Even the most design obsessed folks, like myself, can have that ‘aha’ moment where we realize that perhaps the reason we are struggling to find our next design style of the moment (yes… moment…because they are fleeting for some of us) is because we are weighed down by accumulations of our former design selves… or worse yet… other peoples design hand me downs. Gah!

Believe me this happens… and before you know it that ‘design skin’ becomes hard to shed because those items are filling a void. That space might sit empty if it weren’t for those things… and then it becomes hard to see around this stuff and visualize something more fitting to you and your personality. And then you have lost your true design north….

In the next few months I am going to begin two major projects: 1. The Great Purge and 2. Finding My True Design North. Perhaps we can give it a Hollywood name like ” Pursign” or “Desurge”, you know kinda like “Bennifer” or “Brangelina”. I feel like these projects go hand in hand and one can’t really be done without the other so I might as well dive in head first and hope it’s not the shallow end.

If you need to experience either of these ‘awakenings’ in your own homes, follow along and let’s support each other throughout the journey. I will be sharing the tips and tricks that help and the failings I experience along the way, for paring down and redesigning my life to reflect my more true self.

Month 1: Clean The Slate

• The first step in my personal program will be to literally clean the slate. This means cleaning out and clearing off every surface in my home and essentially wiping my design slate clean. This should allow me the ability to start from scratch, visually, and clear the mental and literal clutter. No accessories or knick knacks laying about. Get them out!
• I love Apartment Therapy’s January Cure and so this is perhaps my self imposed and more complicated version of that. One of my favorite tasks on that 12 step program (I don’t actually know how many steps it is, but you get the point) is to create an Outbox. This is precisely how I will handle items along the way that obviously donation items or junk. All the questionable items that are removed throughout this process will sit in decor purgatory until I have decided if they can be lived without or if they are needed after all.