Goodbye stuff...hello space

Over the past weekend I had a large sale and got rid of a lot of stuff. I sold and donated things that were a part of the adventure of acquisition. This second phase of a downsizing -The Great Purge of 2015- took me deeper into the jungle of my accumulated awesomeness. I revisited flea market finds and thrift store joys and asked myself "Is it beautiful? Is it useful?" I set up a staging area in the upstairs guest room where I stacked, sorted and priced. I spent a couple weeks preparing for the sale that I said I would never do. And then I did it. And it's over.


These thoughts:

Minor embarrassment with how much I owned.

Happiness to pass things on to others.

Sometimes it's hard to let go.

A sense of space and lightness. 

The secret knowledge of empty cabinets.

Smiling inside because I reached a goal.

A cautionary tale?

Think longer and more critically about what I buy.

Experiences rather than possessions.

And most importantly...

Thoughts on 2013 and what's ahead in 2014

2013 is in the rear view mirror.  It came and went in a flash of color and changing time zones. Perhaps our busiest year for travel- Chicago, Atlanta, Paris, Healdsburg, Mexico City, New York City, Palm Springs, and Lake Tahoe. Whew. Each trip added to our love of discovery- both of ourselves and our ever changing surroundings. Mexico City was especially meaningful to me as a marker for turning 60.

I discovered that yoga brings me peace and a growing satisfaction with my body. I'm choosing to ignore the wrinkles and focus on increased balance and yes, inner peace. Balance- something that has shown up on my To Do list for years....that desire to experience the fullness of life in as many areas of my life as possible. Yoga invites me to consider the many layered meanings of balance through a stronger body and daily awareness of where I fit into the world.

This past year I decided to look at my possessions with an eye toward clearing out and letting go. I worked my way through every room in our house, touching, evaluating, deciding what I found useful, or believed to be beautiful. The criteria was inspired by a quote by William Morris. I moved away from a lot of "things" that I had accumulated over the years and the result was a more expansive living space and the secret knowledge of empty drawers and cleared out closets.

Our daughter and her family moved to New York City in July.  I felt sad. Separation was new for us. Over the next few months as I saw Jessica blossom in her new, challenging surroundings, my overriding emotion turned to pride. Her family is benefiting from a myriad of exciting opportunities that would not have been available if they'd stayed in California. And I'm learning that distance does make the heart grow fonder.

In my creative life I returned to designing jewelry. I began working with natural stones - lapis lazuli, malachite, Italian coral- with an eye toward simple and organic designs. One never knows whether customers' loyalty will shift with creative change but I was happy to find that they came along for the ride. 

My hope is that these lessons of expansion, acceptance and letting go will carry into the new year with even greater ramifications. How can I expand on what I learned last year?

My over-arching goal for 2014 is thoughtful consumption. By this I mean I would like to increase my awareness of why I buy something. I got pretty caught up in spending money, buying stuff, accumulating...during the past holiday season. That's an easy excuse...blame the media, blame the incessant emails with discount incentives.

I'm putting into place some steps I'll take before making a purchase and am hopeful that I will stay the course and follow through on my goal. Awareness is the first step.

Letting go

After returning from Mexico, I fully expected to be insanely inspired and ready to get to work in my studio. What happened was not that.  I was inspired but not in the way I expected.  My greatest inspiration came not from Frida's wardrobe but within her childhood home,  Casa Azul. I was taken with the beautifully curated rooms...how each accessory was thoughtfully chosen and placed.  I was enamored with the indigo blue and sunflower yellow kitchen.  My eyes were drawn to the details of the home and garden.

When I returned home I began eyeing our home differently. I have always loved "things," and the more, the better. While I considered myself to have good taste, I realized what I lacked was restraint.  I began going through the house, room by room, and really looking at its contents.  I had read a quote by William Morris "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." That became the criteria I used as I began the process of downsizing.

I started on the main floor, the part of the house where we spend most of our time and is most visible. Well, I shouldn't say "visible" because many of my favorite things were sequestered behind cabinets, out of my view.  Forcing myself to ask Mr. Morris' question, I found that many of the things I've accumulated didn't pass muster.  Having been a thrift store aficionado for many years, I realized that a lot of what I brought home was simply because I couldn't leave it behind. It was vintage, it was collectible...there were many terms I used to rationalize the purchases. But did I love it? Was it useful? Many times the answer was no. So they went into the box to be put through a second analysis later.  The first week I finished the laundry room, living room, dining room, office and kitchen.

Rather quickly into the process I knew that a good deal of it could be re-donated. So several boxes made the return trip to the Goodwill and Redlands Thrift. What remained was placed in bins in the upstairs guest room.

I tackled the laundry room first...I didn't take a picture of the before. Laundry duties are much more pleasant now.

Again, no before photo. This is after removing a lot, including my long held and rarely used Bakelite collection.

      

The office- before and after.  From two desks and two filing cabinets to one of each.

The living room- before and after. Perhaps not a noticeable difference but, there was a lot behind cabinet doors.

With the main part of the house complete, I moved upstairs. For the last few years I've maintained two studio spaces. Upstairs is where I did jewelry design and assemblage work. Downstairs was where I sewed. I decided to combine the two spaces into the basement and turn the upstairs studio into additional closet space. Old houses have really small closets. 

When the going gets tough...this is where I got going. I've dabbled in many art forms over the years and had collections of ephemera, vintage games and game pieces, original collages and their copies, and much, much more. As I handled each and every piece, I allowed myself a moment to enjoy and reflect, then made some hard choices. The result is a lovely, bright room overlooking our backyard.

So many "things".... reduced to a sweet closet space.

The final space was the basement studio. I took a couple days off before tackling it. The room is quite large- about 10' by 20'. A lot of room for accumulation to occur.  The result was twice as much furniture and half as much "stuff."

Room to breathe and allow the creativity to flow.

So those are the highlights of my latest "cleanse."  It's hard to describe how much better I feel here in my most favorite place in the world. It's always felt good being home but now it's feels even better.

There are a few bins in the guestroom filled with things I can't part with. Perhaps I'll let them percolate there for a while and revisit them in a few months. A friend of mine told me about a native American tradition called "Potlatch" where one invites friends and gives things away. That may be an option. For the time being, I am pleased with things just the way they are.