Bringing Meaning to Your Home

I recently took a course on decluttering your life.  The facilitator instructed us to bring a couple of articles from home.  During the session, we had to hold each of the items.  She asked us if this item brought us joy or if we could do without it in our lives.  My items were based on fond memories, they bring me joy, so I did not part with any of them.

Bring this philosophy to your home.  Do not purchase something just to fill a vacant space.  Your home should be filled with items you love that bring you joy.  In the last couple of years, my sisters and I lost our parents and throughout my house are sentimental objects because I remember its location in their home, when they purchased them and how much joy it brought them to showcase each piece.

My eldest daughter, Alissa, recently relocated to Melbourne, Australia.  She found an apartment and needs to “set up house”.  My advice to her was only purchase the items that bring joy, do without until coming across items that can be placed in a special spot.

A client and I were picking out items for her renovations.  We accumulated a pile of goods and I picked an item up and said, “Do you love this?”  She said, “Kind of, not really.”  I put it back and said we are only keeping the items she loved.

I am taking my own advice and slowly weeding out items that have no meaning to me. Our home is filled with furniture that we have refinished, poached from family and friends that tell a story.  I have a pottery salad bowl, purchased from a potter at a wholesale show my sister and I attended.  I love this bowl not for its function but because when I use it I think of this potter and his story travelling from Australia to Canada to sell his goods.

Currently, I have a huge space that I shifted artwork from.  I am leaving it bare until I find just the right piece, so when I go up and down my stairs it will bring me joy.  Bring meaning to your home and part with items with which you have no connection, and replace them with special pieces that reflect your likes.  Trends are meant to give you options on finding your true style.  Your home is a representation of you.  Pick and choose those items that bring you meaning.