Goodbye Clutter, Hello Style!

Provided By: Christina Kittelstad & Carmelita Garcia-Konrad

Another new year has arrived and you’re happily living the good life in your hip, organized and relaxing dream home right? Wait – you’re not? Then it’s time to move this item to the top of your new year’s resolution list and get on with it already. Creating a home that is full of life and vitality, and offers a relaxing retreat at the end of a busy day is one of life’s most important necessities and pleasures. Do you want your home to support your lifestyle, dreams and goals? It’s easier than you think!

One of the biggest obstacles to creating and maintaining a cheerful, balanced home is you guessed it – CLUTTER. Clutter can take over your home simply and quietly, one mail pile and baby toy at a time and before you know it, you’re buried and have no idea how it happened or how to get your house back!

As a color expert, designer and clutter manager, I love to assist people in making their homes reflect their lifestyle through beautiful color and redesign. When clutter has taken over a home, it’s impossible to appreciate the best that space has to offer. With this in mind, I hope to inspire you in the new year with simple and easy tips to help you create a home that speaks to your soul, nurtures your dreams and assist you in living a fulfilling, clutter-free life!
Read on for fabulous tips from myself and Carmelita Garcia-Konrad, expert feng shui consultant, on how to clear out and clean up your home to make way for a fresh and updated design style!

Tip#1: Take Baby Steps – Remember, you don’t have to de-clutter your entire home in a day. Set aside a few minutes each day to walk around your home or focus on one room at a time. Ask yourself what items in your home are truly serving your needs and helping you to live successfully. If an item is not doing that for you, get rid of it, end of story. Guilt over certain items being gifts or keepsakes to you have no place in the process – focus on your goal and move forward with an image of your future dream home in mind - slowly…

Tip #2: Enlist Help – Whether it’s your spouse and children or a professional clutter manager such as myself, enlisting the help of others can make this process quick and fun. Let your spouse assist with their personal areas of the home such as the office or workshop and have your children work on their own bedrooms and play areas. This allows everyone to participate and take ownership in creating an updated home to be proud of that the whole family can enjoy!

Tip #3: Get Excited! – The only way to de-clutter and decorate your home successfully is to get really excited about it first. Window shop at your favorite home stores, get ideas from your favorite magazines, even create a collage, watch HGTV and other great home/design channels, hire a professional, do anything and everything that will get you inspired and on fire about what you really want your home to be. It’s yours to play with after all!

Tip#4: Be Selective - Always be selective with the items you choose to keep in your space. All possessions hold energy so you want to be sure that the things you choose to hold on to are positive and meaningful to you. Of course, some things are just functional to everyday living, but even these items should enhance your home and not add clutter.

Tip #5: Be Specific – Once you have removed all the clutter and are setting up an office, bedroom, dining room or any other space in your home, think about how that area will be used and only place items in that room that are for that specific purpose. Clutter can happen when we try to make a room function as more that what we originally intended. Some easy ways to create more space without over stocking an area are to utilize special shelving, armoires, cabinets and Murphy beds. All of which can be great solutions.

Tip #6: Recycle and Reuse - When getting rid of clutter that is no longer useful to you, be sure that items are in good enough condition to use before you donate them to a local charity. If not, throw them away or take them to a recycling center. You want to pass on positive energy (or chi) and chances are if it’s not working for you, it probably won’t work for someone else either.

Allowing your home to “breathe” is one of the great joys and benefits of removing clutter. A clean and clutter free atmosphere is a wonderful beginning to creating a balanced home that can be designed to exude energy, warmth and style! Once you’ve cleared out, it’s time for the fun part – redecorating! Maybe you’ve been craving a freshly painted wall or entire room, a new rug or a beautiful piece of art. Now you can go for it knowing that your home has room for the fresh and new. Stay tuned and look for more fun and easy design and color tips in the coming months and issues.