The Interior Living Room

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All of the following photos come courtesy of Pangaea Interior Design, located in Portland Oregon. Here is a site and designer after my own heart. I could write a long post describing her talented eye, and wax poetically on the various techniques this designer employs to achieve such stunning results, but it just makes more sense to show you.

This work is brilliant, and I hope you take the time to check out her site (linked above) and perhaps comment on her work.

Pangaea uses complimentary colors in ways that exude symmetrical wonderment, and her choice of paint and wall finishes immerse you in the design interior. As you can see, Pangaea uses bold colors in the artwork to feature other decor decisions within the rooms, also combining colors at seemingly random intervals throughout, a decision which results in a very understated design and decorating cohesion. I’ve eluded to the benefits of color context in this post. Interior Living Room will be keeping a very close eye on this designer, and continue to praise her efforts.

And so again, in the grand words of my old English professor, “Nuf said on the subject.”

Technorati Tags: decorating examples, design photos, design showcase, interior designers

Here are some interior living room painting/decorating rules that we live by religiously.

Rule #1; “I don’t care how portable your laptop is, you can’t check your email when you’re moving a piano”.

• If you have found that “eureka!!!” article – either on this site or another decorating/design website – please be kind to your laptop/ desktop and print out the instruction before you commence to lay brush to wall. In the first place, if you’re using a new technique you’ve learned from a website, you can easily destroy your laptop with paint spillage. In the second place, running back and forth from a desktop or laptop when you need quick reference takes valuable attention away from the task at hand, and can easily lead to glaring errors (and lots of paint droplets on the floor). If you can’t print out your new-found, brilliant painting technique, just shorthand the instructions to a real, live notepad and get cracking.

Rule #2; Most D.I.Y magazines and websites have very practical solutions to common decorating problems, without breaking your bank.

• It’s easy to lose creativity and hit a brick wall when you are not standing outside the decorating picture – looking in. It’s almost an “I can’t see the forest from the trees” kinda thing. Sometimes just cruising through a D.I.Y or decorating site/magazine can lead to that one brilliant and cheap idea that will give your chosen room the “oomph” it needs. For example, let’s say you really dig the regal look of a slate marble wall. Instead of searching out some Bavarian marble slate and selling your car to pay for it, faux marble painting is easier than you may think. In fact I know one web site that can tell you how it’s done, for free. (Hint hint) At the least, trying to paint a faux marble wall first is a crap-load cheaper than buying the real thing, and at the most you’ll have something to brag about when people ask how you did it. (btw, do Bavarians even make marble slate?)

Rule #3; The most awe-inspiring room features do not necessarily cost $4 000 000 dollars and your first born child.

• If you’ve spotted a set of ceramic Italian tiles that would be absolutely perfect for your kitchen counter, only to notice the $250.00 per tile sticker price, don’t have a breakdown and overdose on Prozac. There are many online resources for buying cheap ceramic tiles. If the tile design you had in mind is brilliant, I can almost guarantee you will find a strikingly similar design online, for a much cheaper cost. Check out here and/or here, for examples.

• This rule applies to more than just tiles, marble slate, and/or painting. I had a decorating dilemma recently. It involved an interior living room study with earthy taupe walls and neutral tone furnishings. I came in like a tornado and turned the room into a brilliant study. Brilliant with the exception of one empty corner. I was stuck in need of a compelling piece of decor to complete the space. It needed something unique, something that would stand out without being overbearing. Something with texture and asymmetrical by design. The owner suggested a marble bust of an infamous Roman dictator. (which was completely cost prohibitive!) Instead I decided to experiment with an idea. I ventured out to the backyard wooded area, scooped up 100 (or so) 5 foot tall, thin, fallen twigs. I then proceeded to wrap them together (12 at a time) using fabric I had leftover from the drapes. In the end I attached them all together at the bottom with a wide brass ring (the origins of which escape me), and placed the assembly in a $90.00, semi-huge, glass vase. Eureka!!! It tied the room together perfectly, it didn’t cost the owner an arm OR a leg, and the entire family was spared having to look at Julius frikin Caesar every morning.

Rule #4; Proper wall color is one of the most vital characteristics of your room’s appeal (or lack thereof).

