LESS IS LESS

I WAS trying to be more of a minimalist. I like the clean simple thought of it but the more that I read about it, the more I started to decide that it's not totally for me. While I love the photo above I know that if it was MY home, I would slowly add things to it.

Yep, while I LOVE the clean white space....but I would start adding color, and....things

Don't get me wrong, minimalism has so many good points. I like the idea of doing with less. It makes sense to have only what you need. An example would be that there's no reason to have a huge collection of pots and pans if you just use one or two. By saving on NOT buying the whole set, you are able to buy really nice quality ones. But there's a lot of minimalism ideas that I just couldn't live with. One was having just 2 sets of sheets. One for the bed as the other was being washed. I guess that works for many people but not me. My situation of course isn't typical. Most people don't have several dogs on their bed every night. The thing that really sent me over the edge is when some in the minimalism movement seemed to be all about counting what you own. Really? Must we make everything extreme and put a number on it? Why must it be 100 things owned total? Or just 10 items of clothing. I agree, someone really doesn't need to have 50 pairs of shoes but everyone has different shoe requirements and I don't think you can put an exact number on everything. They also talked about knick-knacks and mostly bare walls. Whoa! BARE walls. I love ART too much to be restricted in that way. My walls have works of art by artists I know and adore. Walking through my home makes me happy.

And then there's the idea that an object isn't a memory.

OK, I agree you don't need some tourist trap chotchkie

Chotchkie	:
	A small piece of worthless crap, a decorative knick knack with little or no purpose. Side note: Chotchkie can be pretty, sentimental, or even occasionally useful though it usually breaks easily if useful. If you are having trouble identifying Chotchkie just look around your house or someone else's and whatever you see that a burgler wouldn't steal is probably Chotchkie.

	http://www.urbandictionary.com

 to remind you of a vacation or happy time but sometimes just the right thing can bring a fading memory soaring back to the surface. I once found a little smooth stone and I had it sitting on my window sill and every time I saw it, it made me think of that nice day.

SO I guess I'm trying to just get rid of the excess, the collection of things that I think I will someday use and still never have, the things I'm going to sell on Etsy and never have, the clothes that don't fit just right or make me feel good in them, the things that bring back bad memories like journals or photos that hurt to look at.

I'm keeping what makes me happy to see and all my art supplies, my closet full of fabric, an assortment of Holiday decorations, the broken china and tiles that I'm going to make a stepping stone path with, the little scribbled drawings from my nieces and the weird little odds and ends that most people don't understand but I know that I will someday use.