Cozy Minimalism?

It's funny how our preferred style of decorating changes over time. 

What will not change is my happiness over the sight of a stack of unread books. 

In The Beginning...

When I started this blog in April 2009 (though of course I lost all the posts from 2009-2013), cozy to me meant every surface covered.

Evolving...

My decor style is constantly evolving.

And now cozy to me means something entirely different. 

It means space between things. 

I have realized that cozy doesn't have to mean every space is covered, and every nook has something in it. 

 
Why was I filling every nook and cranny? 

The Psychology Of Unhappiness...

Perhaps it was because when I started this blog, I lived in another state, and found myself in an entirely different state of mind.

I was unhappily married. And fun to me meant strolling the aisles of stores or thrift shops, and buying things to decorate my home.  

In between crying jags because I felt utterly trapped.

In so doing, I was trying to fill a vast void in my life. It was like throwing everything at a problem and hoping something would stick.

And, I see in retrospect, I was filling the landfill of my life with stuff I didn't need, and over time would not even want.

Moving To This Apartment...

When I moved here, and scaled down to a rented two bedroom house, I had purged and sold so much of what I owned before I crossed the state line. 

But in fact I still had tons of stuff. And I went about filling the little blue house with it. 

And then in April 2014 my permanently injured ankle from the double break in 2012 caused me to move here to this patio apartment. Where there would be no steps to hinder my going in and out and about. 

Purging Again... 

I had purged once again. Probably about 1/3 of my belongings.

Yet I still owned a lot of things. And had to find a place to put them.

I sit here now looking about me and I see things I purchased in the not so distant past, and some of it I still love. 

But much of it, I'm SO over. 

It struck my fancy. And now my fancy is wanting to delete it.  

Cozy Minimalism... 

I stumbled upon this phrase: Cozy Minimalist

And I decided to see if I could define it in my world.
 
Many bloggers choose a new word for the new year.

Mine this year will be a phrase: Cozy minimalism

I don't mean living in a home where rooms are almost bare. Because a room that is all but bare, to me, would be a room that appears to be unloved.

It will be a home, in my case an apartment, where things have been carefully edited to create an environment that gives me a sense of peace.

A Friend Drops By...

Yesterday Israel stopped by. I fixed him a cup of coffee. He was lucky that I was pausing in my rearrangement of the furniture, or the poor man would not have had a place to sit!

The surfaces were covered with things (and many still are) that I must decide what to do with. 

It looked like a wind blew through and there was no longer any order to things. It will take me days to achieve any form of order.

But we sat and chatted for about an hour and he filled me in on his life, which he stops here to do every week or so.

As we chatted, I could feel my eyes drifting about the room. Editing things in my mind. 

The dogs love Israel. And he played and played with them. So he did not notice. 

Hand Israel a hot cup of coffee and he is happy. 

Don't Rush Decisions...

I am not rushing where I put things. The surfaces still look pretty much like they did yesterday.

I am taking time to sit with my temporary decisions. 

Which, I've learned, is a good way to go about such things.