Declutter Day

Today is declutter day! These are my inspiration...Husband's staying home and we're going through it room by room. Brutal. Thrift shop here we come!
1 from you are the river photo by pascal shirley, 2 from Jessica Vedel via meta interiors, 3 from designboom photo by Amit Gosher, 4 from desire to inspire, 5 from designboom photo by Amit Geron, 6 from Emma on Pinterest originally from arch daily photo by Takumi Ota.

Playroom

Happy new week! It snowed yesterday. Hard. So we took the opportunity to organize a bit. A while back I told you I was working on our playroom. It's still stuffed with Legos, but this is the neatest it's been yet, so here are some photos...
When Eddie creates a Lego car (which is every day) he keeps it for months in the bookcase. It's tough to keep the collection looking neat, but his creations are a lot of fun. Ah well. And I wasn't able to do away with the Lego table, but my husband raised it up and I made a simple cover for it that is so much better than the sheet that covered it before.Our shelves...Eddie's shelves...The additional storage cubes are working well...Little pig.So there it is! A goal is to bring in nothing more unless some goes to good will. I still want to get a flokati, and the artwork for the walls is out being framed. As it evolves, I'll try to show you more. I'll be back tomorrow. My husband and I are off to ski in the new powder!

Inspiring My Closet

I'm still tweaking my closet and it's been a lot of fun. I'll show you as soon as it's feeling right. I'm so excited to put up an inspiration board, and to have my little art wall. Since I can actually see the walls (my wardrobe is not ahem extensive), I want to make them personal and inspiring. They'll be the first things I see after my wake-up shower in the morning, so I'm hoping they'll put me in a positive place even before I have my coffee. Wow -that would really be something. I'm also working toward realistically organized shelves and drawers. I'm not a truly tidy person, so this has to be easy... as in it won't be perfect. Today I thought I'd show you some of my inspiration...I like the idea of the cork behind the shoes, and I love the easy piles of jeans. I'd like to put my more feminine books in there, add handbag dividers, match all my hangers, color coordinate my clothes, and put out some little bowls for keeping sweet things together. Seriously, my closet has been a bit of a dump for the eight years we've been in our home... how does that happen? Time flies, you get used to things, they become part of the furniture, who wants to tackle the closet, etc, etc, etc... So, making it all mine and pretty feels really good. I hope you have such a beautiful weekend... not organizing your closet!
Shots 1 and 3 are from this great Karla's Closet post, 2 is from the glamourai, both blogs found via Brilliant Apparel. 4 is from Lonny, design by Cath Kidston, photography by Patrick Cline. 5 is from deliciously organized, 6 is by mo+mo living and 7 is by Trine Thorsen for Elle Interior Norway via Bodie and Fou.

From The Archives: Beautiful Weekend

THIS POST IS ORIGINALLY FROM JANUARY 2010

Oh, I am so looking forward to a quiet weekend and some good outdoor play. And I'm still looking forward to declutter day! I've found some more inspirational shots (we're talking brutal clutter editing here!)...I hope you have such a beautiful weekend!
stark photos via ellmania, remodelista (2,3,4), lotta agaton

From The Archives: Sell By 3-12-94

THIS POST IS ORIGINALLY FROM JANUARY 2009

We had a successful and liberating declutter day. The funniest finds were these two. The Finast Oregano came from a grocery store in Westchester, NY ... and I left NY 13 years ago. Even more hilarious was the little jar of Ginger. Sell by 3-12-94! I'm glad I can record for posterity their presence in my home, which somehow frees me from being sentimental about them. I swear, the weirdest things can make one sentimental and nostalgic. Ahhhh...out they go!

From The Archives: More Inspiration for Tomorrow

THIS POST IS ORIGINALLY FROM JANUARY 2010

I'm still collecting inspiring photos to psych me up for tomorrow's declutter day...And, if I do not post tomorrow, you'll know why!
photos: Per Magnus Persson (some cat, huh?!), NORMarkitekter via Desire to Inspire, Living etc., Pernille Kaalund in Bolig, via My Scandinavian Retreat (beautiful blog!), and NORMarkitekter.

From The Archives: I Want No Clutter

THIS POST IS ORIGINALLY FROM JANUARY 2009

I'm tired of the clutter. I would like my home to look airy and clean. And well put together would be nice, too. These inspire me... The spaces above were created by Delson or Sherman Architects.

And find this one here. The photo is taken by the talented Lisa Cohen. P.S I would like the throw blanket please.

New Follow Monday

Happy new week to you. Our weekend was very good - quiet and snowy. This past week, I was excited to find the following two blogs. Both are so beautiful and unique to their creators. The first is Mo+Mo Living, the work of Boulder, Colorado designer (and talented photographer) Michelle Wentworth. Mo+Mo appeals directly to my desire to be more organized and calm...Michelle's ethos is:
* pare to what is essential, valued, and beautiful
* revere simplicity, beauty, and order
* purchase with consideration to aesthetics, sustainability, and quality
* live with style, awareness, and eco-consciousness
The entire site is created to inspire it's readers to live this way. It makes me want to throw away all the clutter, wear a total of six perfect pieces, and eat only fruit. This is honestly just what I need right now.

The second new follow is Campestral, the charming blog of paper and jewelry designer Rebecca Haas. Rebecca is incredibly creative and also an excellent photographer, so it is a pleasure to look through her very personal record of her works in progress, her sweet child and her inspirations...Also, you may link to Rebecca's lovely jewelry collection and paper works by visiting her blog. I'm so happy to have found both of these women.

Top three photos by Mo+Mo, bottom three by Rebecca Haas.

Playroom Design Board

Our little library became the playroom when our son was born. It's been through many transitions and it's going through another one now. It still has the bookcases along the back wall, filled with our books on the top shelves and toys and children's books on the bottom shelves. It has a small table and chairs, and a big, ungainly train table that is now used to hold our (astoundingly large) collection of Legos. This room always looks cluttered and I can't stand it. I think the Lego table has to go. It is almost too low for our son now and it looks like a dump, which it is... for Legos. We need more, attractive storage and a new rug. So, I've put together this...We've had the bookcases, the table and chair, the posters and the soft storage baskets for a while, so I'm incorporating those. I think this looks quite boring and I'm tempted to add some color, but I know what happens to even the nicest of calm, neutral, or white spaces when the reality of a five-year-old with his (or her) stuff moves in...Stuff everywhere...every surface covered! This is not to say I don't love these, but there are belongings to deal with - lots of them. Add a wall of bookshelves... and maybe you can see why I'm staying away from color in furniture or rugs: it's too much for the eyes.
Ahhh, well. In my dreams, our little room looks as adorable as these... I will show you a picture when it's done.
Board resources: bookcases, Argington giza table and chair no longer available, blockbox, posters, storage cubes, Lego storage, flokati, rug, drawer unit, and storage baskets.
Images: Desire to Inspire, Stil via Elmarie on Pinterest, Hop Skip Jump, Slumber Designs, Elmarie, Desire to Inspire, Emma via an earlier post, Ikea.