5 Best Decluttering Ideas

Spring cleaning! Haven’t we all heard that phrase? Why are those words so famous?  Well, I did a little research and according to Wikipedia, the origin may be traced to the Persian new year which literally meant “shaking the house” or to thoroughly cleansing the home in anticipation of the springtime festival of Passover.  And in North America, before the invention of the vacuum cleaner, the house could be opened up in the spring and the winds could carry the dust out of the house!  

The first vacuum cleaner

You can ask my adult children today and they can tell you some stories about the big black trash bag and going through their rooms every year.  I can not explain how all that stuff multiplies because I wasn’t buying all of it!  There was a throw away bag, a give to friends pile, and a give to charity pile.  Apparently, I was the only one that got any joy out of the process! But it is very true that before you can clean, you have to clean up!!

We learned in Interior Design school some of the psychology of clutter. To boil it all down, we all hang on to some things for emotional reasons….but I want to add another one. Some of it is because we are SO BUSY we do not have time to keep going through all the things we need or to keep it all well organized. Kids are “stuff” magnets. So we do the best we can, and try these tips to lessen the stress. 

Spring time is here and it’s a good time to use these great decluttering and organizing solutions, because one of the BEST and easiest interior design improvements is to do just that.

1. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Stop bringing so much stuff into the house and try to deal with things that force their way in your home at the time. Ok, I’ll admit it! I buy things I don’t need if they are a really great deal or on a fantastic sale! But any money not spent is money (and time) saved. Then I go on this thing that I will not buy any more shampoo or lotion until I have used everything up that I already have. 

2. I kind of have an unspoken rule. If I haven’t used something in a year, I get rid of it. I have only been stuck a couple times in having to re-purchase something, but it was well worth it.

3. I LOVE this idea. With your sentimental items, take a picture of it. Put it in a scrapbook and write the date or some memory about it if you want to. Then you can reduce the clutter and keep your memories safe also. It’s the difference between this and this:

4. Don’t try to do the whole house (and garage, sigh) in one weekend. Assign a reasonable schedule for yourself like one closet or one room per week, or month, and stick to it. Make sure to clean all surfaces and areas after organizing as it has been proven that is what helps us to keep it looking nice in the days to come.  

5. There are millions of containers and organizers available for a very low cost, so utilize them AFTER you have discarded and organized your things. Don’t use them to keep more stuff! And do buy furniture or accessories that have hidden storage for the things that you need!

4 Easy Tips for a New Spring Space

I LOVE living in a place where there are seasons! However, there is still a learning curve. Last year I did not finish redoing my patio before fall and the cement got too cold to paint; then a painter informed me that “now it’s a spring project”. Spring project!? Wow, coming from Florida that was an eye opener!

So this year I could not wait to get at it. First, my neighbor kindly offered to add 2 feet to my existing patio…..what a difference it made! I redid the cement base coat, then applied the top coat and the sealer.  I used my old patio furniture and was fortunate that the same line was still being sold and purchased a few more pieces. An outdoor rug, a fountain, a few accessories, and some new furniture cushions with throw pillows completed the job. Take a look at similar re-do from Country Living:

Talk about an amazing transformation!

There’s a couple of VERY important tips I want to leave you with when redoing an outdoor space:

1. Look at your spaces as a WHOLE. I have a screened porch that leads out to the patio and you want it to flow and coordinate! These spaces are too close together to make two separately decorated spaces out of them. So I purchased the same rug for my screened porch that was on the patio and matched the blue cushions there and placed the same main color outside.  Just make sure you have a few differences, of course.

2. This is the perfect time to make use of garage sales, Craigslist or some nice neighbors curb side pickup! There are so many deals to be found out there that just need a little TLC. My son and daughter in law just redid their large outdoor space with second hand furniture and several cans of spray pain. It looks beautiful! But if you have some extra cash to spend, check out the new Tommy Bahama outdoor furniture!

3. Plants, plants, plants. I am an avid (amateur) gardener and I have an herb garden in my porch every year. They are easy to grow and you can cook with them all summer; then freeze what is left over. This offsets the cost of buying annual flowers and plants, but there are always some annual flowers that are so beautiful on the patio it is worth the investment.

4. Put something FUN outside you enjoy, whether it be some lanterns, a fire pit or a small fountain…used or new! Anything that will give you a little joy or put a smile on your face :).

Why I Love Isaac!

Isaac Mizrahi

I get obsessed with things, do you? And for years I've been obsessed with all things Isaac. Isaac Mizrahi.

My younger daughter Alex first introduced me to his line of clothing when she was in high school and he designed for Target. I will always remember the day both my daughters informed me about fashion: "We don't match any more Mom, we coordinate.” That was a revelation for me!

