A few years ago, we decided we wanted our home to better share our story. Our desire was to decorate in a way that clearly communicated what was most important to us as a family.
As a result, we removed outdated objects, knick-knacks collecting dust, and any decoration bought only because it matched the color of our couch.
What remained were the pieces most important to us: photos of our family and growing children, a scenic image of Vermont given to us by friends, a beautiful piece of art we received on our wedding day, and a few items that have always been important to my wife.
Each of our decorations tell a story. Our home and the pictures on our walls display what is most important to us.
Now, I realize that personal tastes in this matter vary widely. The art of making a home is always going to look different from person to person. And I know that we hang far less pictures on our walls than most.
But generally speaking, regardless of the number, it is interesting to me that most of us hang the same types of pictures on our walls:
We hang photos of our family. We display photos from places we have visited or would like to visit. We post inspirational words about love and laughter and living life to the fullest. We frame images of a life filled with quietness and rest.
Nobody hangs images on their walls of a hurried, busy, stress-filled life. Nobody displays photos of more money. And nobody decorates their homes with pictures of another day at the office.
Instead, on our walls, we celebrate family, friends, and faith in a better world.
But then, for some reason, we head out the door to live hurried lives of desperation. We rush from one appointment to another hoping to find a better life through anxious worldly gain. And each day, we pile anxiety upon anxiety.
Meanwhile, the pictures on our walls invite us to something better. They remind us of a life lived on purpose with meaning. And they call for us to focus on the very things that make us human.
Unfortunately, too many of us will never notice.
We are out striving for the next dollar that we can use to buy another framed picture of the life we wish we were living.
LL in Prescott says
I was just asking myself this weekend what I’m not getting in my concept of living a simple life; what was the next step. As soon as I read the title of today’s post, I cringed. I am guilty of “filler” art. I can think of about 10 pieces that would never be considered “art”. Their redeeming factor is based on size and color to fill a space. Oh, I hang my head in shame. However, I do have something over the back of my sofa that is pretty cool and everyone enjoys immensely. We have the Chromecast rotating photos from all over the world on our flat screen. It’s a $35 device that plugs into the side of the t.v. Our flat screen mounts over the back of our sofa, which is primarily a dog bed at this point. All the chairs in the room can view it. We can cast Pandora free music to the screen and it plays through the speakers in our ceiling. We have no cable t.v. and watch 2 Netflix a week. So our entertainment costs $7.99/mo., plus the $35 one time investment for the rotating pic plug in. It feels like art!
Michelle Russell says
“We are out striving for the next dollar that we can use to buy another framed picture of the life we wish we were living.”
This. This should be a bumper sticker. No, wait . . . it should be a billboard. Hung visibly all over every first-world country.
Nicole says
Michelle, I thought the same exact thing! :)
Juliet van Ree says
All to often I see people hanging a picture of their loved ones behind the couch.. That is the one place where you won’t be seeing it when sitting on the couch. I love a photowall.. I know it’s not very minimalist but love seeing pictures of my loved ones. But I wouldn’t hang it on the spot which I’d face with my back.
Erica Draper says
Excellent post and just what I needed to read. My husband and I are downsizing in an effort to save money. We are moving from an 1100 square-foot townhouse to a 600 square-foot apartment. We in the process of moving this week. A long time ago I eliminated decorative items that had no meaning from our home. Anything we display or hang on the wall now has meaning, was inherited from a loved one or comes from our travels. Unfortunately we do not have the wall space to accommodate all of our artwork. I’m painstakingly trying to decide what to keep, what to give away and (gasp) what to put in storage. It’s definitely been a process and one I didn’t think I would be able to do, but as more time goes on and the more I handle these items because of the move the easier and clearer it’s becoming of what I can and will get rid of. Thank you for your timely post. It was just what I needed for continued inspiration!
LL in Prescott says
Storage = Gasp! is correct. You wouldn’t pay for storage would you? My son always says, “take a photo of it, file it in a folder on your computer, and donate it.” We have the Yavapai Humane Society Gala Auction Event coming up in Prescott next month, and many people have donated art work, some worth thousands of dollars. I watched my dad choose what he couldn’t live without to take to the nursing home. I was surprised at what he let go of and what he kept. It’s a good exercise to think about what I would cull from the crop if I only had a couple of rooms to live in.
sarah says
Hey I am 23yrs old and I just want to say Please Please Please don’t put things in storage!!
Early this year I struggled to find somewhere to live and resulted to putting things into a storage locker. I thought it was cheap, £63 per month. Not bad. I didnt own too much in the first place. But as the months went on paying for it (i had a year lease) I started to hate that I was losing money (which i could of used to find housing) storing items that I actually never really used (minus my bed) . Over the months I actually forgot what was in there! Each month passed I realised I didn’t need the things in there and was of no importance to me, just stuff iv accumulated over the years!
Luckily I had rented this locker from a very nice person who let me end the lease early! He gave me just 3 days to move everything out. In the end I ended up taking 10 bin bags full of items to the charity shop, 10!! and 6 to the bin!!!