• Wall color is as much personal preference as it is decorating technique. Having said that, some people’s personal preference is far more ridiculous than it is sublime. You really should find a common color scheme in the room you are decorating, choosing a paint color that will blend those colors together while allowing your most striking room decor to … well… strike. As an example, if your interior living room is full of beige color with… say… burnt orange furniture, a lighter or darker yet complimentary color is always the good choice for your walls.
• I often like to take the least visually stimulating color within the room, dial it forward or backward a shade (or two) and paint the walls with that color. Then I will take the most bold color from the room decor and paint one feature wall in a very slight variance of that color. Such a bold color can come from any item in the room – from a throw pillow to a wall painting. This technique offsets the room nicely and shows a consistent color scheme throughout. It’s a cheap and simple technique that can make your room look very expensive.

Rule #5; Less is usually more.

• Need I say more? Ok, ok, I will. Everyone has a tendency to go overboard when decorating. While 1 fishbowl may be cute, 25 fishbowls in various sizes indicates a need for aggressive psychiatric treatment. Once you have things in order and think your room is the absolute pinnacle of decorating brilliance, take some things away and observe objectively. Does it still look amazing? The litmus test here is simple; if your room still looks great after you’ve removed a few items, leave those items as future decor replacements, and be comfortable knowing your guests will bow at your feet in worship of your keen decorating prowess. When you come to a point where removing an item makes your room look or feel incomplete, put it back where it belongs, because you’ve gone too far.

There are a few perfect books on the market for decorating your home on a budget, and some really informative manuals on interior house painting. Have a look here and here respectively. Alternately, you can click on the fancy shmancy pix at the bottom of this article. These wonderful books explain in vast and grand detail what I am trying to highlight here within this article, and they’re a great value.

There you have it. A few of the cardinal rules of decorating, interior living room style. Take these suggestions and your budget, whatever it may be, and get started!

Technorati Tags: color scheme, painting advice

Of course you can. Heck, you can decorate a pet ferret if you’re so inclined (look up), although I’d be sending some men in white coats your way if I saw you do it. “Morning rooms” exist, they rock, and in the grand words of my old high school English professor, “‘nuf said on the subject”.

Lots of people have never even heard the expression “morning room” and those who have usually envision a room residing somewhere in Bruce Wayne Manor, right next to the secret door that leads to the Bat Cave. In fact many homes built after the turn of the last century have an area that can be used as a breakfast nook. The difference between a breakfast nook and a morning room is essentially flowers, comfortable chairs, good coffee, and pompous attitude, so potentially you already own a “morning room”, it just has an identity crisis. Now if only you had a butler named Alfred and a secret lair.

So, if you’re following along, one can consider the “morning room” as the classier incarnation of that tried and true “breakfast nook”. This epiphany – of course – assumes that you make significantly less than $10, 000, 000.00 British Pounds per year. If you are a rich bugger, then the concept of “morning room” can contain an entirely different meaning.

The purpose of a morning room is to have a sanctuary within your private house or establishment – where people can sit, talk, relax, ponder, e.t.c… during daylight hours. Also, genetically speaking, it is within our human nature to seek sunlight upon waking so as to acclimatize our bodies and minds for the day ahead. In that respect a morning room is a perfect spot to nibble a quick bite, grab a coffee and gather your thoughts.

• Factoid: In my relentless pursuit to inform and educate, I’ve come to discover that morning rooms are – for the most part – designed for morning use. I tell you fair and gentle reader, I leave no stone unturned, no weed unearthed.

So if by now, you still are unclear as to what a morning room is, I’ll quote my 16 year old son and then … ‘nuf said on the subject.

“It’s kind of .. like… just a place where you can chill and munch out before school.”

So how do you appropriately adorn and decorate a morning room? Of course this all comes down to your personal style, but there are a few things worth noting:

• Darker wall colors will absorb natural light and heat, so they can be useful to keep your guests from feeling as if they’re sitting inside a solar flare. The opposite can be said for your color choice of furnishings, because incessant sunlight can heat up a dark seat like a frying pan.

• Any respective artwork will want to have some darker shadings, perhaps even textures, to make it feature more within the natural light surrounding it.

