Could you live in 350 square feet?

I did.

My first "big girl" apartment was about the size of one of the entrants in the "small and cool" teeny tiny division over at Apartment Therapy.

This apartment caught my eye because is was so like my first apartment layout which I dearly loved.  As I continue to declutter I keep a vision of that dear little apartment, full of sunlight, and devoid of clutter in my mind.

I once had an apartment with a kithcen whose floor dimensions from counter to counter was 2 feet very much like this one.  The stove was one of those miniature apartment sized ones.  It was like working in a doll house. I loved it - and once cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner with just a bit of planning.

Too cute kitchen...

We currently live in a 4 bedroom house.  Buuuuut - three of the bedrooms are devoted to our businesses.  My husband runs our teaching and publishing business out of two and my daylily nursery is run out of the third one. 

My question for the day is:

Where does all the "stuff" come from that we think without which our lives would be devoid of purpose and worth?

All picutes courtesy of Apartment Therapy - and we thank them.  Take a look at some of the other "small and cool" apartments.

About that book I just bought and something I didn't "need"...

but acquired anyway.

De-cluttering continues but last week I hauled something into the house I really didn't "need", but wanted.  Sigh!

After buying myself a "much needed" large glass cloche (often called a bell jar), I spotted this little item at the thrift store. No, not the cute little figurine.  That was my mothers from the time I was an itty bitty girl.  The glass thingy that may or may not have been some kind of candle holder or something.  I have no idea.

Hmmmmmm.  If that had a knob on top it would be a cute little cloche.

It sure wasn't expensive...

Now what do I have for a knob.  Oh, I know.  I have a bunch of vintage glass drawer pulls. There's a bit of rust from the screw that needs to be cleaned out from this one and it will be perfect. 

I usually use silicone glue for this sort of thing but while cruising the glue section I found this...

After gluing the knob on top of the glass thingy, the plan calls for filling the center hole with tiny little glass beads and gluing a pearl or something on top.

I'll be showing you the finished product in a few days and letting you know how the glue works (I'm not locking myself into promising a "next day" post because it never works out and than I feel bad.)

About the book from yesterday "The Spiritual Art of Being Organized"

While it's a nice book with good advice there are ones on the market that I think are much better.  Now I may be saying this because I've probably read every book on organization and clutter control known to man, so it's pretty hard to have something new to say to me.

 My number one recommendation would be:  

For more nuts and bolts get this book - it's excellent...

and this book:

A new book, an update on my "Christmas tree", and the art of keeping your mouth shut...

This year we didn't put up our Christmas tree and I can report there have been no long-lasting negative ramifications to our mental health. Actually, the first of January rolled around and I was pretty happy not to have to put the tree and decorations away.

A friend of ours was so disturbed by our lack of a tree she gifted us with a dwarf Alberta spruce with appropriate decorations. I've since removed the decorations and that cute little spruce is growing up a storm.

 Check out all the new growth

Our Christmas cactus bloomed heavily this spring in the late fall and just a few days ago it put out one lovely perfect bloom...

That's pollen dusted on it's petals...

And the book?

I went a bit crazy at Amazon last week and ordered three new books.  Absolutely outrageous for cheap thrifty little moi, but since we have met and exceeded all our Dave Ramsey goals I figured it was ok.   The Spiritual Art of Being Organized arrived today. I won't offer a yay or nay until I've finished reading it (which will probably be later today.) 

How About Keeping Our Mouths Shut?? (which is almost impossible for me)

Another book I ordered is "The Way We're Working Isn't Working", which I've mentioned before.  It was a library book and I was quite impressed.  I gave it to my husband to read (a workaholic) and managed to keep my mouth shut (we women talk way too much) the entire time he was reading it. 

I never questioned him (a miracle) or worse said, "See - I've been telling you that stuff for years" (waaaaay not good!)   After reading the book for about a week I witnessed him closing down his office at a somewhat normal time and actually sitting in the living room reading a book.  Hmmmmmmmmm.  Still, I said nothing.  About two weeks after that he started quoting stuff from the book.  Whoooooooooeeeee!  Still, I said nothing.

At the end of last week I mentioned I wanted to re-read parts of the book but it was due back Monday.  Veeeerrry nonchalantly he said, "Maybe you should get us our own copy from Amazon."  Still, I said nothing.  Aren't you proud of me?

It's out in paperback now...

Special Gifts and When Do We Have Enough?

