patty cakes- interesting point. My sister was selling her place a couple of years ago and she is more of a minimalist even than me. The realtor strongly suggested that she bring out some things and put them in her living room, family room kitchen etc. The realtor said that her house was so completely devoid of personality or warmth that it had the potential to turn buyers off.

Blfenton, yep, a house even for sale, needs to have a 'soul'. ;o)

My library is still full of "soul". For some reason, it's my go to comfy room; but I don't want that look in every room.

I am a less is more decorator and pretty specific in what we require in our home. I semi-follow trends and have the tendency to take to long in making decisions. I like the ability to move my accessories around to change up our rooms. I see most things assymetrically. DH adds symetry (sp?)to our home when it comes to furnishings.

We really love the art we have accumulated. Most are all lithographs. DH would put it in any frame to get it done and save $$. I am the opposite and like it custom framed by a specific framer. At first he goes along with it to make me happy, then when he sees the framing a big smile crosses his face. Last weekend we just picked up our newly framed Miro lithograph and Georgia O'Keefe poster from 1989 that was gvien to DH by his daughter ins 1989 along with a book. It is costly and we only do it when we have the extra $$ which is the reason it takes so long for us to finish a room.

Definitely agree with Pal about the window treamtments.

I resisted window treatments for a long time after we moved. Acreage, privacy - why bother? But the sun does get low and the moon does get full, and as much as I loved our home without the window panels, I love it just as much with them - DH can close one or two in the great room when the sun is setting and the full moons don't wake me up when they are closer to the horizon.

I don't care for the heavily layered look when it comes to accessories (or window treatments), but I'll admit to layering for comfort. A table holding family items along side things gathered when traveling or in local antique stores create visual comfort. Plus they give our home a personal touch and make a house our "home."

We moved into a new place about a month ago. Most of the artwork is stacked in the closet because I really am liking the blank white walls.

Knowing when to say "enough," & having a good feel for what to delete & what to keep, results in pleasing design, just as smart editing results in good writing.

Architecture dictates so much. Basically I'm a "less is more" kind of gal, AND window treatments are a keeper for me. They add much by distracting from my "nothing special" windows & architecture. They actually created architecture in the living room, since I put up valances on cornice boards with panels. While somewhat formal, the treatments still manage to make the room feel cozy & cocoon-like, & the fabric absorbs sound. However, I realize that with splendid architecture & expansive views, bare windows are stunning.

pal I agree wholeheartedly about WT and about needing to do them first, not last. In fact, maybe it's just what I've been looking at, but in the decor mags, I've been noticing a trend back to window treatments...I used to go through the mags looking for window treatments and struggled to find any....now I see many more, esp in softer rooms like bedrooms.

And there is a big difference between an artful vignette and room dandruff....so many rooms suffer the latter.

All of our stuff in storage, and while I hate paying for it, and I really don't like having nothing to wear, I love a closet with space in it.

The one thing I look forward to about installing drapes and rugs (besides not having to figure out what to do with them if I'm not going to keep them) is the sound muffling. Everything echoes in here, and it's not a big house.

That, and the cold or hot pockets in front of the windows.

I'm so enjoying all of your stories!

I am like a mixed breed dog...part one who wants to roam, part one who likes to stay to guard the hearth, and who then spends all day stepping on and off the curb....

I want both comfort and serenity, space and warmth, simplicity and personality, neutrals and colors. I like to see out of the windows, but I also like them to be dressed for town rather than for sunbathing. I don't want clutter, but I like to see things around, to give evidence that there is a full life being lived there. And I like a little bit of mess here and there, and one or two odd or even awful things, to save the rooms from preciousness. I want there to be enough going on in the room so that if I leave a book, a coffee cup, and a pair of shoes lying around, it doesn't destroy the look of the place.

So as Pal has said so well, it's about editing. As Elsie deWolfe (the Mother of Us All) so famously said, "Suitability, suitability, suitability."

Wow, Bronwynsmom! You describe the mix of uncluttered simplicity with just "enough" embellishment that I enjoy. Never in a million years though, could I have articulated that preference with such flair. Not only do you have a well-trained eye, but a wonderful gift for writing, (often with great but subtle humor!).

I don't have any window treatments, in part because like mtnrdredux, I don't generally like them, and in part because choosing window treatments scares the cr*p out of me. I will need them for my bedroom (large windows face the wall of my neighbour's house) and I'll probably have to get my ID friend to help me choose something. I'm waiting to find my bed before I choose window treatments, but maybe I shouldn't?

One of the reasons I like moving is that it forces me to pare down and get rid of so much. I find it difficult beating back the kid clutter with an 8 and 5 year old though. Time to move again I guess! :)

"So as Pal has said so well, it's about editing."

Yes, Pal's post was wonderfully instructive, as usual. But you, bronwynsmom, wrote several years ago that interior decorating was as much about editing as it was about adding stuff. That struck me at the time & has stayed in my mind.

Your other great piece of advice was something along the lines of, "Many people think they can transform a room by adding some kind of hoo haw [accessory], but it doesn't work." That's stayed with me too.