• Window coverings – if at all necessary – should be sheer and loose, having a translucent quality. This can be achieved using any open weaved decorative fabric.

• Certain high-light plants can give you that “outdoorsy” feeling, should you be so inclined. Larger floor plants work if your “nook” is on the larger scale. Plants such as Norfolk Island Pine, Weeping Fig, even Fiddle-leaved Fig plants can work well in bright, sunlit areas as accent pieces. Otherwise, you can achieve a similar feel by utilizing a good soft toned *flower arrangement as a center piece on your table.
  

A morning room is easy to decorate as long as you start by defining it as a “mini-dining room for sun worship”. You will of course need an appropriate table – I prefer smallish – with a few comfortable chairs surrounding it. I wouldn’t go for a table that sits too high vertically; instead try to find something that’s in between dining table height and coffee table height.

I have seen a few very attractive morning rooms with typical dining room chairs being used, but my personal preference is to bargain hunt for some good quality high seated, cushioned chairs. These are not the soft and cushy flop chairs you find in a master bedroom or living room, but a kind of hybrid dining chair that adds lots of padding and some “sink in” value. They can be found at any furniture gallery worth a salt. I keep harping on the chairs because seating is one of the more important elements of a good “morning room”. It should be more comfortable than a typical dining ensemble, and should enable you to sit upright for a spot of tea as well as be comfortable when leaning back to meditate on the coming day.

Your morning room will certainly want to face the rising sun, otherwise forget a morning room and get a light therapy machine. (I’m kidding, I think) Assuming your room IS guided to glory by the rising of the sun, it will be well lit by a natural light source and this creates two potentially negative effects on the room:

1. Temperature: sunlight produces quite a bit of excess heat, more-so when accumulated in small spaces. You will want to try and offset this with a powerful, yet quiet ceiling fan or a small air conditioning unit. Floor model fans are usually miserable in a small room as their use often results in a napkin blowing Festival Of Doom. Unless you’re prepared to tie everything in the nook down, forget a standing fan for cooling. It’s just not really conducive to a relaxing morning coffee when your chasing around the sports section. Get your cardio workouts in the gym, I say.
2. With natural light, aesthetic imperfections are magnified at least 436, 799 (and 1/3rd) times. OK I’m not so sure about the statistic, but I can tell you that fading paint or a chipped fruit bowl seem to have a Rock Star Spotlight on it in a morning room. Room dust can also hinder your morning tranquility, as it just seems to hang in the air, reflecting the sunlight and reminding you of just exactly that which is landing on your breakfast bagel and eggs. As such, you will want to keep the room well maintained and as dust free as possible.

*For full disclosure I have to say that when I commence to feats of decorating prowess, the rule is to never use real flowers in small spaces, using nooks as the prime example. Flower arrangements can produce pollen and irritate sinuses, not the best way for someone to start their day. If you have guests occasionally and you don’t wish to keep a candy dish of antihistamines near by, lose the FTD credit card already. Flowers can also significantly add to dust in a small area, even when kept perfectly. So if you choose to go the route of having a flower arrangement, spend a little extra and get a nice faux flower deal and put some aromatherapy candles around for the scent of lavender, Jasmine, or my personal favorite, burgamot.

Dollars to donuts says that if you have a detached private home there is an area available that you can designate a “morning room”. If not, oh well, no loss really, after all sunlight is highly overrated. (I’m kidding again, I think) If you feel like taking a break from eating toast on your way to work however, recon your home for that one place pointing towards the big, bright and shiny ball in the sky, and start your creative juices to build your own little piece of morning nirvana. Me, I hate mornings, even when they come after noon. I’ll stick to the bat cave, thank you very much.

Oh, btw, I can’t leave off before letting my loyal readers know that at some point in the not too distant future there might just be contest of sorts at Interior Living Room, which will involve your essays on design, your before/after pictures, and your motivation to win a great, wonderful, and moderately expensive prize. Stay tuned

P.S.,
Oh, and feel free to subscribe and receive this blog in your email!! The form is up and to the right.

