Curating vs collecting

I really like this short blog post's concept that "curating" our home is better than just collecting stuff or organizing stuff.

We refinished our living room wood floors one year as a DIY project. Obviously we had to take everything out. When it came time to put the stuff back, I decided to "curate" rather than just figure out how to fit everything back in. I very selectively put back only the things I loved, and got rid of the rest. It made a HUGE difference, not only with how the room looked, but with how I felt IN the room.

You posted a picture of your kitchen or dining room once and I remember it was really beautiful. So if you recommend this method, I will look into it. The No Sidebar site looks interesting. . .

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tybee

You posted a picture of your kitchen or dining room once and I remember it was really beautiful. So if you recommend this method, I will look into it. The No Sidebar site looks interesting. . .

---

Wow, thank you,Tybee!

I constantly "curate" the objects in our livng room. It is small, and I want things to be nice. Because, you know, i lived with ladders and constructin equipment for 20 years in our livng room.

I do not need any more pieces of furniture, but I am still looking for an elusive one for beauty and function, and when I find it, will replace one piece.

The idea of curating is embodied in decoratng advice to display only a few beloved objects at one time, put most of them away, and swap,them out periodically. Our architect died at a tragically young age of AIDS back in the 90's, and I remember his mother making the comment at his funeral that he always told his clients to put away most of their stuff, and rotate it out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by iris lilies

I constantly "curate" the objects in our livng room. It is small, and I want things to be nice. Because, you know, i lived with ladders and constructin equipment for 20 years in our livng room.

---

Haha, I remember when your projects were finished!

Along those lines, this year I finally found a Christmas living room living room arrangement I really like. I've always struggled with where to put the furniture the tree displaces. Well, I LOVE my living room right now, and I wish I could keep the tree up all year long--it's so pretty. My loveseat and sofa table face it. Normally, when the tree is not there, the loveseat is against the far wall, where the tree is now.

I was thinking how nice it would be to keep the loveseat where it is, but after the tree goes, I would need to replace it with a focal point of some kind, otherwise the loveseat would be facing nothing but a beige wall.

Any ideas?? At the extreme end, I would consider one of those gas fireplaces, at the cheaper end, maybe a side table with a lot of live plants on it and a big piece of artwork above it.

When we downsized to our current home I got rid of all the furniture that I either did not love or would not fit without being too crowded.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by catherine

Haha, I remember when your projects were finished!

Along those lines, this year I finally found a Christmas living room living room arrangement I really like. I've always struggled with where to put the furniture the tree displaces. Well, I LOVE my living room right now, and I wish I could keep the tree up all year long--it's so pretty. My loveseat and sofa table face it. Normally, when the tree is not there, the loveseat is against the far wall, where the tree is now.

I was thinking how nice it would be to keep the loveseat where it is, but after the tree goes, I would need to replace it with a focal point of some kind, otherwise the loveseat would be facing nothing but a beige wall.

Any ideas?? At the extreme end, I would consider one of those gas fireplaces, at the cheaper end, maybe a side table with a lot of live plants on it and a big piece of artwork above it.

---

hm, that idea of a table with plants and artwork is nice.

We have the typical American "double focal point" living room which is a fireplace AND a tv. While is used to be super tacky to have a tv in the LR, now it is more accepted. Also, our tv is on a pretty 1840's chest. I no longer hate having it in the LR. But what I do hate is having to keep the tv in one spot, against the wall between windows, because in any other spot people walking by could see it. That caused our house to be burglarized years ago, so I won't move the tv to another spot. Ideally, I would like it to be above the fireplace, therefore combining two focal points into one place. Sure, I COULD close the blinds every time I watch tv, but I don't wanna. :) I just don't want to fuss with blinds all the time.

Catherine: I think if you like the tree so much, a grouping of statuesque plants would be great, although I too dream of a gas fireplace. :)

This is our 10'+ palm tree that lives with us during the cold winter months. It is DH's baby, and I like it a lot. There is also a banana tree and various other tropicals in at corner of the room.

Attachment 1676

It is huge!

I did a six house tour recently and one house had almost every wall totally covered with of stuff; the illuminated china cabinet was large and plugged full of stuff. There were so many Swarovski crystal statues in it but so jammed together, I couldn't make out any of them They had three LR, or tete a tete conversation areas as they were called, with 5 chesterfield sets between them on just one floor. Their kingsized bed was covered almost to the halfway point with cushions. i really tried to enjoy the tour of that house but eventually ran away, totally overwhelmed. As I walked out, a couple of women were ahead ". One said to the other, "This house reminds me of a few houses on a house tour I did in England. They also hung everything they owned on the walls."

If the house I toured had curated with strategically placed treasured items, it could have been lovely. AS it was, it was just tacky, pricey stuff but looked tacky, IMHO.