A few weeks ago I was surprised with this lovely gift from Rosie at Journey to Charm.  For now, it is perched in front of me on my desk with it's sweet thank-you card peeping out of the top.  I have decided that Rosie's suggestion for a plant was the best idea and so I have been shopping for the "perfect" plant.  In the meantime, it brings a smile to my face every day.

And the teacup card?  From Susan at Writing Straight From the Heart.  I've watched Susan progress (in a very short time) from a brand new blogger to a whiz-kid at the computer.  She always has beautiful pictures and something positive to say. 

When Do We Have Enough?

I really love visiting decorating blogs.  I also love visiting "minimalist" blogs.  Rather schizophrenic, in my opinion, and destined to make me even crazier than I already am. 

Many of the minimalist blogs are really a bit over the top.  Personally, I not planning on living with 100 things, nor do I think doing so will "save the planet."  On the other hand, some of the decorating blogs (that I no longer visit), really stressed buying more and more "stuff" - most of which was really expensive. 

In the middle we have the "normal" people, struggling with day to day decisions and wanting their surroundings to be pretty without putting the family in financial jeopardy.  Gina at The Shabby Chic Cottage and Jan at Bobbypinsboardwalk come to mind.  I've also noticed many of the "decor" blogs are moving into new areas and exploring new options for their lives such as Cindy at My Romantic Home. 

Right now I'm in the process of piling stuff up in by barn (garage) to either give away, list on Etsy, or sell at a (GASP) garage sale (it's been enough years that I've forgotten the pain of the last one.)   I feel like I'm drowning in "stuff", even though I am far removed from a hoarder type. Much of the "stuff" is left-overs from when I had a space in an antique mall and some of it is just the "I don't know what to do with it stuff."  I'm even getting rid of some of my books - now that's a biggie!!

 The questions for you are:

How much is enough and what really matters to you?

Finding Storage in Unexpected Places

Candle Storage

Who doesn't love candles?  Many of us tend to stock up when there is a great sale. However, candles aren't always easy to store.  They don't stack well and the different sizes means they take up more than their fair share of shelf space.

I have always loved vintage train cases, but they are becoming harder and harder to find.  Take a gander at the prices on Etsy and ebay.  The  price combined with shipping can get pretty expensive, so keep your eyes peeled at the garage sales this summer.

I use my train cases for candle storage.  They fit neatly under my living room shelves in what would be empty space.  I decoupaged two of them many years ago. One turned out rather cute and the other, well - not so much.  The green one on the left is  "on the list" for a redo.  And the the one on the far right is still in its original  vintage state. All three are crammed full of candles and holders

The stacked baskets hold tapers and the basket second from the right holds my greeting card file. 

My favorite is the black one. I slapped on some black paint, glued on cute cherubs and vintage musical instruments, sealed it really well, and called it a day.  

Love the cherubs on the back in their little carriage...

Each side is different and follows the music theme...

More cherubs on the top...

I'm looking forward to re-doing the green one.  When doing the green one (I have no idea of why I picked that color) I discovered that tissue paper images on a dark color don't work very well.  A real "duh" moment!

How do you store your candles?

Minimalism vs Excess

While I enjoy visiting what I call "girlie" blogs, I also temper it by visiting some very good "minimalist" blogs.  I do that in order to keep perspective on the important things in life.  It's really ok to have collections.  I've certainly had my fair share over the years.  It's a fun diversion and can often lead into a career or a life-long hobby.  And surrounding yourself with pretty things is ok, too. It's part of what makes us human.  It's when we become attached to the "stuff'" of life that we become a bit off-kilter.  

I remember when my Mom dropped off all her china, silver, and crystal at my house eons ago.  She said, "Here - you take care of it for awhile."  I thought she had lost her mind.  Now that I am older, her reasoning seems perfectly sound. 

One way I practice detachment  to my "stuff" is by giving it away. Yep, you heard me correctly.  If someone comes to my house and absolutely loves some little decorative item, I give it to them.  I figure if they love it that much they should "take care of it for awhile." 

Becoming Minimalist is a blog I visit everyday.  Yesterday's post how to stop letting advertisers control your life is excellent. 

[...]the goal of Madison avenue is to increase our desire – to change our attitude from “that’s extravagant” to “that would be nice” to “I really need that” and finally to “I’ve got to have it.” They are so subtle at their craft that we hardly realize we are being brainwashed.  Subconsciously, they take control of our desires, our checkbooks, and our life. read the rest

Zen garden at Dartington

Collections,Clutter, and Poppy Plates

What do collections and clutter have to do with each other?  A lot.  We all tend to do this. If one or two shells are neat,  a hundred would be a hundred times neater.  Wrong. A hundred shells (unless you are studying the mating habits of shellfish), quickly becomes clutter.  Cleaning, rearranging, storing, and shopping for something for our collections takes precedent over just living.

