what was on the bottom of your closet? Wouldn’t that be less stressful? With those tantalizing rewards, I decided to sort through, get rid of, and basically redesign my space to fit who I am now, not who I was years ago. It’s hard to live in a space that no longer expresses who you are inside.
Cleaning Out
The first step was sorting through everything I had. Some areas were easier than others, but I worked through the house asking myself if I really needed this item or if I had too many. If I did have too many of one thing, I gave the extra away. What I have found over the years is getting rid of things comes in layers. An object I was not okay discarding the last time I went through that drawer, I am now ready to release.
It helped that a friend was moving into her own apartment after having a roommate and needed household items and some furniture. Another friend keeps a library for the international students of the seminary we both attended, so I gave several seminary books to him. It was a fun adventure finding places where things were wanted and would be used. By the time I was done, I had discarded a lot of dishes, food I wasn’t going to use, four pieces of furniture, gads of books, a bunch of clothes, and numerous other items. Seeing all that stuff leave through the front door never to return felt wonderful.
Re-Placing
One of the things Karen Kingston talks about in Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui is what kind of influences our items have on us. The dishes I had been using were a set I bought just after college at a garage sale for five dollars. They had been the couple’s wedding gift, but years and years later, they were cracked, chipped, discolored, and there were far too many for one person. Having so many also meant I didn’t have to wash dishes as often, a continual struggle when I have no dishwasher but my own two hands. Though there is nothing wrong with having such dishes, what I heard when I looked at them was that I deserved no better. I was trying to make do, but as a person in my 30s, I could afford better, and it was time to find a set that fit me, a design of my own choosing.
I shopped around and found a white and light green set that could serve four. With so few, the load felt lightened, and I felt better about having something I loved that I could use every day—not to mention, I now wash dishes on a regular basis. I also tossed nearly all my plastic containers and bought a new set of four covered glass bowls. Some of the cooking utensils too were put in the discard box, and with gift cards from Christmas, I went to the stores and replaced them with ones of higher quality that will last. I didn’t replace everything I wanted to; that will come in bits and pieces as I can afford it, but I did replace the most important items.
Most of my furniture is second-hand, either bought used or given to me by old roommates when they moved out. I have bought a few smaller items new, but these are few and far between. This has actually been a great way to furnish my home at little to no cost, but as we get older, we can afford to replace items that don’t fit who we are or the look we’re going for. Bella Systems Closet Designer offers custom closet solutions that can help transform your space, blending both style and functionality as you replace older pieces and create a more organized home environment.
The desk I was using fit smack in the middle of this category. My mom’s friend had bought this small, particle board desk for her son when we were kids, and when they were done with it, I inherited the desk. It was only moderately functional, but that was about it. Over the years, it was also getting worn down, and I didn’t like it. I wanted something I loved that fit me, that made me feel good when I looked at it. On top of all that, I am a writer, and a writer without a desk he or she loves to be at is just plain sad. So I took the advice of Karen Kingston and gave the desk away to someone who could use it and left the space open for a new desk to come into my life.
I shopped around online, but my new desk came to me in an unexpected way. I was visiting a friend’s new place of work on Easter Sunday, a store of old furniture and household items right before their grand opening. While exploring, I saw it. The desk intrigued me. It was a secretary’s desk made of rich mahogany, a type of desk I hadn’t even considered. It had three large drawers, and the top flipped down to expose the desk with all its little shelves inside. It only took me a day to think it over and call Gil to tell him I wanted it. It is a place where I love to sit and work on various projects, and though I keep it very neat, being able to close up the desk and not have all that stuff exposed to the room gives the space a much cleaner feel. I am sure that will be a beloved piece of furniture for years to come.
Once I gave away the furniture I didn’t want, I rearranged the rooms. Without the extra stuff, my space now has room to breathe, allowing the energy to flow around the area. After removing two bookshelves in the living room (along with all the items that weren’t placed in the desk drawers), I moved the couch down and placed the keyboard near the desk. This way, I can store the chair under the keyboard when the desk is not in use. A wooden two-drawer file went into the corner along with a small lamp. My problem now was that there was nowhere to set a hot drink while sitting in my favorite chair. That was solved when I took a look at some items a friend was selling, which included a small dark wood table with a shelf and drawer. I love places where I can store things out of sight. The drawer holds some booklets and pens, while I placed a basket from Kenya on the shelf for library books. On top, there’s another basket with a lid where I store my manuscripts for my latest book while I work on them. At a bazaar this past fall, I found a stone coaster for my cup. On top of the desk, I have another small basket where I store important papers and my keys and cell phone so I can always find them.