Technorati Tags: decorating, design advice, morning rooms, sun room

A trend is the general course of prevailing tendency. For those of us in the cheap seats, that simply means that styles change with the passage of time. Sometimes drastically, and sometimes with a subtle nudge, trends are fickle and sometimes not very attractive. Trends are prone to cycles and popular culture. History has shown us that anything from a lunar eclipse to a celebrities’ new hairstyle can cause massive change to popular aesthetic desires. Trends affect almost any area of commerce and aesthetics. Interior design and home decorating are especially subjected to the changing of popular design trends and only a few timeless styles normally survive the evolution. Yesterday’s styles are quickly replaced by the trends of the day, whether speaking of your living room interior or your tool shed.

The following list makes up 4 of the latest and greatest design trends, as compiled from a survey of close to 1000 real estate agents, managing brokers, and like-minded executives. The new styles are surprising, and denote a significant shift from the current home styles and trends.

1. Garages aren’t just for your cars anymore: All “pimped” out (as the kids say), upscale garages of late have erased the image of concrete grease spots and unused tool benches normally associated with the inside of a garage. Today’s garages have undergone a complete restructuring, as homeowners prefer modern garages equipped with numerous luxuries. Closet systems and storage apparatus, refrigerators and home gyms, anything from air conditioning to residential-style flooring can be found in the modern garage.
2. The place where Zen takes over: The latest trend moving forward is the need and creation of space in the home for personal time, and space for relaxation. An appropriately adorned home space can give the homeowner lots of room to exercise their private meditations and hobbies.
3. Bringing the inside outside: In colder climates, many people are converting outdoor spaces into heated and temperate “warm zones”. There are many examples, including heated patios, heated walkways, and heat paneled, or temperate driveways. Not only used for creating a pleasing outdoor space, a temperate, climate controlled outdoor area helps a great deal in yard and driveway maintenance during winter months.
4. Keep quiet, I’ve got to work!!!: Simultaneously comical and utilitarian is the advent of an additional room adjacent to the master bedroom, known affectionately as “the snoring room”. Solving the problem of sleeping with snoring partners is this latest design trend. Hard to believe, perhaps, but people everywhere are committing to attach additional rooms to their master bedrooms today, which serves as a comfortable respite to those afflicted with sleep disorders. In the past it was normal (for those kept awake until the wee hours of the morning) to head for an uncomfortable couch, but the current trend allows for a much more suitable surrounding to get quality slumber. The typical “snoring room” is equipped with a comfortable bed, a reading chair, and easy access to the amenities of the master suite.

This top 4 list is the “best of” in current home design trends as compiled by only one survey, yet there are many more color trends and architectural styles making waves in the current design and decor world. As such, some of yesterday’s styles are being canceled out, as is always the case. Things like spiral staircases, bamboo floors, laminate flooring are all on the current trend “chopping block”. Complicated spiral shaped staircases are unfriendly for elders, pets and young children; bamboo floors are prone to scratches and damage, and laminated flooring is considered too noisy for comfort.

So if you are considering a living room interior makeover, or a complete redesign of your entire living space that to conform with the latest styles and comforts, consider these top 4 recommendations for the top of your own makeover list. Making these changes can not only leave you with a good night’s sleep and a room to practice yoga, it can also increase your property value and keep your back from the pains of shovelling snow.

Technorati Tags: decorating trends, design trends, interior design trends

Interior Living Room was about to call this article “The Disclaimer Post”, and you’ll know why once you’ve read it.

I have a story to share with you, but before I do, there were a flood of viewers emails asking me for home painting advice, so to help answer some questions there are two books that I recommend readers in need should indeed grab, either from here (by clicking on the fancy shmancy pics) or at a good book store of your choice.

This first book has been featured before in other posts but I didn’t offer it a proper nod. It’s called “Your Home, A Living Canvas” and I simply can’t rave enough about this journal. It is fantastic advice for the novice and expert alike. In my humble opinion, this is one of the best journals on faux painting techniques to come along in a while. The book itself contains rich colors, photographs are plenty, and there are oodles of before-during-after shots for your reference. The directions simple to understand and a breeze follow and finally, the finishes shown can give anyone new ideas to choose from. If you are considering any kind of creative painting technique for your living area, it’s worth every penny.

