Not seeing the clutter

Slowly but surely... that's how I've been decluttering the house in the past two days. I sat on my sofa in the living room yesterday morning, while enjoying my morning quiet time (which I've neglected lately). While reading, I kept getting this sense that something just wasn't... right. Finally, I took a good look around the room and saw books on the floor that I'd sorted and a grocery bag of toddler clothes I'd purchased at a garage sale for Matthew at least six weeks ago.

The hutch was full of seasonal items that needed attention and the dining table held stacks of books (a perennial challenge in this house). The items on the living room carpet, between a chair and the bookcase, have been there for weeks. Unfortunately, one gets so used to objects in a room that they become almost invisible... except to anyone else coming into the house.

I immediately straightened everything and put them where they belonged (except a few items on the table). It didn't take long and I was wondering why I didn't do it sooner. Of course, I was busy at work but even then... they had been there long before that. It is just that the eye started looking past the clutter.

For most of the year, I keep a bowl of nuts in their shells on the corner of my family room coffee table. Yesterday, I decided I needed that wooden bowl to place some fresh Michigan apples in... not only to look pretty but to encourage healthy snacking. So I placed the nuts that still looked good in a Zip Lock bag and threw away the rest.

I mentioned it to my husband that evening and he asked me, "what nuts?". Honestly, he didn't remember that bowl being there at the corner of the coffee table! Which explains why they had not been touched in the past couple of months. They've been there so long that they, too, became invisible... just another knick knack to be dusted, I guess...

This has made me look at each room as if I were a stranger. The very next thing I did was to downsize papers and magnets from the side of the refrigerator where I keep... papers and magnets. I think they propagated on their own.

I'll be starting some more deep cleaning to prepare for the new season but everything already looks much better just by seeing the house through a set of "new" eyes. :)

Photo: Country Armoire; allposters.com