Friday 4 March 2016

Clutter

The contestant who failed to win the Great Interior Design Challenge this week was accused (justly!) of clutter. She was a warm and enthusiastic person who, at the end of every programme wiped tears of emotion and exhaustion from her eyes with her paint-spattered fingers. I have sympathy with clutter, but not the random assortment of stuff that these contestants introduced into people's rooms. I'm a great one for clutter, you need only look at My Life in One Hundred Objects blog to see that I'm swimming in the stuff. BUT, mine is personal, things that are about the life I've lived; a clay figurine brought back from Spain when I was a child or a jigsaw from a holiday in Venice. The objects cover a long timespan, from my earliest childhood up to the present day.
 

Any flat surface in the house is an opportunity for the placing of objects - luckily our windowsills are deep!
I'm all for rooms evolving gradually over time, but I don't suppose that makes for good television.

The so-called 'experts' in the programme were very dubious about using strong colour in dark rooms. I tend to think that if a room is dark then why not stick with it, exploit the fact and make it richly dark. We've done that in several of the homes that we've lived in and have always been pleased with the result. Our small dining room is a case in point, painted a strong green to recall the felted walls of a Victorian gentleman's study.
 
Much of the furniture here is Victorian, the spoon-back chairs
and my grandmother's walnut veneer table.
Flowers always display well against the dark backdrop.
And a bit more clutter is lined up along the piano top.

There's a motley collection that includes a paper knife from Kenya, a perfume flask from Singapore and a wax red apple candle from New York. (Don't tell me that I should toughen up and start chucking stuff away!)
All that lot fits into our little cottage, pictured below.
Crowded, yes, but for me it makes a home.
I wish that Steve's Urban Cottage blog was still running, it was an inspiring example of creating a home  that was totally in sympathy with the building whilst still displaying great creativity and individuality. All the work was being done with such attention to detail that it left me awestruck. None of that knock it together in three days rubbish!

13 comments:

  1. Love and agree with this post. You know those camera feeds that speed up a seed to a flower in bloom? They should do that with decor. You can always feel forced vignettes as opposed to natural ones over time. Lucy was crying at the end of every show so proud of herself...it must mean something different in British I kept asking myself!

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  2. Ah,ha, not very stiff upper lip British behaviour at all! Were you like me and moaning at the tv set throughout the programme?!

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  3. I love all your treasures and your beautiful rooms.
    As you said the rooms are a progression.
    Your home looks like your garden filled with wonderful sights.
    I had to giggle at all the NO DUST tables and objects.
    Where I live in Tucson that would last half a day.
    I live in a dusty place. But I also live in a very simple home no extras to dust all the time.

    cheers, parsnip

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  4. Just adore your Keeper's Cottage painting. I've always collected 'treasures' and love natural history.

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    1. If you look at my September 2010 post, title, Open Studio, you will see the artist James Lynch at home and a statement about his use of egg tempera. A lovely man and lovely work.

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  5. I have a profound distrust of creating anything instantaneously. Anything of value takes time. It even takes time to know what to throw away or give away because it functions but doesn't mean enough. That's a big difference between me and my husband. He grew up without stuff so struggles to put anything aside. I grew up on the move, so am very comfortable with letting stuff go. Amazing really how happily we manage, most of the time.

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    1. You make me smile, Elizabeth - that's coupledom, quite a balancing act at times!

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  6. I'm visiting from Skywatch but had to read your clutter post. I think your home offers vignettes and collectables, not clutter. It seems like your signature style - very personal. My d-i-l (who is an artist) recently had the walls in their downstairs painted a deep gray. Their artwork really pops, and I love the way their furniture looks against the gray backdrop. Have a good weekend - I hope your weather takes a turn for the better!

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    1. Hello Barb, I've just been over to take a look at your blog and found the beautiful place where you live, an awe-inspiring space.
      Dark grey walls sound beautiful and I can well imagine how well they will display artwork. I'm very fond of grey and have several rooms painted with a light grey clay paint. It's a kind colour in the low light levels that this country often gives us, far warmer than white and it works well with other colours.

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  7. Clutter are memories, I have a fair bit.
    Clutter and colour always make a house a home.
    Merle..............

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    1. Although, if I'm honest, I've also got clutter that is just plain clutter!

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  8. How I envy you. Enjoy your clutter!It's your life.

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