The second book that will certainly help you in great and vast ways is entitled “The Color Scheme Bible“. Here you will find all the info necessary to choose the right color for your interior living room and beyond. This is a spiral bound book so it is convenient for reference, which make it extremely nice when in the throws of painting and needing a quick look. It has an excellent introduction, touching on the basics of color theory, which is a very important subject and all too often glossed over by decorators of the day. The main body of the book contains color palettes, complete with descriptive text giving the inspiration behind the palette, and most importantly, it gives suggestions on how the colors might be used in your interior.

If you need instruction in painting, these two books go along way to help you to get the job done right.

At any rate, and speaking of painting, I’ve another glorious story to tell you;

So there I was, on a job, sometime last month. It’s 8 pm and I’m in the better part of the worst mood. At that point I had just finished whinging and screaming (I call it instructing) to my painter as to what color goes where, and how it should be best achieved – all while strategically pointing to my watch so he knew to start no later than 7am the next morning. Thankfully my painter is reliable and patient with my moods. Honestly I knew his team would do a fantastic job but I was in a “postal” frame of mind.

DISCLAIMER 1: I’m not normally an irritable “howl at the moon” kinda designer, but when you combine an 18 hour day, several key light fixtures on back-order, add 6000 milligrams of caffeine, multiply by 40+ cigarettes, well, I think even the Pope could grow whiskers.

Back to my story; after the painter left (cursing under his breathe I’m sure) I walk to the owners’ kitchen and have a cup of coffee with two of the most temperamental, rich buggers since “Thurston Howell the Third”. I assure them exactly why my color choice will work brilliantly for their ultra huge front room and den. After explaining things like “the emotional response to color” and “the co-relation of lighting design to color shading”, I left for home, feeling as if I’d just been interrogated by the entire cast of CSI Miami.

When I finally reached home that night (a 4 hour drive btw) my mind was made up to author the world’s most authoritative volume in the history authoritative volumes, so that I would never have to answer silly questions again. That’s right. Next time I saw that stunned look in a client’s eyes, I would just whip out a print of my biblical encyclopedia of paint theory and bask in abject brilliance. (Of course when I finally did get home I fell asleep and dreamed of sphaggetti noodles – I have know idea why)

It was in one of my more recent posts (this one) that jogged the memory of that night back into my thick skull, wherein I searched the inside of my head for mental notes and set out – yet again – to author the “War and Peace” of painting tutorials.

After some research (yes, google is my friend too) I found a few articles and squidoo lenses that not only bear mentioning here on Interior Living Room, but they bear my conceding the attempt to explain decorative painting theory to a much more capable person. I found a few lenses and blogs that explain everything I could say in a much more concise and critical way. In effect, contained within the sites I discovered is nothing short of the Holy Grail of House Painting. Every question you can ask has an answer, so I’m just gonna shut up now and give you the web addresses.

Perfect Paint Colors

Sensational Color

Color For Your Home

Head over, check them out, rate them and comment if you like, but I can almost guarantee that any question you’ve ever had on painting will be addressed – in detail – by the sites author.

As for the author, Kate Smith, well you may or may not have heard of her. She’s commented on my blog a few times – stealthily I might add, not at all hinting at her technical prowess. Her research and the applicable knowledge she imparts is just simply brilliant.

How can I say this to make my point as clearly as possible? Kate Smith is to decorative painting as Myles Davis is to trumpet.

I admire this woman so much after reading her lenses and posts that I will be consulting them with certain regularity. Before I read through her sites I had thought of myself as an authority on the subject of paint and color choice. After reading her sites I can humbly admit that the woman is a rock star and I, a mere groupie.

So if you haven’t heard of her on the subject of painting, read her kazillion or so posts, lenses, advice and/or articles. Kate has made volumes of free information available to us all, and in doing so she’s done a great service to the design and decorating community.

I couldn’t instruct you any better than these links if I was kidnapped by low flying geese with threats of dropping me on my head – into a pit full of nuclear waste. I’m not joking folks, if you want to learn about how to, where, to, and what to paint on your walls, ceilings, floors, e.t.c… The woman responsible for these sites knows more on the subject than Tony Robbins knows about being irritatingly optimistic.

DISCLAIMER 2: Kate Smith is not my mother, sister, wife, or in any way related to this site. I am not her afilliate, and she is not mine. Aside from her few comments I don’t even know the woman, but I do know talent and skill when I see it.  Here at Interior Living Room we like to give props where they are due – so Kate? Props!

