How to deal with a case of decorative accessory overload in your home

If, like me, you love a vignette, are drawn to pretty shiny things like a magpie and believe in the power of a decorative accessory or 2 (okay, okay, 20!) to brighten up and add personality to your home, you may know where I’m coming from.

These decorative accessories are also known as:

• objet d’art
• ornaments
• trinkets
• knick knacks

In my case, in my living area alone, these objets include chunks of amethyst, a Georg Jensen brass bowl full of champagne corks, candles, stacks of coffee table books, a bone china owl (bloody owls!), bowls, mirrored trays, perspex trays, glass cloches (the aforementioned four all have more stuff on or underneath them), slices of agate, trinket boxes, a paper sculpture fashioned from a vintage book, vintage crystal, coral, not one but two decorative pineapples, and so it goes on. And on. And on.

You can imagine the dusting! I’m well aware I’m starting to sound like one of those cliches from F**k Your Noguchi Coffee Table (but without the replica furniture). Consequently this is so not a kid friendly zone, much to the amusement of my friends with kids (who I love, incidentally!).

Writing this blog means I’m lucky enough to get sent a lot of stuff too. Stuff I wouldn’t necessarily have added to my existing collection but which is lovely, so I feel compelled to put it somewhere.

I LOVE having all these things in my home and I could never do the minimalist thing, but every now and again, like today, I FREAK OUT. This is because I am both an everything-in-its-place neat freak and a lover of pretty STUFF (otherwise known as my crap). It’s time for my quarterly edit!

Here’s how I tackle it:

• Remove ALL stuff from coffee table, shelves, side tables etc
• Thoroughly dust and clean
• Wash all glassware and ceramics to get them shiny again (remove hair pins, dead matches and coins from bowls and trinket boxes)
• Chuck out almost-dead candles
• Have a little rest
• Put most of it back, but trying out different combinations of things in different places
• Keep some of it back (remembering I probably freaked out in the first place because I’d caused a case of stuff overload)
• Try those bits and pieces in another room or maybe think about giving them to Vinnie’s/friends
• Buy fresh flowers, fill my vases, open the windows and let the fresh air in
• Light a fresh candle
• Sit back with a cup of tea and survey the new tidy, dust-free, edited, less cluttered, sparkling space
• Enjoy the smug feeling. It probably won’t last long.

Do you suffer from decor overload too?