What does a decluttered home look like?

[annettemarie]

I picture a sparse, zenlike home and don't know how I would do that with children. Are there pictures anywhere of lived in, decluttered homes?

[slsurface]

Hmmm...Well, I think my home is "decluttered" but it definitely not sparse. We have to many "artifacts" to make it sparse - I think its pretty "homey". You can take a look and tell me what you think. http://www.flickr.com/photos/archymo...7607150273471/

Most of these photos were taken prior to a party or some event where I picked up everything. On a typical day there is a toy train table in my living room, a stack of bills and mail on the kitchen counter, cups on the dining table, shoes by the front door, a stack of articles to read on my desk (I am working on my dissertation), a drying rack in the master bedroom and my husband often leaves his clean clothes piled on his dresser rather than in the drawers. All in all I feel like these aren't clutter, but rather part of living in the house.

[Krisis]

slsurface, your house is so gorgeous! I loved looking at your pics

I think my old house was pretty decluttered, but to be fair, we were getting ready to move so it was cleaned out and also my son was only about 3 months old, so not big enough to have lots of toys everywhere.

If you were to look at my apartment now you'd probably have a heart attack. We've got baby stuff everywhere. But here are pics of my old house

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kraby/s...7604905256618/

*sob* I just watched the slideshow and it made me so sad. I miss that house so much. It was so pretty. I'm glad we moved, but I wish we could have brought our house with us!

eta: if you look at the kitchen pictures and wonder what the football thing is on the counter, it's a crockpot. Usually it is put away. It was $5. Don't judge me!!!

[EviesMom]

Both of your homes are BEAUTIFUL!

SLSurface, what type of house is yours called? Cape? Craftsman? I totally adore that shape and style of house, but being a city dweller, I'm clueless on style names. I've been trying to describe my dream home to DH but I don't know what the shape of the house is called.

This is our apartment (when it's highly picked up, bouncy seat folded up under the couch, all toys away state--basically 3 times a year or so, when we have "grown up" parties, it looks like this But it makes me happy that it CAN be this without days of work.): http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/...wardlivingroom

http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/...ialview/medium

[jtbuko]

Thanks for sharing pics of your homes. I'd love to see more, especially from those who manage to live in de-cluttered small homes.

[laohaire]

I don't have photos, but I think my downstairs is pretty decluttered despite the living room/dinng room (no walls between them) being also the playroom. There ARE toys everywhere, so that is clutter, but the big thing is that I don't have any sofa or chairs or coffee table in the living room! Probably most people wouldn't like that but people do comment that it does feel good when they see all the open space. Kids love it, they can run around. In the winter we even bring in the slide from the back yard! We have two big folding chairs from Target - they are reasonably comfortable though of course nothing like a sofa. We also have from Target the organization cubes - a frame of 9 cube spaces, with colorful "baskets" for each one. All the toy clutter gets stuffed into there, and I make sure we never have more toys than can fit in that. So when company is coming, we can shove it all away in 5 minutes flat. The living-room-furniture-free life isn't for everyone, but I thought I'd contribute a description of how it works in our house.

[slsurface]

Originally Posted by EviesMom

Both of your homes are BEAUTIFUL!

SLSurface, what type of house is yours called? Cape? Craftsman? I totally adore that shape and style of house, but being a city dweller, I'm clueless on style names. I've been trying to describe my dream home to DH but I don't know what the shape of the house is called.

This is our apartment (when it's highly picked up, bouncy seat folded up under the couch, all toys away state--basically 3 times a year or so, when we have "grown up" parties, it looks like this But it makes me happy that it CAN be this without hours of work.): http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/...wardlivingroom

http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/...ialview/medium

Thanks. It is a craftsman style home. Its a very modest one, in working class neighborhood. I've seen much better examples of Craftsman houses, with a lot more features, but this was all we could afford. It's only around 1100-1200 sq feet, but this seems huge after almost 8 years of living in a 600 sq foot apartment. I've always love craftsman homes too - things from that era really appeal to me.

