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http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks...o-New-Year-s-Purging

some good points about what style we like and what NOT to purge! We don't want to eliminate what is in our homes that motivates us, sparks our creativity and is not really a 'mess' but a creative work in progress!

Another great area for conversation on a 'forever' house! great responses.
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/5892942/list

love this comment by renojean:
"my forever home which I refer to as the 'museum of my fondest memories'""

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mary Ruth,

Thanks for viewing to the 70 plus lurkers who viewed this post!

Have a GREAT day and wishing you all POSITIVE thoughts for this new year viewing our cups half full instead of half empty!

Hi Mary Ruth,

Thanks for sharing and for positive thoughts.
Houzz is my favorite Picture app on my iPad. It's exactly what i enjoy... look at the pictures, get ideas, dream without all the superfluous stuff.

I've only slightly begun to de-clutter my office, but i've still got 3 extra people so i'm not in a hurry... till they move out. Then i'll start rethinking the decor and arrangements in my house.

lurking,
wendy

Is it ok to hijack your thread with the Forever House question?
Here it is from Houzz...

Tell us: Are you living in your forever home? What does that mean to you? Is there something from your childhood home that you would love to incorporate into your home's design today?


I am not living in my forever house yet, but My Forever House will have:
Modern design with walls of windows with distant views and solar panels and wind power
lots of space with large rooms, a cozy living room and a huge kitchen with lots of clear counter space and large open dining area, Two wall ovens and a microwave, floor pedals for the sink water, and toe kick vacuum slots for sweeping the crumbs away. There will be a banquette for quick dining and a large dining table with comfortable chairs.
There will be two master suites, one upstairs, one down and the laundry will be downstairs. A three car garage.

I'll furnish it with wood floors, and traditional style furniture, British Colonial and global bazaar.

Probably the thing i would bring from my childhood is the out of the box thinking and modern design. You can see a few of my oldie childhood home pictures on my Instagram feed Wendykingsmith. I grew up in an eight sided "round house"

wendek,
Your plans sound wonderful! How incredible to have your dream or forever house in your sights! I sure hope you get to be there forever!

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Ruth:
wendek,
Your plans sound wonderful! How incredible to have your dream or forever house in your sights! I sure hope you get to be there forever!

Thank you for that positive affirmation I enjoy day dreaming about all the spectacular things i'd like to see in my forever house.

are you in your forever house?

Good questions in the article discussing clutter. I definitely want to purge some of the things I will probably never use again so that I can use the space to create easy access to things I love to use.

I'm still in the process of putting away Christmas decor. Everything is taken down except the villages and I'm working on that in my spare time.

wendek,
YES we are in our forever house. Slowly getting the storage organized. I think in about 2 more years, we will be finished with changes. I estimated 2-3 yrs, and circumstances made it stretch to 5 yrs. Oh well... I hope we can be here for another 20-25 yrs!

Gracie,
I guess we can use the term 'selective purging'!
For example, I have a collection of crystal candle holders, I love them, and am making a shelf inside my dish storage cabinet for them. I do not feel I have to purge those because they give me inspiration for tablescapes and spark creativity when I view them.
I also have silver plated trays, I love them, they are getting a shelf of their own too! And this year I will sew some silver cloth pouches for them to store them in.

I will take better care of the items I want to keep and store them better.

I must have done a good job at purging my Christmas things because when I recently moved them out of their storage cabinet so we could move it to its new permanent position in our den... I found only two items I wanted to donate to the thrift store. When I originally packed that wardrobe unit, it was stuffed and I couldn't fit it all, so I purged. I do not miss any of the things I deleted from the collection.

Next year will be the first time (and 4th Christmas in the house) that I will actually decorate for Christmas! I am really looking forward to it and also starting early. I want to do some exterior lights as well (DH will handle that, it will be his decision).

Doing a bit at a time in our 'spare time' is a smart way to get things done. If tasks are large, best to divide them up into stages. That is how we get everything done in the house we need to!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mary Ruth,

I have a high clutter comfort level when it's of my own choosing. I've also always rotated my decorative accessories altho now have a lot less to rotate. I'm not living in my forever home altho we built it as that. However circumstances and 'life' changes and I now plan to eventually move. Unless your crystal ball works better than mine you never know what the future holds. I knew I didn't want to attempt to move with all the stuff I owned so had to reduce.

I have done a lot of decluttering altho most people wouldn't believe that as my house still looks decorated in more-is-more style. There just aren't closets full of extras waiting their turn. After eliminating thousands of items from my home I have a pretty good idea what decluttering choices are like. Some things are easy to let go of, but many others are not. I made the early decision to keep only art and those things from family, friends, and things I couldn't bear to part with. Unfortunately that left still too many pretties so anything I had bought at yard sales that didn't have vintage or antique value went next. Later even more of the remaining. I've sold hundreds of items at a resale shop and have made a tidy profit on my yard sale finds. Also given much to friends and charities.

Eventually, when I have pared down enough I can think about buying some new things but they will be different, not just more pretty tschotskies. There will always be pretty decorative items for sale in the 2nd hand venues so if I change my mind and want more I can easily find them. 'Stuff' is available all over. Unlikely I'll be their best customer ever again tho.

If I had my life to live over perhaps I wouldn't have started so many collections or loved so many things, but then I wouldn't have been me, would I? Life changes and we must also change as necessary.

Mary Ruth I've kept almost all of my silver collection as well as my candlestick collection altho who really 'needs' 2 dozen candlesticks is beyond me! But I like them all and have eliminated some. Might cull out some more eventually. It's a process.

Every home I've lived in could be termed the 'museum of my fondest memories' as I have good ones from every one of the 20+ houses I've lived in. And one more coming up eventually in which to make more good memories. I've been very fortunate in that way.

Certainly a topic everyone should think about before decluttering becomes urgent.

Lucky,
In Virginia my house had so much storage that I didn't feel I had too much, I had items to rotate and to alter to fit any season. But moving from the house, into a temporary apartment then into another temporary apartment here in Florida while we house hunted, well I thought I still didn't have much.
Then we put the 'stuff' from storage into the house. OH MY!

Oh you beat me on candlesticks! I have I think I counted 14, with 4 sets and others being loose singles. Silver tarnishes fast here near the Ocean so my pieces will look more Greige if I leave them to the climate... the gray is a nice look, but not sure I want it. I love mercury glass because of the no-tarnish factor.

20+ houses! WoW. You have a lot of experience! I stopped counting at the Va house which was 30 at least moves since I was born and glad to stop counting!

I so agree, "Certainly a topic everyone should think about before decluttering becomes urgent"!

The economy and health issues are unpredictable and so we sometimes do not have time to plan.

Thanks for the great comments from everyone!