Technorati Tags: color advice, decorative painting, home painting, product review

In my last interior living room article, I touched very briefly on the subject of tiles. This time I’ll elaborate a bit further.

Stone, metal, glass, and prefab hybrid. These are all tile styles that have become so popular over the last few years thanks to technological advances in mass producing it. As a result, one would think ceramic tiles are outdated, in a “good for grandma’s house” sorta way. Grab a chair, you are in for a shock.

First, the pictures.

Pretty darn sexy, yes? All the pictures feature ceramic tile compilations. Ceramic tiles these days are almost red carpet material. Yes they can be a price premium. It’s mostly the deco tiles that will set you back your prettiest penny. But if you have the cash, there isn’t much else to say – except to say it’s bloody well worth it.

At any worthwhile ceramic tile showroom you can easily spend hours upon hours just trying to pick a design and commit to it. And of course with anything ultra cool, once you have made up your mind you’ll inevitably walk by yet another selection of tiles and be transformed into a drooling, indecisive idiot. I’ve been to a ceramic tile showroom in west LA recently that literally blew my mind. It was complete sensory overload.

Ceramic tiles are made of a certain type of clay, which is fired at a certain temperature. At this point someone waves a certain magic wand and presto! Ceramic tile. Ok, that last part isn’t necessarily true, but at least now you know a few steps in the process. The difference between this and porcelain tile (to the consumer) is that ceramic tiles tend to be more artisan, less perfect, more irregular, more striking. On the other hand, porcelain tiles tend to be much more streamlined, much more perfect. Because porcelain tiles are fired at a much higher temperature, it is much more durable than ceramics. Yet most people tend to gravitate towards ceramic tile.

Typically the more perfect something is, the more beautiful we find it. When shopping for tiles, that’s not the case. Ceramic tiles’ beauty lie within the flaws and inconsistencies. Ceramic tiles just have an undeniable charm, and for the most part they look handmade. Of course looking handmade comes part and parcel to actually BEING handmade, but I just thought I would point out the obvious. OK, pointless fact time is over.

To digress momentarily, if you are planning on taking on a tiling job anytime soon, directly below is a tool you will definitely need. As I always say at Interior Living Room, click the fancy-shmancy picture and be wisked away to Amazon land, where you can buy it at a bargain.

What you see to the left is a 24″ Tile Cutter, a heavy duty cutter used by professionals to cut up to 24″ square tiles.

So, back to the point… I’m a huge fan of using ceramic tiles, but I have to be honest, they are a frickin’ pain in the behind to install. Within the process of making ceramic tile, there can be as much as an 8% warping during the cooling process, for whatever reasons. So, when you do start tiling you can normally see a few tiles sticking out and looking odd. It will start to look less and less like you’ve been poked in the eye once you are around 50% completed with the tiling. At this point, the irregularities come together and you start to see the imperfect magnificence of it all. So if you’re new to laying ceramic tile, try not to have a cow when you see what looks like blatent flaws in the product, because when it’s all finished those imperfections will only add to your satisfaction.

Ceramic tile has a limitless design application really. You are only at the mercy of what you’re capable of dreaming up. There’s so many different colors, glazes, shapes, sizes, elements, repeating patterns, … ok, ok… I think you get the picture.

When in Rome, learn frickin’ Italian. (oh, and do as the Romans do) When in a tile showroom, learn what tile goes where (oh, and do what the Romans do). Here are a few factoids worth your attention when shopping for ceramic tiles:

• Field tile is anything that will take up the most space on a wall or floor. It’s typically tile that lacks elaborate designs and decoration.
• Base molding tiles run along the floor, at the bottom of a wall.
• Rail molding tiles are normally used to top off a half wall of tile, creating a textural separation between your normal wall and the tile design.
• corner (or crown) molding tiles are used where the top of the wall meets the ceiling.

To add flare to your tiling, you can use a border molding, which will run along the wall in a row, or you can insert a deco tile. Deco, or “decorative tiles” are used as accent pieces, in between moldings. You woudn’t use deco tiles together because in the first place it would just be too expensive, and in the second place it would end up looking as tacky as your ’80’s acid-washed jeans.