(Please bear in mind I am only 23yrs old, never ever earned over £700pm in my life, didnt own anything expensive, and my only treasured & most expensive possession was my bed, yet I was able to chuck out 16 bags of stuff!)
I was glad I ended the lease early but realised I had wasted at least £300+ on something I didn’t need to pay for! That could of paid off some debt, or saved up for my housing!
So PLEASEEEE, if you have items that you are unsure about pleaseeee do not put it in storage! Don’t waste money on something that you think is a good idea at the time but will hurt your bank & life in a few months time!
Best wishes xxxx
joy prkins says
As a Professional Organizer, I can’t agree more with this writer’s views on storage. So often clients have paid out money for storage for years before they call me in to help them work through things. Most of what is in storage is redundant.
Sharon says
Love that you have learned at such a young age what is important! We are in our 60s and paying storage for things we can’t even get to with our disabilities . Sentimental things my parents gave me are the hardest. I have had 2 full pickups a week from a charity for over 3 months. I am not giving up. Grateful 2 out of 3 of our kids don’t have these issues. Thank you for having this site….look forward to every day
ren says
I would desperately try to find room for the pieces u cannot live without, consider swapping and rotating pieces. Or giving to family members or friends who would appreciate it their homes.
Karen Powell says
Over the last six years my husband and I have started to remodel our home. Gone are the art pieces that matched the couch or the room. Gone are items used just to fill up a blank hole on the wall. For many years, the walls remained pretty bare as I only kept what I really loved.
Now, things are starting to make their way back up. But this time, it’s the photos of our trips to Maine, mixed with inspirational quotes to remind us of where we want to be, the way we want to live–surrounded by nature, where a hike is the highlight of day.
Renae says
Just fabulous! We did this about four years ago and have never looked back. It’s made such a difference in our home.
Adan Carrillo says
Thank you for the constant reminders. Recently, I talked my mother out of buying a bigger home than she needs now that she’s retiring. Once I told her that she would have to spend all that time cleaning the huge inside portion of the house and mowing the rather large lawn outside, she changed her mind. Now she’s buying a condo and she’s happy about her decision.
Judy says
We recently painted our bathroom and I took down 4 pics. Although I really loved one of them, I donated all four to Goodwill. My bathroom walls are now bare…and I love it! I never had a room with bare walls before. I have a few nautical things ( shells, a fish jar, etc. ) set around the tub and it looks amazing! Less is certainly best. Even though I have gotten rid of tons of stuff, my house is still cluttered. It was renewing to remake over that one room. As we go along and inevitably paint another room, I will do the same thing and leave the walls bare or minimally decorated. It’s a work in progress. In the bigger picture, you are so right Joshua. Wish I would have known all this sooner. :)
laura m. says
I have bare walls except for a few pcs of metal wall art from pier one, one is a large butterfly, the others are swirled designs. This type decoration goes with about any decor. I know people with metal artwork/sculpture on every wall which is way too much to focus on, bordering on clutter.
ren says
I painted bathroom over year ago and we put a ladder towel in. Only pic I want to put in there is of a retro poster of Yellowstone National Park, i havent done it yet. Cuz its close match to colors I painted and nice reminder of trip of a lifetime. To me all decor now has to have a memory involved with it. Otherwise it’s just clutter. Bathroom has towel ladder and a scentsy burner.
BrownVagabonder says
Recently, I moved back to my parent’s place after a 10 month trip to Panama City from Toronto. While I was gone, my room was being used as a storage area, and a guest bedroom. I came back and noticed that a lot of my creations that had been on the wall previously had been removed and stuffed into the back of the closet. There were a lot of pictures of places I wanted to visit, and art with affirmations printed onto them.
Instead of putting these items back onto the wall to clutter up the tiny room, I decided to throw everything out. I had no mental attachment to these items.
Right now, my room’s walls are bare of any decoration. Somehow it makes the room look even bigger than normal. It also gives me a sense of calmness. I come into the room harried and crazy from the day. And as soon as I step into the room, I’m calm. I meditate in the room staring at the white walls.
I recommend leaving your walls bare to create some of that sense of peace that all of us are seeking.
Thank you for the post.
Dianne Traynor says
I agree with you – I had so many photos of my family in frames on my shelves and I realised I made a saying for myself “The ones I love are in my heart and in my mind’s eye, I do not need them on my shelves” and posted to my page to remind myself.
In all honesty, the photos themselves were not reminders of a life I wanted but rather the one I never lived. Instead they were a storyboard of responsibilities and sacrifice – single motherhood after a failed marriage, taking 5 years off work to care for my elderly mother who I lost last year, a younger me that was happy for a brief moment in time before losing all the fun in my life.
So away they went and I too have bare walls – the rooms feel calm and open, the walls a screen to play a movie in my mind of possibilities and a constant reminder to not give up.
Cass says
Joshua, these words are so simple and true. Thank you for reminding me about the importance of living a life that reflects our joys and desires.
MDL says
I look on my walls and see the same things… A beautiful photo my husband took of a tree in New Orleans over the fireplace… Old home place photos, memories of places we’ve been.. My home is my refuge from that hectic world…