Nevertheless, off to Pier One today to look for some Thanksgiving hoo haws for the mantle :)

"Nevertheless, off to Pier One today to look for some Thanksgiving hoo haws for the mantle :)" LOL

I'm heading to Home Sense next week for Christmas hoo haws.

Thank you for the kind words.

And a Happy Hoo-Hah to all of you!

Bronwynsmom- I feel the exact same way and so glad you were able to describe this because I never can. It's that simple yet cozy yet uncluttered but lived-in feel that I crave
(see you sounded so much better)

Well-said, B'mom!! Let's all buy her a drink!

I accept!

There's a lovely little bar near the Luxembourg Gardens...

Sounds lovely, when are we going?

I'm in.

Bronwynsmom- I knew there was a reason my coffee table/ottoman existed. It is my clutter point. Cat and shoes underneath, magazines/crosswords on top, notepaper/pen on top, coffee cup on the side and my feet right there on top with everything else. Everything else is clear.

I was wondering about what our clutter/minimalist attitudes toward decorating says about us, if anything. I am one of those that has to have a wide personal space about them - probably as I'm slightly claustrophobic. And I don't like a lot of decorating things around me. I prefer sleek furniture with no frou-frous and tables that are bare. Messy counters drive me up a wall and heavy WT covering windows give me a headache, figuratively speaking.

Well, I am definitely a more-is-more person. I no longer apologize for it either!

That's not to say that I don't need a LOT more practice in editing and choosing the right things, but I like looking at stuff. I like details, and I like ornamentation.

Case in point, we moved a ~70+ inch refectory-style table from the kitchen, where it was our table for eating (and for piling miscellaneous junk and papers) to a spot in the LR, in front of a fireplace. There are now three piles of art books on it; a slip-cased book on plants; a Shona sculpture of a woman; a metal sculpture/thing/repro of a medieval tower; five silver or silverplate things on it, including two dishes, an engraved cup, a tray, and a Christophle monkey riding an elephant while holding an umbrella; and a small oil painting on a metal stand.

There may be too many things on the table, and I suspect that, even if there are not, the things need rearranging to look better, but even so, I like the overall effect. And that's after having removed an orchid after it stopped blooming!

I am also guilty of what pal has described, which is putting off the whole window treatment decision. Why I'm so stunned by the cost of doing a room I don't know, but I am. Because a room's window treatements can be so expensive, I'm stuck - I'm afraid to make a horridly expensive mistake. Result? I don't make any decision at all.

Editing would be a slow suicide for me~I love my 'stuff'! My house wouldn't be considered cluttered, nor does it look staged. One thing will play off another giving a wall arrangement/table vignette almost the look of a still life, but maybe not so structured.

I blame in on my birthdate. I'm a Virgo, so like lots of details. ;o)

Well B'mom, are we all up for a big Road Trip to Paris? Sounds good to me! I've got the first round at the bar.
We can all talk about editing, whether our stuff is clutter or not, and things we love. And then tour the gardens. What a hoot!

Paris? count me in!

Where I live, unless you are an exhibitionist and can sleep in a well-lit room all night, most houses where I live need window treatments.

My trainer, for whom I did window treatments needed three layers and as it is the third layer still isn't enough. He has a streetlight within arm's reach of the bedroom window. His neighbor's bedroom window is ten feet away.

So he needs a blackout for night. Then during the day he needs a sheer for daytime privacy unless he wants to have the lights on all day. There is also drapery to compensate for light leakage around the blind. But this isn't enough and now we need to replace the drapery with full blackout drapery.

And can we also get lost in the streets on either side of the Seine looking at the architecture? Second round is on me.

And can we also get lost in the streets on either side of the Seine looking at the architecture? Second round is on me.

Very interesting thread.

I love stuff...but too much is too much. I often cross the tipping point without realizing it and have to edit a bit. Just lately I seemed to have collected too any items. Now those rooms make me itchy. Just just don't welcome me like a more edited room does.

Those other day I rearranged the furniture in the living room. First we moved everything out. It looked so spacious! I hated to put some things back....now my kitchen and dining room are cluttered

I' m in for the Paris trip!

Off to edit my kitchen counters...

So, Pal, let's see those pictures! :)

This is what he was dealing with:

And this is where we are now: these are going to be replaced with blackout curtains. The chronic problem is budget. These will be moved to a single window downstair where they go will with the sofa.

Wow, you weren't kidding about that street light! I'd hate that.

The counters, tops of dressers, or shelves are always the first things I edit when I start cleaning out a room.

This Paris trip is getting legs...wouldn't it be fun? And yes, we can hit the architecture too!

Legomom. your post made me, well, it made me laugh out loud!
Outsideplaying: Did I mis-understand you? Could editing a room be as simple as "cleaning out a room"? I think you mean it in an entirely different way, one that I'd very much like to grasp. Thank you!

Pal, oh my! All I can say is, at least it's not neon and doesn't flash! Yikes....

There is also a fashion to "stuff". In the old days of Christopher, his rooms were gorgeous and very very full of stuff. His style was not minimalistic at all. But watching the old shows now, his rooms look well decorated but way too intense for today's more minimalistic approach.

