home decorating

Gee, but it's great to be back home

And yes, I am old enough that I am actually quoting from a Simon & Garfunkel song from 1970. The song is “Keep the Customer Satisfied”, and it’s off Bridge Over Troubled Water. Here’s the first stanza:

Gee but it’s great to be back home
Home is where I want to be.
I’ve been on the road so long my friend,
And if you came along
I know you couldn’t disagree.

I’m just hoping not to have been slandered and libeled everywhere I go. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, click on through to YouTube and have a listen.

Dogwood from a rest area in North Carolina

Dogwood from a rest area in North Carolina

I am super happy to report that Dad is continuing to improve after his esophagectomy (esophageal cancer is no joke, yo, but he is likely to beat it as a result of the excellent treatment he has received at MUSC in Charleston, SC). His feeding tube came out on Tuesday (huzzah!) since he did such a good job tapering off of it. And he’s back on the golf course as I type this.

I am now back in New Jersey, where spring is still in its earlier stages—I feel somewhat lucky to have spent six weeks in the south and experienced mid- to late-spring in South Carolina, only to drive home again to where spring is just entering its middle phase. Of course, I literally drove through miles of “tree sex” in northern North Carolina yesterday on my way here, where the pollen was so thick it looked like a haze. Profligate trees!

Today I’m working on matting some of the smaller pieces I painted while in South Carolina. I think they are looking really great —these are in 8” square mats, with 4” square cutouts. The two on the left are chakra rainbows (which is why red is on the bottom). You may or may not have realized that the colors for the chakras from root to crown are the same as the seven colors of the rainbow, ROY G BIV: red orange yellow green blue indigo violet. But in a naturally occurring rainbow, red is on the top of the arc, and violet on the inside/bottom. I painted these the reflect the chakra alignment (though I guess you could flip the one that is just stripes to suit yourself). The pieces on the right are abstract landscapes.

The next step is packaging them in sleeves. Is it weird that I ran out of steam and just can’t even with that right now? Possibly. But it was a long drive home after a long time away, so I’m giving myself a break.

Creating Space for Abundance

Here in the United States, November is almost entirely overtaken by the preparation for and celebration of Thanksgiving, which falls on the fourth Thursday of the month. Thanksgiving at its core is all about celebrating family and experiencing gratitude for having enough food to eat, though of course it has gotten a lot of other things added to it over the years — parades, football games, family squabbles, celebrations of friends, overeating and more. Usually I think of Thanksgiving as a day to recognize the abundance in our lives. And I’d like a lot more of that gratitude and abundance in my daily life.

A few months back, I shared a blog post that included Six Tips on Clearing Clutter, which you can find here. And I stand by all the things in that post, and have lots more to say about decluttering and/or downsizing, which I’ve decided to share with you because hey, who among us doesn’t have clutter that needs dealing with? (If you don’t have any clutter, please tell me how you achieved and maintain that status. Seriously.)

When I was in South Carolina for most of the month of October, I noticed two things about my mom and dad’s house: (1) That the public areas (great room with living space and dining areas) are largely tidy and clutter-free and (2) that clutter hides inside closets and drawers at their house (sorry mom & dad, but I peeked in the closet and drawers in the room I was sleeping in). I decided that when I got home, I wanted to focus on clearing clutter so we’d have a more zen space to live in, and also because decluttering is good feng shui.*

*Feng shui (pronounced fung shway) is the ancient Chinese art (some would say it’s a science) of balancing yin and yang energies within a space, with the aim of achieving “good feng shui” or energy flow to improve health, happiness, and abundance. It’s something I’ve studied and tried to practice in my own life and home for the past 13 years or so. One of the precepts is that you have to create space in your life and home in order to make room for abundance (in all forms) to join you.

As Jayme Barrett says in her book, Feng Shui Your Life, "Instead of focusing on what you are getting rid of, concentrate on moving towards your dream and goals." And the idea of clearing clutter in order to make space for abundance turns up in any book about the universal Law of Attraction as well. If you want to manifest abundance, you need to live an abundant life, which includes appreciating the things you have and not treating them poorly by allowing clutter to overtake everything. For instance, Denise Duffield-Thomas, who is a sort of mentor of mine, is dedicated to helping women find financial success. In her book, Get Rich, Lucky Bitch, she say that step one to manifesting anything is “declutter everything in your life”. (Your house, your car, your wardrobe, your email . . . everything.)

It's really helpful, as I start to slog through the everyday parts of clearing out spaces and assessing items in my house this week, to lift my head up now and then and remember why I'm doing it. The drudgery of working can sometimes obscure the happy goal I'm working toward, if I don't remind myself. Perhaps I need to put on the soundtrack to Disney’s Ever After and sing a “happy working song.” (No vermin need come to my aid. Seriously.)

Jayme Barrett’s book reminds me to keep "only those objects that encourage and inspire you", and to get rid of objects that affect thoughts and emotions in a negative way (things that are about sad subject matter, whether written or visual, or failed projects) and things that sap your energy (her examples include "photos of people who disapprove of you, gifts from a past relationship, and inherited furniture you've kept out of guilt"). 

I also really like and approve of Jayme Barrett’s rationale for getting rid of items you've been keeping "just in case":

Each item you keep "just in case" further roots you in fear and lack. Be confident that you will have everything you need and want to lead to a happy life. An effective way to start a cycle of abundance is by giving away items that no longer serve you. As you give, you receive. Create a vacuum for new and wonderful things to enter your home.


