After thumbing threw hundreds and hundreds of pictures of my house over the years, something has become very evident to me in terms of my personal decor style. I’m a clumper. I clump things.
Clump…
Clumper…
Clumpest…
Miscellaneous knickknacks that I find at random thrift stores, antique shops and my Gran’s attic are everywhere…yet I recognize clutter as the filthiest word in my home’s vocabulary.
So how do I walk the fine line between clump vs. clutter?
Chunk the junk. First, I do my best not to keep anything in my house that I don’t absolutely love. If you are keeping that awful vase that your aunt gave you only because it fits in just the right space in your built-ins, I vote that you chunk it. Only keep what you really love and you’ll love everything you have. Simple dimple.
Group, don’t fill. I think less about trying to fill every inch of available space on a chosen shelf, mantle, bookcase…instead, I try to think of my items as individual groups coming together as a whole. Let’s take my mantle for example…
I started in the back with the tallest pieces. In this case, three old windows layered across the back wall.
Then I picked out a few objects to make two groupings on both the left and right sides of the mantle…
How many groups does it take to make the perfect mantle? One…Two…(crunch)…Three!…Three!…I know good and well I’m not the only one who remembers that sneaky owl from the tootsie pop commercial stealing that kid’s sucker.
That’s it. Clumped without clutter. The pros say to stick to an odd number of items in each group. So hang tight with groups of 1, 3 or 5 items and you should be living right in the eyes of the experts.
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