Round 2 in the living room!

A few months ago we ventured into the living room and really purged quite a bit! In reading the book I mentioned in the last post (the joy of less), I decided it was time to go back in there. You know what I realized? I really still had a LONG way to go. I feel like the word minimalism is going to mean different things to different people. Well, I guess a better way to say it would be that there are different levels. I mean, I've heard of people living with 100 items. And when you think about it, that's hardly anything! I can't even begin to guess how many items we still own.

Anyway, I looked at my entertainment area. Still quite a few items. The walls, LOTS of pictures and wall decor/art up. Also, our dogs have a bed in our living room, and a dog crate. Recently our puppy (well she's not exactly a puppy anymore) finally stopped eating things at night, so I decided to put up her crate today. I won't say I'm done with the living room, because I want to wait till my husband gets home and see what he thinks about it, but I will say I have a fresh look on everything again. I am hoping by tomorrow I will have really reduced the amount of items in my living room yet again!

I really highly recommend this book, though. I'm only a little over 1/3 of the way through it, and I cannot believe how much it's changing the way I look at everything, and the way I feel as well. One big thing I have adapted is I am basically having a conversation with each item I own. It's going to take a long time to get through everything, but I have made so much progress already I am so excited. So, the conversation (usually in my head, ha) goes something like this; What purpose do you serve in my life? How often do I use you? Would I miss you if you were gone?

Sounds silly, but those really are good questions to ask yourself about the things you're deciding to keep, or move on out. Also good questions to ask about things you're considering bringing into your home. So, back into the living room I go!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. How I made a new dog bed with items just taking up space!

Since my husband and I made a decision not to bring anything into the house unless we absolutely need it, now we need to focus on getting stuff OUT of the house. But what about all those things on your list you need to buy? What if some of those things, you can make yourself out of things that are already in your home, taking up space? What an idea! We have to be careful with this idea though, and make sure it's REALLY something we need, and not just something we think we need.

So, here's the story. We have 2 dogs. They each have their own bed, and both of those beds are small. Yet, instead of laying in their own beds, they curl up together in one, which means either one or both of them are hanging off the bed! Which is pretty cute, and funny... But I also kept telling myself "Man, I really need to get them a bigger bed!" I had this idea about a month ago, but of course half the stuff I knew I had in the house I couldn't find. Why? Because of clutter. Oy!

So, I finally found what I was looking for. A few years ago, we bought some fleece to use as a background to take our own Christmas family photo's of the kids. They turned out pretty cute, too! So I have two REALLY big bunches of fleece hanging around. My parents left some old pillows here for when they come through and visit (they live 6 hours away). To be honest, they're pretty old. The pillows that is, not my parents. Still in decent shape, but I know they have more pillows they could bring. I asked them if it was OK to use them for a project, and they said sure. So... Here's what happened!


                 What's this stuff, Mom?? Can we play with it?

 

 

 

These are some happy pups! Here is a good tutorial to how to do these if you've never done a tie blanket. I promise it's really easy, and anyone can do them! Tie blanket tutorial