A New Theme
As I mentioned earlier, bits of Kenya had started taking over my lighthouse-themed living room, so I decided to complete the transformation. I rounded up all the lighthouse-themed paraphernalia and either got rid of it or stored it away. Then I dug into a large basket in my room (do you notice a theme with baskets here?) and pulled out items I bought in Kenya. A small wooden lion and elephant went on top of the fireplace with a gourd rattle between them. A giraffe carving and an Africa-shaped soapstone box joined the basket on my desk. Over these, I hung a hand-woven disk made of basketry material, about eight inches in circumference. I also found an African print skirt my friend brought back from Mali, which I laid over the back of my couch. My mom offered me a cream and tan-colored couch cover to replace my dusty blue one (which I also gave away). In July, while attending the World Beat Festival in my hometown, I met a vendor selling African print pillows. I selected three: two matching ones for the couch, colored in green, blue, and brown with bits of orange, and a green and brown one for my chair. Kenya means a lot to me, and I love being reminded of it every day. A few souvenirs from my trip to Europe also slipped in, including a small Eiffel Tower and a rosary from St. Paul’s Cathedral. I cherish these reminders of different cultures and the friends who live in them.
Art
Having taken down nearly all the old art, I started using my local library’s art lending program until I decided what to put up. Since I didn’t have much money for this part of the project, I worked with what I already had. I took an old framed picture with a bland frame, an uninteresting mat, and a print that no longer suited my style, and went to a friend who runs a frame shop. She took the whole thing apart, added texture to the frame, painted it dark brown espresso, and added a deep green mat to match a picture I took of two giraffes on safari. The result was incredible, nothing like what she started with, and all it cost me were some supplies and a little labor. (The pillow colors inspired my choices.) At the same time, she also painted two other frames that same espresso color. I filled one with an elephant photograph and the other, a nine-opening frame, with some of my favorite photos from Kenya. One downside of living in a rented apartment is that I can’t paint the walls, so I chose bold, darker colors to make the art stand out. I also found a black wooden carved frame a friend gave me years ago and put in a photograph of a lion at rest.
Since words are also important to me, I framed the poem that my editor later told me is the heart of my latest book. I placed it in a green mat and hung it by the door. I also went through smaller picture frames around the house and replaced outdated photos with pictures of friends who bring me great joy. Whenever I look at their faces now, it lifts my heart. I believe the art in one’s home should reflect who you are now, not who you were five or ten years ago. Having my house match who I am now feels wonderful. It helps remind me of that person and keeps me living in the present, not in the past.
A Ways to Go
Besides going through my belongings and rearranging furniture, I haven’t yet redecorated my bedroom or bathroom. On the floor in my bedroom are two high-quality rugs I’m not ready to replace. I also have fabric from Kenya with which I want to make a large quilt for my bed. Once that’s finished, I’ll use it as the basis for redecorating those rooms. They may not quite fit who I am now, but they are peaceful spaces, and that’s valuable to me.
I also have some items in storage in a friend’s unfinished room across town. I started going through all that at the same time I worked on my apartment, but I stopped when writing and publishing my recent book took over my life. Once the weather warms up (the room is unheated), I’ll return to finish the job—throwing things away, recycling unwanted papers, selling what people might buy, and giving away others. Since much of this is from younger years, this part of the project also involves letting go of who I was, embracing who I am now. Who we’ve been is important, but if I value that person more than who I am now, my value is misplaced. We cannot live in the past; we have to live in the present. If we look around and think about the items we hold on to, even in storage, we can tell where our values lie and what lives we are living. I’m keeping only the important things: some of my favorite toys (though I’ve let others go), the canopy for my four-poster bed, Christmas decorations, graded papers from seminary I want to read later, and a few of the best pieces of clay sculpting from a high school class. The rest is weighing me down, and I’m ready to let it go.
