Uncovering real isn’t a blog about decluttering. I mean, I do a lot of decluttering work here. But the point isn’t decluttering. The point is uncovering what’s real and living life well.
Sometimes what I get rid of allows me to live more simply – like the weekend I wrote about a couple weeks ago, where we were able to enjoy hosting a family gathering AND engage in relaxing activities before, because we chose to simplify our processes, our expectations, and the amount of stuff we had to manage.
And sometimes uncovering real is about celebrating what stays.
This little vignette is one of the first things we see when we walk in our front door.
Sometimes it gets extra crowded with random sunglasses, receipts and other things that got put down instead of put away. But most of the time it’s contained, and I love all the little elements that make up this scene.
I have always tucked dressers anywhere I can find a place to fit them. This one was a $5 find at a garage sale I drove by many years ago. I cleaned it up and replaced a couple knobs and legs. (The new legs got a little damaged in our last move, but it seems to hold its weight fine so I’m not touching it)
The étagère was a roadside treasure that just needed a good cleaning before joining the vignette to add a little height and storage, and the planter bursting with pothos is half of an old lamp I pulled out of my sister’s garage when she was sorting through what the old owners had left behind, paired with a gold tray “saucer.”
A small hot cocoa station for the kiddos is contained in a “silver tray” (aka: a repurposed filter basket I salvaged from a broken coffee urn. One of those giant ones churches always had at their Sunday morning coffee hours in my childhood.
I love the mixes:
Modern and Vintage: the modern electronic photo album that occasionally features little videos from our wedding day and big round mirror (the only things purchased new for this space), with the thrift store score of the parfait glasses like the ones we ate pudding out of in my childhood.
The highly functional (keys and office supplies storage tucked into the top drawers) with the goofy – Star Wars themed cocoa mugs for each of our kiddos, a coffee drinking Lego figure, and a cracked owl lamp who is still sporting the mustache sticker my daughter decided he needed many years ago.
Like many of my spaces, it still has lots of stuff. (Have I mentioned I’m not a minimalist yet today?) but keeping it maintained – dealing with the receipts that pile up in the key drawer, culling our coffee supplies – means I get greeted with a display that makes me smile every time I come home.
It’s functional AND pretty, layered with stories, memories and joyful pieces, and exactly what I want to come home to.
Uncovering Real 