SPRING CLEAN 2024
The Story of Mom’s Stuff: From Eclectic to Excessive
What’s buried beneath your treasures?
Have you ever noticed how some people thrive, surrounded by piles of bits and bobs, whereas others demand their space be clear of unnecessaries?
Is one person’s mess another’s perfect feng shui?
After my mother died, we had the task of downsizing a lifetime of treasures and destined white elephants. Mom’s mantra, “There’s nothing a little bedazzling won’t fix,” was alive and well, in every, drawer, nook and cranny.
First, let me make this clear —
Mom was nothing like the hoarders you see on television, so just get that image out of your head — now. She upcycled, reused, and glorified heaps of otherwise forgotten things. Since there’s such a thing as minimalism, the counter, maximalism, must exist as well.
Creativity oozed from her pores.
My childhood was filled with family craft days where we sat around the kitchen table, cutting, gluing, and painting. One time, we melted 78 rpm records in the oven, glued pinecones and whatnot onto them, and finished with a double layer of gold spray paint before hanging on the wall. It seems gold paint was the cherry on top of every…