Upkeep
The hard part of going through everything is doing it again. As I mentioned, going through things comes in layers. Once you’ve peeled back one layer, you have to do it again to peel back the next. For example, friends have been giving me clothes they no longer want (which I love!), but that means I need to go through my own closet and do the same to make room for the new items. Books also seem to come in faster than they leave, and my library is the hardest thing for me to go through. I’m sure I could go through my whole apartment again and take out a couple more boxes of things I don’t use.
Having so many drawers and baskets, one of the easiest things to do is shove things into them and forget what’s inside. So, every now and then, I pull open a drawer or pull down a basket and go through what’s inside. Each one typically only takes a few minutes, but it keeps me asking, “Do I need this?” It also reminds me of what’s inside, helps me keep things organized, and I don’t forget where things are. It’s a habit I’m working on forming, as things I thought I would use in the major cleanout, I really don’t need. It’s my chance to go through that next layer of items I’m ready to let go.
The trickiest part of upkeep, though, is keeping things picked up. For me, this includes not leaving things out on counters and tables but putting them away. I also have to keep shoes and clothes organized in my closet, or they fall out and start infringing on the hallway floor. I can’t use the living room floor or the couch as a dumping ground, so I put things away when I come home at the end of the day. Regularly, I now go around and make sure things are picked up and put away, and I even run the vacuum cleaner every now and then. My biggest growth area this year is deeper cleaning—cleaning the bathroom, washing the kitchen floor, and dusting. Some of you may have a system down, but I live by myself and tend to focus on projects instead of deep cleaning. I’m not saying this is entirely wrong, but it is my goal this year to develop better habits for keeping things truly clean and organized.
End Result
Last night, while I was picking up the things I had left on the floor, my keyboard played my favorite song. Between putting things away, I continued practicing my violin. It felt cozy, warm, inviting, and comfortable. I love the cleaned-up yet lived-in look. Things are definitely in their place, but there are also books stacked up next to my chair, the laptop on the dining room table, my coat hanging on the back of the desk chair, and my work bag waiting by the door. It’s home, and I love it. It’s so much easier to enjoy my time here when I’m organized, there’s space, and I’m surrounded by things I truly love. Sorting everything out and redesigning the space took a lot of effort and time, but it was completely worth it. I am now truly home in my home.
Lessons Learned
The things I learned through my own experience of cleaning out and reorganizing, you can apply to your own home. It may seem daunting, but let me tell you, it’s worth it. Here are some tips I learned to get you started:
- Check your local library for books on cleaning out your home. They will inspire you! They certainly inspired me.
- Start with one area at a time. Don’t feel overwhelmed—just start with one drawer or one closet. The satisfaction you feel in cleaning out and organizing that space will inspire you to move on to the next.
- When choosing furniture, pick pieces that can serve more than one purpose. One piece of furniture serving two functions means one less thing cluttering your home.
- Choose furniture with drawers or out-of-sight storage spaces, like a television stand with shelves on the side. The more things you can store out of sight but keep easily accessible, the cleaner your space will feel. My desk has three large drawers, and I can close the top so everything is out of sight, unlike before when all my supplies were on display on a bookshelf.
- Baskets! I love baskets. I have one for books by my chair, one for music and remote controls by the television, one for papers on top of my desk, another in my kitchen for food storage, and a giant one in my bedroom for blankets and other various items. Again, out of sight creates a much cleaner look, and baskets—when not overdone—are a beautiful decoration as well as functional.
- Keep knick-knacks to a minimum. The more you have, the more cluttered your space will feel, and the harder dusting will be. I keep a few favorites out, especially those that match my theme, and store several more to rotate in later.
- What you’re not okay letting go of today, you might be okay with tomorrow. Be honest with yourself, but be gentle too. Things can be let go in layers, and once you know how good it feels to have less, you’ll be ready to go deeper.
Happy sorting!
Many thanks Sarah for this very helpful and detailed post.
We are in the process of moving house and have had to do quite a bit of decluttering already. I have sold some things,sent others to charity shops and a lot of paper got shredded!
Some of what has gone out of the house [mainly books!] has only got as far as a storage unit so more thought will be needed there. We will probably do more decluttering once we have settled into our new house too.
It's a continuing process which we both find difficult but we are tackling it bit by bit.