Clutter Police

Is this your home? Is it the home of someone you love?


Image taken from here.

What I want to see is the beautiful chest in the far corner of the room and the gorgeous wood floors. I think there might be a nice paint job on the walls, but I can't tell because I can't get past the pictures and prints and plaques and knickknacks plastered to every surface and suffocating every piece of furniture. The home owner here has put up more and more and more until there is no place for the eye to rest.

In another case, clutter has overtaken not only the walls, but also the coffee table and entertainment center. What would be a welcoming space with lots of natural light has been sentenced to death by way of clutter.


Image taken from here.

I wonder if either of these occupants absolutely love everything they have out on display. Call me the Clutter Police, but my guess is no, that instead, they added and added and added to whatever was first nailed up, never stopping to concentrate only on the items that really meant something to them.

What's hanging on your walls? What items do you have displayed on your shelves, in your bookcases, and around your home? Do you love what you see?

Too often, we are guilty both of putting too much on display and displaying items that we do not love. We put up those "lovely" framed prints that aren't quite our style because Aunt Kate gave them to us for our wedding. We set out those crystal candy dishes that don't fit with the rest of our decor because they were on sale and the price was too good to pass up.

Our own personal styles are always changing, and decluttering our decor is not unlike decluttering our closets. Both can use a thorough assessment from time to time. The classic, timeless styles that you still love get to stay, and the pieces that don't fit {either your personal style or your space} need to go. I don't know about you, but I don't still wear the stonewashed jeans that were all the rage when I was in junior high. I wouldn't keep something on my walls or sitting on my nightstand if I didn't love it anymore, either. Need I bring up the country cute decor rage of the 1980s and '90s? It plagued the midwest section of the country, and clutter was its middle name. It seemed to overtake every home it invaded, weighing it down with fake ivy, lots of hearts, and teddy bears.

If you love cute country decor, then by all means keep it in your home. But if it's only on your walls because you put it there in 1989, someone near and dear to your heart gifted it to you, it's filling an "empty spot" on your walls, or you can't be bothered to take it down, it might be time for a change. We deserve to love where we live, and that includes what's hanging on the walls.

Peek around; are your walls free to breathe or are they drowning in decor? I challenge you to take a careful look at your home and strip away anything that doesn't fit your style. Don't be afraid of a bare wall or an empty shelf. Let it be lonely for a little bit while you figure out what you'd love to see there. When your home gets to show only the items you truly love, your home gets to show you, and it becomes a place you love to be.