Watch how easily this happens.  My mother had a beautiful hand-painted poppy plate. It is now my poppy plate. I decided I really loved poppy plates. Next thing I knew I had about fifteen hand painted poppy plates.  I spent untold hours searching for more poppy plates on ebay. Then I spent hours figuring out how to display all those plates.

One day I looked at all those plates and decided I had gone a bit crazy.  I sold all but four - the original and three of my favorites. All the rest were sold on ebay.  Why four?  Because that's the number of plates my display thingy would hold.  Someday I'll tell you about the elephant collection...

My Four Plates

I love the yellow and white poppy on this plate...

And my very favorite is still my mother's poppy plate...

It has wonderful detail...

Do you have some collections that have gotten out of control?

Linked to My Romantic Home "Show and Tell Friday"  Head over and check out all  the great entries.

Hiding Clutter

Oh dear! Has it really been NINETEEN days since I posted here?? My bad!  I'm waiting with bated breath for my big re-do courtesy of The Blog Fairy. After seeing La Bella Vita's beautiful new layout I was sooooo jealous. I found The Blog Fairy link at the bottom of her blog and hopped over to take a gander.  Wow! What beautiful work this lady does, and the fees are just so reasonable I couldn't pass up the chance for a beautiful new blog look. Hopefully she will be able to start soon.


I've met some wonderful artists and found some fun new blogs that I will share with you tomorrow.  I've been hard at work on some of my Christmas items for my Etsy shop (which is still a mess, too - sigh).  I'll be bringing you up to date with that stuff soon.

Now - to the point. One thing I can't stand is clutter.  I love looking at cool table arrangements that look good enough to be a still life painting. But one of my problems is where I live.  It tends to be very dusty on my property. We're on a prairie, beautifully surrounded by small mountain ranges. During the summer all our windows are open and surfaces in the house can get pretty dusty. During the winter I pull out a few more pretties, but during the summer I try to keep them fairly lean.


My bathroom counter has always been a huge annoyance.  There is only one outlet in my bathroom so there in this corner of my counter there was mega cords, electric toothbrushes, cotton balls, et al.  No matter what container I used it always looked messy. This is the before picture - at it's best. It's been known to look waaaaaaaaaaaay worse. 

Lurking in my Shabby Chic stash of stuff to re-do was two small shutter sets. I had just been investigating kitchen appliance garages and a HUGE light bulb went off in my head.  I grabbed the shutter but it was about two inches too tall meaning the medicine cabinet couldn't be opened. So my hubby offered to saw an inch off the top and bottom. Even though I handle a electric saw pretty dang good, I wasn't going to turn that down.

Here's the little shutter on one of my work tables getting ready for paint. I'm using the trim color from the bathroom 'cause I'm too lazy to run over to Wally World for some spray paint in the right shade. And why spend the money if you don't have to?

It's not completely finished yet but I just had to see how it was going to look. So here is the counter looking clutter free.  Everything is behind the little shutter. I'm going to dig out a cute tassel I have to hang on the little knob. And yes, Mighty Mom, I'll be sanding the edges....

Isn't this much better?

 

For those of you with sharp eyes you will notice there is no hardware on the cabinets. This is typical ADD behavior. I completely painted the bathroom including the ceiling, all the trim, and all the cabinets except for the bottom two drawers.   The remedy is about a 15 minute job and then all the hardware can be put back on.  How long has it been like this? For so many months I can't even remember. Heh!

Decor vs Clutter

Is it Decor
or ...
Clutter?

I love looking at decorating pictures. It pretty much doesn't matter whether the style is Shabby Chic, Country, French Country, Traditional, Victorian, Country Victorian, and on and on. My problem is, I love it all.

But as I've gotten older and have decided to scale back on the volume of my "stuff", there has been a subtle shift in my thinking.

While I can appreciate the lovely picture on the right, my common sense also tells me that the goodies artfully arranged on the mantle and side dresser scream one word - dust.

I inherited my love of "stuff" from my father, who loved and collected antiques. It is a constant battle to not bring more "stuff" into my home while in the process of moving "stuff" out of my home.

I've found the surefire way to do this. I find "stuff" that I think is really cool, refurbish or redesign it, and pass it on to others. This way I earn a bit of pin money, have fun, and get to enjoy "stuff" as it passes through my home.