Your apartment is very cool! It's funny that a craftsman home is your ideal home, because when I was in high school I always dreamed of an ultra-modern home like yours. The clean lines and simplicity really appeal to me. The only problem is that I'm an archaeologist and I also have a love of old things...so I don't think I could ever achieve a modern look without giving up all my old things. Thanks for sharing your photos! Off to drool at them again!

PS- I love the robin egg blue color! I painted my office that color once and almost lost my job over it. The chair of the department blew a gasket because it was a "bright" color! Some people! <grrr>

[slsurface]

Krisis, your home was lovely! I can see why you miss it. I really like the photo collage in your dining room and the "text" decor.

I know what you mean about baby stuff all over an apartment. Before we moved, I had things stuffed in every conceivable nook and cranny to make the most use of what little space we had! Good luck!

[ikesmom]

Here's some eye candy for you ..control yourself .

Some are so simple but sweet and warm looking

Go to photo tour under feature listings (at very bottom of page)

http://www.lorriarazi.com/1312addison.html

[slsurface]

Originally Posted by ikesmom

Here's some eye candy for you ..control yourself .

Some are so simple but sweet and warm looking

Go to photo tour under feature listings (at very bottom of page)

http://www.lorriarazi.com/1312addison.html

Wow, just WOW!

[MomAndOliver]

Originally Posted by Krisis

I think my old house was pretty decluttered, but to be fair, we were getting ready to move so it was cleaned out and also my son was only about 3 months old, so not big enough to have lots of toys everywhere.

If you were to look at my apartment now you'd probably have a heart attack. We've got baby stuff everywhere. But here are pics of my old house

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kraby/s...7604905256618/

Can you please, please tell me where you got your dining room table? I love it!

[lightheart]

the pictures are so nice! thnk you guys for sharing

[annettemarie]

Thank you so much for sharing your homes and other links!

[1littlebit]

ok how do i get mine to look like that? lol they are really beautiful!

[jtbuko]

And it is in Berkeley too! Now if we could just do something about the 780k pricetag...

[Krisis]

Originally Posted by MomAndOliver

Can you please, please tell me where you got your dining room table? I love it!

We actually got it as a wedding present, but I think the people who gave it to us got it from K-Mart. It stands up very well to moves across the country, babies eating the legs and cats jumping all over it

These pictures are making me drool. I have a goal now to clean the heck out of my apartment and then maybe I'll take pics for you. Maybe not... there is stuff EVERYWHERE. I think it's going to eat me. Don't fall asleep on the couch!

Eviesmom, your apartment is AWESOME. I love how modern and cool everything is. Ahh! Like slsurface that's the apartment I always pictured myself living in... but I can't get rid of all my "non-mod" stuff either

[Knittin' in the Shade]

My pics are from last December, but it pretty much looks the same now (minus the Christmas tree, LOL!) I've got 4 boys in a 3 bedroom home, so we definitely have the decluttered-in-a-small-space thing goin' on, LOL!

http://flickr.com/photos/littleturtl...7603565625650/

[Blucactus]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

I picture a sparse, zenlike home and don't know how I would do that with children. Are there pictures anywhere of lived in, decluttered homes?

I think...I THINK...the way to do it is to have a place for everything, and put everything back in its place regularly. Don't HAVE anything you don't need/use frequently, or love.

With kids, I am one of those meanie head moms who tells people not to buy toys for gifts, and if they do, we save them to donate new (if they are a duplicate of something similar to what we already have) at Christmastime, or else we get rid of (donate to Goodwill or Freecycle or such) toys we already have to make room for them. We have two bedrooms in our home--we started with 4, but one morphed into part of the living room for more family space and the other is functioning as a play room. Which is where ALL the toys go. And they all have their own place in there. Whatever does not fit into the spaces provided or the closet for rotation with a reasonable degree of ease, leaves. I go through the playroom at least once a week and do a huge tidying up, every single item back in its place. Funny enough, the boys won't even go in there once the trash the place. Toys all strewn in a big pile on the floor? Not appealing to them.

