A famous designer once said that he knew he was finished with a room when he couldn’t remove one more thing from the room and still have it look complete.

You and I are editors.  We edit the contents of each room we live in.  I feel peaceful when my rooms are uncluttered, so I edit frequently, removing things that I have unintentionally allowed to accumulate.  I also edit at the end of each season, storing decorative items and bringing out the new season’s objects.  Your tastes may be very different from mine, but all of us make choices about what occupies the space around us.

Spring has arrived (unless you live in Michigan) and traditionally the sunshine and warmth motivate women to clean up and clear out their homes, i.e. Spring cleaning.  This Spring I don’t have a house to clean.  But that doesn’t get me off the hook.  Living in an RV trailer while we build a house actually makes it more imperative that I keep editing.  Oh, how quickly the small space fills up!  Where to put the stacks of books?  Hats?  How to keep the tiny counter uncluttered?  Where to put the fresh fruit I don’t need to/can’t fit in the mini refrigerator?  How do I conceal a laptop, printer,  six external drives and notebooks of ideas?  My workspace and our eating table are one, which requires frequent shuffling.  But I’m very thankful for this life lesson on doing with less.

The longer we live, the more we accumulate.  What we choose to do with the incoming items will determine how we feel in our homes.  Retirement last year was my chance to do a mini remodel of our last home.  Nothing structural, just new paint, a lovely new faux stone accent wall, furniture re-arrangement, and most of all, getting rid of stuff.  I was shocked at the amount of things that were taking up space, but not being used.  I lost track of how many pick-ups loads left our home.  In my defense, a lot of the items were related to my work which I no longer needed.  In the end, I felt so much more in control of my home.  I knew where things were and could actually get to them.

The clear out wasn’t just confined to my workspaces, it evidenced itself in my living room.  I craved simplicity.  Out with fussy, in with modern.  Out with the faux painted walls and in with simple off-white walls.  Out with the area rug and in with bare floors.  Out with patterned stuff and in with solids.  Down came the print valances and textured curtains.  Did I mention that stink bugs love folds of fabric?  No valances = fewer places for stink bugs to hide.  I replaced the fussy window treatments with ultra simple faux linen panels.  What, you ask, are faux linen curtains?  Ok, I’ll divulge the secret I stole from another interior designer.  Cotton drop cloths used by painters make classy linen-look homemade, ahem, custom made curtains.  They are long enough to be hung close to the ceiling, are washable (Be sure to wash before cutting and hemming.), and are so classic.  Not all drop cloths are suitable for curtains.  Some are just too flawed.  The brand I used was Blue Hawk.  They were sold at Lowe’s, but when I checked later, that brand was no longer available.  This may be an alternative to consider:   http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-9-Feet-12-Feet-Canvas-HW912/dp/B000ICKO6A

The grandma look, I decided, wasn’t really what I  wanted.  I had just slipped into it.  Now was the time to give away the well used Bubba recliner.  (Hear the howls from a certain man who was very attached to that ugly thing?)  The only way I could manage this coup was to buy a comfortable recliner to replace the old one before ditching it.  After hitting all the furniture stores in our price range in our city – and some that weren’t, we were discouraged by the preponderance of Bubba chairs.  You know the ones, comfortable, but unstylish, velour upholstered, overstuffed, and poorly made recliners for men.  I wasn’t going to allow anotherone in my house.  Then we found it!  A classy, comfortable, light leather, stylish chair that didn’t look like a recliner until you pushed back.  Bingo!

I was given excellent advice by a fellow designer, “Take everything out of your room.  Everything.  Looking at the clean slate, you will be able to envision what you really want in this room.”

“Humph!” said I.  “That’s a lot of work.  Why can’t I just close my eyes and envision?”

But, in the end, I took her advice and emptied my living room.  No curtains, no pictures on the wall, no furniture, no knickknacks.  Whoa!  A whole new world opened up.  What if we . . .?  I think we could . . .

I’d been looking at magazines for inspiration.  Always dangerous!  One lovely home had a white stone wall tht

arrested my gaze.  I’ve always loved stone.  But, of course, stone would be a major expense and a big project.  Off the table.  Or was it?  I showed the photo to my dear husband, who, to my surprise, also loved the look.  How could we get a similar look without the high price and the spatial depth of real stone?

Off to Lowe’s.  Wait, doesn’t this tile look like stone?  Here’s a white/gray/beige faux stone tile!  There’s our look for a very reasonable price ($300. for our wall) and the benefit of easy installation (he glued the tiles to the wall and grouted with silicone).  After 2 day’s work, the change was amazing.  The first thing visitors noticed upon entering our house was the lovely stone wall which set the mood for the entire Great Room.

At first, it looked like the negatives were stacking up on my husband’s scoreboard.  Giving up his longtime favorite chair, being asked to create a stone wall in the living room, and build two new end tables, not to mention moving  furniture from one room to another.  But in the end, he loved his new recliner, the new wall was the stunning focal point of the living area, the end tables were brilliant hidden storage spaces, and the re-arrangement made our house look new.

So what’s the point of the history of our re-do?  Just this:  I was wondering if you need to take a hard look at one of your rooms?  Have you just slipped into a look that no longer expresses what you value?  Do you cringe a little when you come into that room?  Do you longingly stare at certain rooms in magazines?  But you quickly dismiss  the ideas because they seem out of reach financially or in terms of time and disruption?  Why not start with editing your room?  Remove anything large or small that doesn’t meet your needs any longer.  Now, if you’re very brave, empty the room entirely and see if some new ideas come to mind.  Maybe you’ll notice that the walls are in need of new paint.  Maybe the open, uncluttered space will speak to you.  Maybe you’ll find that the bare windows let in cheerful light and minimal curtains would cut out less light than your old ones.  Maybe you’ll see that the room isn’t as small as it appears when it’s over full with furniture.  You may choose to edit out a coffee table or hide electronics.  How about better placement of the remaining furniture to accommodate conversation?  Could some furniture double as storage space?  Could you make lighting choices that provide for doing tasks as well as creating soft, flattering lighting for relaxation?  What accessories could add interest and that certain spark of color, and be affordable enough to change out with the seasons?

Happy editing!  Be brave!