I find that when I keep these ideas in mind - that I am freeing up space for the qi energy to flow, giving to others who need something, and creating room for new and wonderful things, it is much easier and almost refreshing to let things go. (Almost. I mean, it’s still a bit of a struggle.) This of course applies to those things that are actual things, and not trash or recycling.

Getting rid of items in order to create space, whether it’s to improve abundance or get ready for a move, is good feng shui. Isn't that great? And since this blog is as much about art as it is about words, here is a painting I did entitled “Abundance”. It started with just that word painted on the canvas:

“Abundance” 24”x36” on canvas.

“Abundance” 24”x36” on canvas.

Here’s hoping that this post supports you if you are cleaning/clearing space this month, and that the tips on how to reduce clutter help as well. And here’s to abundance! If you’d like more tips on things from reducing clutter to how to hang art to discounts on my work, I hope you will subscribe to my newsletter.

Six Tips on Clearing Clutter

Earlier this year, we put an addition on the back of the house to serve as my studio. It is full of light and air and usually pretty high vibrational energy, though it's not always the tidiest spot in the house. 

Now, when I first started furnishing the room, it literally had my worktable and chair in the center, my teal IKEA cart with some supplies, and my easel in the corner. Everything else was boxes, baskets, and piles of jumble. Over time, my sweet Morris built me a table that I just love (and which isn't being as well-utilized as it could be, but I'll get there), and we brought in another cart and an IKEA shelf unit that had been stashed in the garage when I moved in with my sweetheart a few years ago. 

The shelf unit had it's top shelf removed to work in the garage under the electrical box, and it came in the house just that way. You can see it below on the left, in a photo taken just after I tidied it (and before too much junk got piled on the floor in front of it). But of course, we bought a bunch more canvases, and my card rack (for greeting card display) needed a home, and eventually it was all I could do to reach the shelves, I had to stand so far away from it. 

And that's just not good feng shui, y'all. Also not good housekeeping, probably. And likely unsafe, since it affect the pathway to the sliding door to the outside, the frame of which you can see to the left on both pictures.

Anyway, I spent weeks (probably months) trying to figure out better storage in the room. And one day I was meditating out on the patio, as I am wont to do, when I opened my eyes (literally and figuratively) and it occurred to me that I could add the top shelf back. In fact, I have several extra shelves and their hardware, come to that. So yesterday, I added that top shelf, and lo -- everything that had been on the floor made it up onto the shelves, and my dreaming Buddha found a perch, and the whole studio feels lighter and clearer again, because all that heavy energy that was being pulled to the floor got moving again.

I get that it doesn't  involve rocket science, but I was quite literally stumped and frustrated for quite a while before the extremely simple solution presented itself one day. And I am willing to bet that you have experienced something similar in your own space.

Which raises the question Where is your problem area? Do you have an area that is constantly cluttered? Often clutter exists because the items don't have a home anywhere. 

Here are some tips to help you with your clutter:

  • First, ask whether any of the clutter is actually trash. (This happens with me all the time - an empty envelope I don't need, receipts, etc.) If it IS, then throw it out.
  • Second, ask whether it is something you need to file in some way. If you have an envelope because you wanted to copy down a friend's address, put that address in your address book and get rid of the envelope. If it is a receipt, statement, or bill that you need to file, FILE IT. 
  • Third, ask yourself if it's there because it's broken and needs to be fixed. If so, decide right now if you really want to get it fixed or you want to throw it out. If the former, then fix it or schedule a time to take it somewhere to be repaired. If the latter, throw it out.
  • Fourth, ask yourself if it's there because you mean to donate it or otherwise give it away. If it's a gift for someone, either give it to them or find a place in your house that you want to keep gifts and store it there. If it's a donation (or you are not sure you want to keep it but haven't decided yet), put it in a donation box. You can box up all the "maybes" in one box and stick them in a closet and if you don't feel compelled to rescue them within two or three months, donate what is left in that box. 
  • Fifth, ask if the item has a place it's "supposed to" live. If it does, put it there. If it doesn't, think about where you would like it to be. Can you find a shelf or drawer that it belongs on? A box, bin, or basket to contain it with its friends? Sometimes it's just that easy. Sometimes . . . it isn't. In that case, it may take some thinking or planning, or the purchase of a storage container. But hey -- if you've gotten this far, then hopefully you don't have too many un-homed items left.

One last bit of advice

A throwback photo from when I first moved in with Morris.

A throwback photo from when I first moved in with Morris.

Above you see the note I wrote for myself (and posted in plain sight) when I was decluttering and downsizing and moving in with my sweetheart (who is now my husband of nearly 21 months). I had one sign at my old house, and one sign here, and I still have a copy of this posted in our walk-in closet where I can see it every day. It helped for me to have guidelines or criteria with which to make decisions. A hairbrush has purpose; a piece of jewelry might bring pleasure or beauty. Some things hit the trifecta, like a beautiful flower vase. But these guidelines really helped me with the sort of clutter where I had to decide whether to keep it or get rid of it (by donation, gift, recycling, or trash). 

And invariably, getting rid of some clutter will allow energy to flow a bit better in your space, and leave room for positive things to show up.

I  hope this helps at least one reader out there. I'd love to hear what space or clutter you're working on! Oh--and if you are at all interested in getting updates in your own inbox now and then, please sign up for my email list!