Deco tiles are only used as beautiful accents, splashes of decoration within an overall wall or floor tiling. Just by placing a few deco tiles strategically in your design you will make the most of your efforts.

So whether you think your interior living room needs a feature wall of ceramic tiling, or you just need to tear up your washroom and go nuts, ceramic tiles are a worthwhile and wonderful option to consider.

Technorati Tags: ceramic tile, flooring, wall covering

If you haven’t succumbed to the virus “PackRatItus” yet, you’ve definitely been to someone’s house showing signs of this horrendous disease. There are so many differing strains of PackRatItus that sometimes it goes undiagnosed for years. Perhaps your affliction is not too serious yet. If so, treatment is available, and you will likely not perish from the disease.

Diagnosis for PackRatItus involves a careful and deliberate assessment of your living area, being very mindful to check the nooks, the garage, under the stairs, the attics, and the basements for visible signs of the bacteria known as “clutter” or “junk”. Once it is determined that you have become afflicted, immediate steps should be taken to rid your home of this bacteria, using liberal doses of “cleanacillan”, “orginization-aspirin”. (Most medications can be found over the counter at your local “Get Off Your Butt” store. )

Seriously speaking, I call excessive clutter “PackRatItus” because accumulating junk over the years is something that happens right under your nose, and gets worse and worse when you pay no attention. It breeds in your home just as an infection worsens in your body – without careful and deliberate treatment.

There are ways to coordinate, organize, and banish your clutter, leaving you with plenty of room to walk to your kitchen (without tripping over your 1970’s bean bag chair). Here’s 5 steps to take that can alleviate the disease and give your home a breathe of fresh air, leaving you with peace of mind and unstubbed toes.

1. Do you have a shed? Perhaps you’re in a condo… if so does your condo have a storage area?

• If you have items strewn about your home that mean something to you – things that have sentimental value but are of no immediate use – then for the love of God gather them up and take them to your storage area. (Always a good idea to organize these items as well, so they are easy to find – see step 2). If you have no storage area, look into self storage facilities that may be close by. These places are almost always within a 10 minute drive from your home, and you can normally get one for as little as 30.00 per month.

2. Ikea is the Google of the interior design world. Ikea is your friend. At Ikea there are many shelving units and storage bins that will help you to organize your clutter into far smaller places. I once turned a garage full of clutter into a closet sized masterpiece of organizational brilliance by utilizing cheap and useful shelving + storage crates that I found at Ikea.

3. Get the book “Declutter Fast” by Mimi Tanner (click here for your copy) There is no one alive with more passion about de-cluttering your space than her. The book is just short of brilliant and explains in no uncertain terms how a cluttered home leads to a cluttered life. It’s also worth noting that by using the advice in her book, your de-cluttered home can reduce your daily stress level significantly.

4. Yard Sales are not just for families that wear matching track suits!!

• I know, I know. That guitar you received for Xmas on your 14th birthday is just waiting for you to learn how to play. However you’re 40 now – so to be blunt, give up the dream already!! Let a neighborhood kid have a go at being the next Segovia, because that guitar is making your living room look like a pawn shop! (and you know it)

• A yard sale can give you extra cash for redecorating, it can be a socially relevant thing to do (if you’re trying to get to know neighbors) and if you’re truly lucky, someone may actually buy that giant fish bowl your Aunt gave you in 1965 (the one that gives the kids nightmares).

5. Get the book “Declutter Fast” by Mimi Tanner. I know, I know, I’ve said it already but it definitely bares repeating. This is a real gem and goes into far more specific detail than we at Interior Living Room have time for at this point. It really is worth the small investment if PackRatItus has you feeling ill.

There will be future posts on this topic for sure, as we receive tons of emails asking for advice, but for now there’s bigger fish to fry here at Interior Living Room, and Mimi seems to have it covered nicely for now. Look for the links above or check the fancy shmancy book cover below to grab your copy.

So, if your case of PackRatItus is not terminal, there is hope, as you can see from above. Just pick a day, take the time, and treat the problem with the medications prescribed here. Oh, and drink lots of Orange Juice. That seems to help everything.

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