minimalism

We’re craving some warm, minimal interiors right now – the clean, uncomplicated. I have to admit I’m one of those people who’s ready to take the tree down on Christmas Day evening following all of the holiday festivities. Due to a lack of energy and in consideration of my sweet holiday-loving family, I resist the urge. However; it does come down promptly on December 26, and heads straight out to the curb for pick-up.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Christmas. We usually get a tree Thanksgiving weekend, decking the halls and singing “fa-la-la-la-la” all the way through Christmas Day. The day after though, I’m ready for it all to go, put away and ready for a clean slate, to begin anew.

As a new year signals a fresh start, it is also the time when I start thinking about purging and organizing. It’s my version of spring cleaning in the winter. I’m thinking about how to pair down, declutter and simplify our spaces. Being a person who is deeply affected by my physical and spatial environment, there’s always a fine line between the contents and layers of a home and then feeling like there’s too much stuff, and I’m suffocating. I’m kind of the pendulum swings from one extreme to the other kind of person too! I’m constantly trying to strike a balance, but sometimes you just don’t know you’ve gone too far, in either direction, until you’ve gone too far. 

Perhaps it’s also a metaphor for what I’m feeling in terms of our lives. How can we reevaluate our priorities? What we do with our time. Are we doing too much? Perhaps too much of the wrong things?  Who are spending our time with? Are we focusing on the important things? The things that really matter? How can we be more purposeful and intentional? What stays? And what can go? There’s always things that are complicating and cluttering, in our spaces, as well as in our lives. No New Year’s resolutions here, but we do always set some intentions for where we’d like to focus our energy. So here we are, evaluating it all.

Below are some minimal spaces I’m loving right now. When I look at these interiors, I feel a sense of calm, peace and order. What about you? How are you affected by your home and physical space? Are you too feeling a need for the uncomplicated and minimal, editing and revising a little here and there? 

Over the next several weeks, I’ll be home in tweaking and decluttering mode. Here’s to fresh starts and new beginnings and creating spaces and lives where we can learn, grow and thrive in whatever season of life we’re in! Happy New Year friends!

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