Your house isn't cluttered. It's loud.
That single reframe changed how I look at my own home, and it comes from Myquillyn Smith, known online as The Nester.
Myquillyn has spent over twenty years helping women create homes they actually want to use. She's the author of Cozy Minimalist Home and House Rules, and her new book House Hushing is out now.
Here's what makes her different. She's a decorator, not a decluttering coach. She is not going to tell you to give up everything beautiful. She's going to show you how to turn the volume down first and let the room tell you what it actually needs.
In this episode she walks through backwards decluttering, her method that takes about twelve minutes a room and requires zero hard decisions up front. You clear the visible layer, you live in the quiet room for 48 hours, and then you only bring back what you genuinely missed. No willpower required. The room does the convincing.
We also get into why we fill up whatever space we're given, what to do about the closets you're not touching yet, and how to hush a kid's room without breaking their trust.
And I got honest with her about where my own home is right now, in a hard season, drifting. What she said back to me is the reason I'm keeping this episode close.
In this episode:
- Why "loud" lands when "cluttered" doesn't
- The photo trick that cures house blindness instantly
- All the steps of backwards decluttering
- Why the 48 hour wait does the deciding for you
- Stuff threshold vs clutter threshold
- When to finally open the closed storage
- Hosting without keeping every extra just in case
- How to hush a kid's space collaboratively
- Experiencing a season through your five senses instead of storing decor eleven months a year
Your quick win from Myquillyn: clear off your coffee table and let it be naked.
Connect with Myquillyn:
- Website: thenester.com
- Instagram: @thenester
- House Hushing is available everywhere books are sold.
Show notes: wannabeclutterfree.com/323
Come say hi on Instagram @wannabeclutterfree and tell me which room you're hushing first.
Happy decluttering.
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