My Apartment - The Stuff

Ahh, stuff. I always seem to have too much. Even in a small place. I shouldn't have been shopping... but I was. Sometimes I get saturated by all the beautiful things available. I guess it's official, I'm not a minimalist. I feel panic start to set in even admitting this. I have minimalist tendencies, and I think minimalism is a great ideal to strive for, but... like I said I was shopping. I want my apartment to be beautiful, but simple. I love objects and tend to think that I am curator rather than a collector.

Here's how I do it. First, I decide what I want. I wanted a new white vase. One that conforms to a very specific aesthetic. Simple, white, pure form. Second, I look in my stash to see what can leave. That's one of my rules, somethings must leave first to make room. Stuff should always remain dynamic, never static. Hoarding should be avoided. And I have another rule, no storage outside of my apartment. If it cannot fit in my small apartment, I don't need it.

When something leaves I always thank it for serving me. A sparkly glass vase from India was given to a friend who admired it. The white Portuguese vase was sold. I love this vase, but something about its shape was wrong for my current aesthetic. A bag of clothes was donated to the Salvation Army.

Then I shopped - in thrift stores, of course. Here are some items that I did not buy, but I found them tempting!

Flower pillows and yellow mod light from my favorite vintage store. White snail figurine from West Elm. I dig them all, but these would take me in a different route, trying to stick to the plan. I think these would look great in a teenage girl's room. I would love to decorate a room for teenager! Fun!

More tempting stuff I didn't buy.

Bud vases from Hip and Zen.

The things I did buy. If you must buy, this is the right time of year to do it. Everything was on sale!

Blue tea pot, inspired by coffee pot I wrote about below. I love that color! Vintage Haeger vase. I was very excited about this vase, I didn't realize that Haeger had produced textury pieces like this. I had been looking at this vase a long time, but just couldn't bring myself to shell out its original price ($38.00). Vintage plastic planter, two studio pieces and mod vinyl pillow (I have a thing for vinyl). Total of all of this loot: $32.00!

Still on the lookout for a red lamp. I adore this one, just can't remember where I got the picture from. Please contact me if you know its source. Midcentury Jo is skilled enough to make this, but I'm not.

Now comes the fun part. Moving stuff around.