I love history and I'm a bit of a sociologist at heart and that comment made me think about my upbringing. I was raised by kids of the Great Depression and nothing they had “matched.” Everything was a hand-me-down unless you were lucky enough to be the oldest son or daughter - and even then the clothes you received were often used. It was their most valued possession if their purse matched their shoes, or if the bottom sheet matched the top sheet and the pillowcases. If the bathroom towels all matched or your necklace matched your earrings and maybe even your bracelet! So now we don't match anything!? The generation gap strikes again.

In order not to be left behind on the design scene, I keep informed about many kinds of design - fashion, art, cars, graphic design, and of course, interior design (including outside spaces and landscaping). Isaac Mizrahi is amazing for several reasons, and one of them is that he is able to design so many types of things: clothing, shoes, jewelry, watches, handbags and luggage just to name a few. I was in a store recently and his logo caught my eye on a tag attached to some pet clothes!

Every Monday night I watch him on QVC and listen to his design genius, and there's something I want to pass on to everyone. We don't just coordinate any more, we "associate". Here's an example. He was showing a "trellis design" on a handbag, and he grabbed a rose printed scarf. He held it up together and everyone on the show was shocked. He explained it by saying that a trellis is usually seen with a flowery vine growing on it and so by association, it looks great together! So we seldom match anymore, we still coordinate, and now we can associate!? This is pure design bliss. Check out these pictures:

See what I mean?

This is really good news for all of us interior designers out there redoing and re-purposing our spaces. It gives us a lot more options and makes our designs very interesting! Look all around you wherever you go, and get some “associated” ideas - you’ll love the results!

Send some of your ideas, because we all can use some inspiration! I'll post the top ones on my blog soon! More design ideas to follow!

Lake Norman Magazine Issue!

There’s something special I want to share with everyone! This month my work was featured in Lake Norman Magazine, and a living room I did is on the cover! Check it out on www.lakenormanmagazine.com.

This was a great honor, and a really great experience. Both the photographer and the writer were amazing, and the writer titled the article “Storied Style”. I’ve been thinking about that title a lot - I think it is something all of us can use when we are decorating.

First of all, you might have a lot of questions about interior design, hiring a professional, and wondering how it all works. There are many different settings that designers function in and many ways designers are used. In school, I got to design a $35,000.00 dining room!

Although it was fun and the furniture was very beautiful, that is certainly not for the average person! Designers can charge a flat fee for a project, charge by the hour, or use their professional discounts and charge their clients the “sticker price” and their fee is the difference.

Although I would be happy to design your entire space, the biggest need I see is to help the average person to get to where they want to be in their home (both inside and outside), office, or rental house. 

Maybe you are selling your home, and you need some staging for curb appeal.  Perhaps you are having a holiday family dinner, open house, birthday party, wedding or other event that you need some help decorating for. In any event, I do consultations and charge an hourly fee to point you in the right direction; because my passion is to TEACH people some principles of design so they can transform their space into what they want it to be. After all, who has time to look at 1200+ rugs online and possibly make a decision without seeing it!?

Someone said to me recently “your house is so beautiful, my house could never look like this!”  I chuckled because the point of the designer is NOT to have your house look anything like theirs! There are many stages of life that we go through. I recently met someone that had 6 children. That home needs extreme durability and no “glassy things” in reach of little ones; as opposed to the “empty nesters” that have a vacation home in the mountains. Or our aging parents that now need safety and security in their home …and maybe their memories on display close by. 

Which brings me back to “Storied Style”. I love that title because that truly is the goal in interior design. It is to tell your story, or to start a completely new chapter, in a harmonious and pleasing way (on a budget, of course!).

Don’t know where to start? I can help!

Welcome

Photo taken by NQR Digital

Hello everyone! Let me introduce myself!  My name is Cathy and I appreciate you reading my first post for my interior design business “Inspired Design”. 

I’ve always had an interest in “all things beautiful” including nature, art work, fashion, jewelry, delicious food, photography, literature & just about anything an artist produces.  I always remember the line in “Kate & Leopold” when Leopold states: “It is said, without the culinary arts the crudeness of reality would be unbearable”.  There’s a lot of truth to that.

I was walking my puppies not too long ago & when we stopped, I began to look closely at what seemed to be some weeds.  This is the result up close with a macro shot taken by a friend of mine:

"Fall Bloom" by NQR Digital

"Tattered" by NQR Digital

Don't you just love that name "Tattered"? Something that is well worn but still nice to look at. So my point is that there are probably some beautiful things around you & your home that just need a closer look, some repurposing or grouping them differently that might give you a start. So release that "inner designer" within you & see what happens!