{{!gwi}}

I think the light hums, though.
There are lights several blocks away that shine in our bedroom windows. They are letters about 5 feet tall (it seems like). You can read with the lights out. Not comfortably, but still.

The thing about Christopher's approach is that he started out in retail and he even called the placement of accessories "merchandizing"--in his hands it worked, but it led to my things like my sister opening her china cupboard and artfully draping a table runner over the door, and the fad of draping the throw "casually" on the arm of a chair but dragging just so onto the floor from a few years back. Vignettes that looked good for actual merchandising but not so practical at home.

Yes he did call it merchandising, but his background was in the theatre with set design, lighting design and costuming. That's where he gets his 18" of space for a human body to go by....a set can be a small space....and I think people have gotten larger since then.

I believe candice olson has a background in retail where she learned about lighting design....

Frenchmadeline, I very rarely re-arrange an entire room. Of course we re-paint now and then and things get cleared out.

I meant when I decide it's time for a change in the room because it looks 'tired'. I start first by clearing off all the tops of the dressers or nightstands. I might decide the lamps need to be changed/replaced. So to me that starts with somewhat of a blank slate, even if I don't repaint or replace the bedding. Changing artwork on the walls or moving accessories from one room to another gives a whole new look, sometimes without spending any money.

Christopher? What have I missed? Who is he?

So today's approach is one of minimalism. Fine, but I'm remaining on the other side. I have unintentionally started out with empty rooms, but they haven't stayed that way for long. Besides, I think that if minimalism is to work, it requires a very fine eye for something...I don't know what. Maybe the careful selection of items with colors and/or textures that work well together, maybe high quality items, maybe those things plus a keen eye for placement. Whatever it requires to be done well, I don't think I have it.

Pal, Where did you get the curtain rods shown in pictures of your trainer's windows? I like that they are substantial, yet very simple and unobtrusive.

J C Penney, and I have used them several times. I really like them. Especially since they wrap back to the wall.

Pal, thanks for the picture. I love those rods, too. What I really meant though was please show a pic of your living room with all those decorative items you mention!

One side,

and, the other:

Not really current pictures. Soon to be cleared out.

Lynxe, I believe they are talking about Christopher Lowell. He was just wonderful with his 'You can do it' attitude. He had a '7 layers of design' that he taught.

Layer # 1 is paint and architectural embellishments: Paint is the cheapest way to add warmth to your room. Oh yeah, don't forget to paint those ceilings. Architectural embellishments are moldings and other architectural items. I like to add these elements not only because they add value to homes, but also charm and substance.

Layer #2 is installed flooring: This is wall-to-wall installation, not area rugs which come later.

Layer #3 is high-ticket upholstery items: These are basically any oversized fabric covered piece. Here is a quick tip to remember when purchasing your items. Remember to focus on solid and textured fabrics rather than patterns. Locking yourself into a pattern can be a costly investment, which won't have any return.

Layer # 4 is accent: This is where you can have fun with accent fabrics for pillows, curtains, runners and yes, area rugs. These are the easier pieces to change from season to season or when updating is needed.

Layer #5 is non-upholstered furniture (or the workhorses): Without these workhorses of the room, like coffee, end and side tables, a room simply doesn't work.

Layer #6 is accessories: This is my favorite part. This is where you can inject personal items like photos, books and other merchandise.

Layer # 7 is plants and lighting: Shadow is important to the mood of the room as the light that creates it. Here's a tip, remember, as much lighting should come from the floor as from the ceiling.Plants under lit help make great shadows and add that important living element to the room.

Copied from

http://www.ivillage.com/christopher-lowells-7-layers-design/7-a-220357

Thanks, dody. Now I remember his book! I have seen it before, although I don't recall much about it.

Pal, I was going to ask about the rods, too - it's so hard to find nice ones that return any more! You did a perfect job on the windows for your trainer. (I wish mine needed design work - I can't afford him any more!)

And I think your living room is wonderful. You've shown us the perfect object lesson in mixing elements, styles, and eras, and in careful editing.

Your room is both serene and exuberant. Well done, you!

Nice job, pal...understated elegance with architectural interest.

Dody and lynxe, you might want to follow Chrisotpher's pinterest page...he has lots of interesting stuff there....

Here is a link that might be useful: CL on Pinterest

Nice room, Pal. I meant to comment earlier on how lived-in (and I mean that in a good way) it looks, yet a nice elegance to it as well. Don't apologize for a thing. Isn't it funny how we're all critical of our rooms in some way? Whether it's a messy desk, something we haven't finished yet, etc.

This is the only living space in the apartment, so it does get used every day, although the computer, which gets a lot of use is in the second bedroom.

Actually we often sit at the sofa to eat dinner, depending on what it is. When the TV was in the bedroom, I often ate with my plate on a towel on the foot of the bed while I sat on a footstool...so we use everything but I guess overall we are pretty neat and tread lightly. The new house will likely have two main living areas, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

One of the criteria of the new house is that the rug fit. It was surprising the number of houses we looked at where it would not.

Thanks Anne, will check it out.