It’s time to hush your space. The Nester calls it “quieting the room.” It’s essential. You can’t treat a room properly without this step, so don’t fight it. The room will tell us what it wants to be, but we won’t be able to hear it until we shoo all the extra voices out of the room and listen.
You’ll need to find a staging area for the extra things. I used my living room, but a storage room not used as living space would be even better. This works best done one room at a time. Otherwise it can get overwhelming to store everything.
Remove everything from the room that can be moved. Curtains, art, small furniture, patterned bedspreads, pillows, books, knickknacks, rugs, shelves, and anything on the walls. Everything that can go, must go.
This room was shouting at me:
Each individual item had it’s own toddler voice chanting: “Look at me. Look at me.” Then the Eeyore voice of the room itself moaned:
I’m messy.
I’m hopeless.
This is overwhelming.
I’m tired.
I don’t know where to start.
There’s not enough money to fix this.
As soon as I quieted the space. The cacophony stopped. In the hush, I heard.
You can do this.
What a nice big space.
What a great window.
This is a good place to feel peaceful.
I would be easy to paint.
The carpet should go.
I couldn’t think of where to start until the room was quiet. Then in the hush, I made a plan in PowerPoint.
Which translated to this:
If you don’t know where to begin. Or if it feels too hopeless. Just quiet the room and live with it for awhile. It will start to speak kindly to you, and then you’ll know.
It looks beautiful and peaceful. How’s your living room now? ~smile~
Lol! It’s clean again. I sold or donated all the items I didn’t reuse in the new room. The living room is still on my list for the cozy minimalist treatment though.
Know what I love about this? It’s not perfect. And yet, it is.
Right! I mean it’s painted subfloor with big cracks and still just plywood over the hole where the bathtub used to be. The window treatments are thumbtacked directly to the wall. And yet, it’s beautiful. And perfect for our time in life.
I’m just absolutely loving all the interior/home posts you’ve done lately and I will most definitely be using this technique in my own home, thank you Angela x
I’m so glad, Ellen. I’d love to see what you do.
wow! my jaw literally dropped. That is amazing!
Thank you, Melanie! If I can do it, anyone can. The shocker? It’s been 3 months and the room is still clean.
Wow, that is gorgeous! I happen to be a big fan of white couches (although I don’t have any yet, lol!). I read Nester’s blog about hushing a room recently, and maybe once my mom gets out of the hospital and things get back to normal I can do it.
I don’t like a lot of clutter but I do need a few things in a room or it doesn’t feel warm and cozy. Too sparse and it’s “boring” and too much and it’s too cluttered for my tastes. Happy balance is what I need. Thanks for linking up to the “Making Your Home Sing Monday” linky party!
Thanks for coming to check us out! I was all, white couch, no problem! It is harder to keep clean than I was thinking. The covers come off to wash, but it’s a lot of work. So I rub at the spots with baby wipes and a lint roller and it keeps clean enough that way. Your balance of uncluttered but cozy sounds like you are a true cozy minimalist. I feel that way too. I’m sorry your mom is in the hospital. I hope it isn’t too serious and all is right soon.
I keep coming back to this post so I can see your room – because it makes me happy and inspires me.
Aw, thanks! I’m still blown away that you are quieting your whole house. You never do anything halfway, lol.
One more reason to own less Stuff! *time to get rid of more things!* Thanks for the inspiration!
Yes! Sell the stuff and finance your dream room with cash 🙂
I just love this post. It is one of my favorites! I cannot believe the transformation here. It is so, SO inspiring! I did something similar to our master bedroom after reading this, and although it wasn’t as drastic (since we are renting, the walls and floors stayed the same), it has helped so much to have a “quiet” bedroom.