Interior design vs. "stuff"

You may not remember this post I did on my secret desire for a clothesline.  I still don't have one, but it's on my agenda.  Here's another somewhat embarrassing secret of mine--I don't like Stuff. It can be difficult to be in the field of interior design and not like Stuff.  There's so darn much of it!  So many cute, interesting, special, antique, modernist, fluffy, meaningful, artistic, useful things in the world.  Stuff!

New York Times Style Magazine, 4/3/11

Above is the photo that might have started this little rant of mine. Everyone gets to have their own Stuff and opinions, but this is my blog and, when my beloved New York Times proclaimed that this is Style, my head just popped right off and rolled to the door.

Again, NY Times Stye Magazine

Really?

While admitting that, as a human being in the U.S.A., I enjoy the occasonal foray into Home Goods to pick up and  admire the shiny new objects, even taking some of them home with me.  It's good to have a new lamp, an updated rug, some fresh, soft sheets and pillows.  I'm not saying don't furnish your home with lovely things.  It's what I do for a living!  A beautifully made table makes my heart beat faster, a comfy leather club chair is a BFF at the end of the day.   But I think we go overboard.  Look in your closets, crawl spaces, basements and garages. We're drowning in Stuff and it's making it hard to breathe (or is that the yellow slime outside?).

As an interior designer, my goal is to help you furnish and decorate your home in a way that makes you smile when you walk through your own door.  I want you to have things that are easy to maintain, a place to put down your keys and the mail, lighting that's used thoughtfully, colors chosen to calm and inspire you, furnishings selected to serve you well--that's the kind of "stuff" that I think really is important.  But not a lot of it.  As Margaret Roach says in her new book, bask "in the quality of just enough."

Ciao,
Anne