I regularly swoop through the house (like, usually at least once a day and sometimes so many times I don't want to say! ) and gather all the toys laying around into a bin and stick them back in the playroom. There is a big basket of books (which the boys love) which "lives" in the living room. There are some other things which make life easy, like a shelf by the entrance way where people line up their shoes (ideally, hahahaha) and which houses a big rectangular basket for everyone's gloves, mittens, winter hats and scarves. There is a pretty (natural-colored wicker with a linen lining) laundry bin in the hallway which is pretty much in the middle of the downstairs, and everyone throws their dirty laundry in there when they're downstairs.

Speaking of laundry, I have a good setup in the basement. Washer, dryer, overhead pole for hanging, big old ugly laminate table. I sort the clothes out of the dryer into piles-one for me, one for DH, one for each of the boys, one of linens, one of towels, one for dishcloths, a basket for cloth diapers. All week I add to the piles until they get put away. I much prefer this over my old system which was to bring the clothes upstairs 'mixed' and let them breed in piles in the bedroom for weeks, leaving us unable to find anything . On the weekend Saturdays are supposed to be clothes-putting-away day, and we each slide our pile into a basket and put our own clothes away. Ideally. DH hasn't put his away in a couple weeks, but I always do mine and the boys' at least once a week to 'reset' the laundry table back to empty.

We have 2 adults and 2 children (3 y/o and 14 m/o) in just under 1200 sq ft. The house is pretty good on the decluttered front, most of the time (there are a lot of boxes around at the mo which are full of things that need undivided time and attention as we are still unpacking from a move a couple months ago and getting a feel for what we need, which decorations go where, and still coming up with some storage solutions! ). I am aware of how clutter and mess and untidyness makes me FEEL (BAD!!) and I am trying to raise the boys with the same awareness that it feels good to have a clean, neat space around you, and it feels good to have a place for everything and to pick up after yourself and to know where something is without spending an hour having to look for it!! Not that that's EVER happened to me. They don't think picking up is a big deal (yet), because I make it very matter of fact, we do this bc we live in a family, and we want our home to be nice for us to live in.

We have a garage, which is where we store all the kids' outdoor toys, of which they have a rediculous amount. We also have a basement, where some things live that would otherwise be cluttering up our living space if we didn't have a basement.

I would post pics, but I am set on finishing more of the decorating/putting stuff up on walls etc before I do that...

What items/areas are giving you a hard time specifically with having kids and a decluttered home?? If you tell us maybe you will get more ideas.

[Blucactus]

Originally Posted by MomAndOliver

Can you please, please tell me where you got your dining room table? I love it!

I'm not Kisis, but I have the exact same table and chair set...and this is not going to be helpful...I got mine off of Craigslist for 75$ for the whole thing. : : : : My mom has the same chairs, I think hers are from K Mart from several years ago? Or perhaps Target...hmmm...

[Blucactus]

Originally Posted by Krisis

slsurface, your house is so gorgeous! I loved looking at your pics

I think my old house was pretty decluttered, but to be fair, we were getting ready to move so it was cleaned out and also my son was only about 3 months old, so not big enough to have lots of toys everywhere.

If you were to look at my apartment now you'd probably have a heart attack. We've got baby stuff everywhere. But here are pics of my old house

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kraby/s...7604905256618/

*sob* I just watched the slideshow and it made me so sad. I miss that house so much. It was so pretty. I'm glad we moved, but I wish we could have brought our house with us!

eta: if you look at the kitchen pictures and wonder what the football thing is on the counter, it's a crockpot. Usually it is put away. It was $5. Don't judge me!!!

It was lovely! I essp liked the table (hehe, see above), the art above the fireplace, the sweet kitten, and yeah, it was all good.