The Art of the Mess?

Some of you might consider these rooms a mess, others, not so much.

I like my home to feel organized and clean, 

or I start feeling a little insane. On the other hand, 

I like my home to feel like a home, not stark and cold, and

not like a catalog,  I like a little clutter.

When I moved out on my own, I lived in a TINY apartment 

in San Francisco with beautiful windows like the ones in the top photo, 
and I decorated it with exotic fabrics and mostly cheap crap that 

I made look cool. I scoured the thrift shops, and painted old furniture, 

I had beautiful rugs that I found at garage sales, and made all of my 
own art. 

I had NO money, and was living on refried beans and rice, and hot sauce 

that I would "borrow" by the handful every time I went to the local 
burrito place. But I still found a way to make my apartment look great...

In my efforts to get back to that place of feeling a bit more unstructured,
or dare I say "looseness", with my home, I have some thoughts...

Some of my most interesting, and talented friends have homes that are

sometimes cluttered with books, and magazines, art, and interesting 

collections, of all kinds. It can be a cheerful, arty, (and always clean) mess, 

or a moody, exotic, bohemian mess, a civil war era- taxidermy-ish mess, 

or a glammy green, blue and gold, with books and 

matchbook collections, mess.

I am not talking hoarders here, not even close, maybe I would call it 

authentic living? 

There is no hiding who they are. There are no bookshelves with 

fake seashells, and pretend books that are never read. There is no 
false life that they are trying to present to the people that enter.

Some people that I have known in my life that have 

EXTREMELY thought out homes, can be neurotic, (although I think we 

all are somewhat neurotic), or fearful of the unknown.

I might even say, unadventurous, sexually inhibited, timid and maybe 

even a bit of a bore...

I know these are massive generalizations, and I think that the complete 

opposite of this can be true, but I LOVE the idea of maybe inspiring 

someone to break from the mold, or venture out of their comfort zone, 

or even toy with the idea of it... 

Here is to the freedom, and the ART of the mess...

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