*Updated with bad pictures from my iPhone.OK, so the amazing clutter-free house happened to be the house for sale that my friends just bought, but still – wow. This past weekend I was up in Colorado visiting friends and attending to some business, and one of the things we did was attend the home inspection of the house they just signed a contract on last week. While I spent most of the time occupying their 2 small children for 3 hours, I did take some time to tour their new abode. I know that when people try to sell their homes, they do a lot of staging to make it as attractive as possible – but the job they did on this house was astounding. My friends and I were envious that they had seemingly pared down their life to the bare essentials and were able to continue living in the house! The living room had a some nice art on the walls, a couch, chair, coffee table, rug, TV stand, and a TV. That’s all. No knickknacks, clutter, or anything to detract you from the room itself. The kitchen was fully organized, with drawer inserts in every drawer to keep things in their places. The bedrooms were immaculately decorated and organized, and even the kids’ toys in the play room were sorted and arranged in beautiful wood containers. They didn’t seem to have a basement full of old stuff they couldn’t get rid of; their garage was clean and uncluttered; the attic was not full of antiques that never see the light of day. Every square inch of the house screamed “SIMPLICITY” and we all got to talking about how even though we think we are organized and trying to be clutter-free, there is always more we can do.
I live a fairly simple life. I don’t like clutter, I don’t collect anything, and I rarely keep things longer than I need to. But still – I somehow have more stuff than I need. And while I know this house was staged and for sale, it really got me thinking about how much more I could probably purge from my life. There are boxes in the garage that have not been opened since we moved here back in June – what in the world is inside them that I need to keep around? After all I haven’t needed whatever it is since then, so what value is it bringing to my life? Maybe this weekend I will investigate just what is in the boxes and see if I can get rid of some of it.
Do you ever have moments like this, say when you visit a friends’ house and see how they live? I hadn’t had a moment like this in a while, and seeing this staged home has really given me more inspiration to reduce my “load” even more.
I wish you’d snuck a few photos. I love admiring *real* clutter free homes and not just ones staged for magazines.
It sounds nice and inspiring. I love simplicity and abhor clutter, but it’s a constant battle (esp. with two kids) to maintain that.
Ah, good idea. I have a few bad ones on my iPhone, I should add those later today. 🙂
That makes me wonder if they have all their extraneous Stuff stashed away in a storage unit somewhere: boxes and boxes overflowing with toys and half-empty plastic snow globes from that 1989 trip to St. Louis and the like. 🙂
I would also like to see the pictures, even if they are bad ones from your iPhone.
The first place (condo) my wife and I bought was like that, especially at first. The people that we bought it from were into ultra-simplicity and it was so exciting to see a lace like that we set it similarly.
Now we’re trying to find our way back. 🙂
We wondered that too, but the listing agent said it has been like this since the first time she ever saw it. 🙂
Added a few pictures…
I do have moments like that! The usual time is when I have been away from home and walk in the door and think “We have too much stuff!”.
My living areas are particularly due for a major decluttering exercise so that will be my major chore this weekend. I have two bookshelves groaning with books (and other sundry items) so that will be the primary focus.
I don’t have young children so once something is tidied it tends to stay that way for quite a while. So it is worth the effort of doing big cleanups.
I think I will take some before and after photos so I can really understand what a difference it makes.
Back in 1980, when I was just out of high school I took a trip to an event out of state with some friends. We crashed at a friends house and it was amazingly sparse and clutter free. A couch, chair, coffee table, tv and rug in the living room, a dining table & chairs in the dining room. nothing but a microwave in the kitchen and everything fitting into cabinets or simply not there. A bed and chest in the bedroom, a desk and simple bookshelf in a 2nd bedroom/office. I can still see it. Very Zen.
There was nothing in that house that wasn’t essential. It was very minimalist and there is a part of me that has always wished I could be like that. I always seem to accumulate stuff that I don’t really need.
I have been working hard to purge unnecessary items from my home, but I am always struggling between simplicity and personality.
I don’t see one family photo in the pics above. I actually think this home looks too generic. I want more from my simplicity…not only keeping necessary items, but also items that speak to me, tell who I am and where I have been.
If anyone has examples of this, I would LOVE to see!
I love the idea of truly clutter-free, too.
But, I must admit, life on a day-to-day basis does contain “extraneous” things, even if only temporarily………… like the newspaper I read this morning, which is in the crate under the bench in the dining room (where I read it) and which will be emptied on Saturday. Do I really need to put it in the garage or trash each day so the room is “clutter free” at all times?
What about the kids’ backpacks and my computer & briefcase I put by the front door each night so they’re ready for the morning. Is that clutter? Ir the small pile of mail I will get to after supper? Or the pile of Christmas cards I will be working on in late November that will take 2 days to finish writing and addressing? Are they clutter, sitting there on the desk overnight?
I worry that sometimes our vision of clutter-free lives is a vision of a kind of perfection that can only drive us crazy because it is truly unattainable.
The house you saw was STAGED. As in play-acting. Kept like that for only a while, not as a permanent way of life.
When are things clean enough for us?
Judith – everyone has their own version of clutter-free. In my house, I put everything away as I use it. I wash the dishes when I am done eating. The magazine goes out the door when I am done. The mail gets sorted as it comes in and then put in recycling. This is my “normal”, but that doesn’t mean its the same for everyone.
You can have your own vision of clutter-free that doesn’t have to match mine or anyone else’s 🙂