Accessorizing

Yesterday all the toys and the big TV that was consuming my living room moved downstairs. Today I cleaned like a mad woman. And now it looks like this... EMPTY!

I haven't had a toy-free/baby-stuff free room in 4 years. So, now that the room is not the kid zone, what should it be? Honestly I do not know. Well obviously it is a living room, but there are NO accessories. None. The snowman lamp will stay out for awhile, but other than that I've got nothing.

They (the proverbial they- that is) say you should look in your closet for inspiration when it comes to home decor. Since my daily stay-at-home Mama attire mostly consists of scrub pants and fleece zip ups, I'd say that is not the best inspiration. Hospital meets the artic? No thanks. They also say you should think of accessories for your home like the accessories you wear, like jewelry I suppose. Again, a miss, I don't wear accessories. What exactly do you accessorize scrub pants with? A stethoscope? Although I do love me an old fashioned medical cart for a bar, and once upon a time I owned a set of speciman jars {it was college and I think they were used as drinking mugs} I don't particulary love the idea of fashioning my home after a hospital. The last time I was in one the color scheme was mint green and dusty rose.

A room just doesn't look complete until you accessorize it... and clutter doesn't count! I think that might be why I love Christmas so much, all the decorations. I don't have any for any other season or holiday. My great aunt Lulu was into that, she had boxes labelled for each season and changed the decor accordingly. As a kid I thought it was weird, my Mom didn't do any such thing.

I've never bothered to buy many accessories... maybe because of my fear of it looking cluttered. It is my belief that if you have too many things you don't see any of them.  According to Style at Home Mag:

Accessory overkill


"There seems to be a general feeling that if one accent piece is good, 10 are better," says Sue Bennett of Bennett Design Associates in Uxbridge, Ont. Wrong! "Stick to the KISS principal -- keep it simple and stop," she advises. Display single items of larger pieces or groups of three for smaller ones, otherwise you create a "cluster of confusion," she says. "If you're creating a theme room around an item -- like birdhouses, for example -- find one wall to display them on and then stop." That means no birdhouse patterned throw cushions, or birdhouse-themed wallpaper.

We once had an aquaintance that had so much stuff it was hard to be in her house, you were overwhelmed by the stuff. Your eyes needed a reprieve. I vowed never to allow that to happen in my home.

Or maybe it is directly related to the 4 little hands that seem intent on being into everything. Yes, it must be the 4 little hands that deter me. The thoughts of all of those pretty jewels being broken.

Now though it almost looks like a model home, I'm not saying my house is pretty enough to be a model home, it just has the lack of personality that comes with model homes. So off I go on the hunt for cheap, unbreakable accessories. Bite the bullet.