Comments on: Weekend Project: Knick knack round up

By: twosandalz

twosandalz — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:43:32 +0000

Thank you for the list of questions to apply to knick knacks! I just added modified version of it to my PDA to apply to future knick knack purchases.

By: Josephine

Josephine — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:47:35 +0000

I have really scaled back on knick-knacks and have kept so few. At one point I collected pottery, but that proved overwhelming, and I donated the bulk of it to the Salvation Army.

Here’s a funny story: years ago, I mentioned to a friend that Tweetie Bird was a favorite Looney Tunes character. Big mistake. Word “got around” and before I knew it folks were giving me the most useless presents: Tweetie Bird mugs, t-shirts, you name it. Soon it spread to Disney figurines and M&M candy dispensers. I kept these items on my desk at work when a colleague brought her 4-year old nephew to visit. He began to play with them and when it was time to leave did not want to return them. His niece was surprised, and the nephew, oh, so happy, when I gathered all the figurines and let him have them. Luckily, I haven’t received any such gifts since.

By: Beth - Total Mom Haircut

Beth - Total Mom Haircut — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:25:41 +0000

I have currently gathered all of my knick knacks on one shelf so that I can go through them before we move in one month. As I was collecting them from around my house I was shocked at how old some of them were and how much I HATED them. So many knick knacks are just kept for sentimental value and it’s particularly hard to let those things go. For me though, I’m just going to have to ask myself if it is something I like and, if not, just let it go no matter who gave it to me how many years ago.

By: M.R.

M.R. — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:37:55 +0000

This is the perfect post for today. I can’t even see the top of my dresser right now. This is a very unusual state for me and it’s driving me crackers. Thanks to whomever said that she took down the pictures of friends she’s no longer even in touch with. That alone will save me a ton of space!

By: Helen

Helen — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:30:29 +0000

I’ve put a lot of small objects away in a storage box until I have somewhere suitable to display them – sentimental things from my childhood, heirlooms etc that I don’t want to dust right now.

I find a good compromise between stark utility and clutter is to make functional objects decorative. I have steel kitchen utensils and a red colander hanging on my kitchen wall, along with other wooden spoons in a pot. The notice board above the computer has a purple-painted frame, and cozy throws make the lounge more inviting. A few well-chosen objects and a wall hanging are all that is needed. Scale helps – one or two large things rather than many small items.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:16:59 +0000

I have always loved elephants. I have found that once people find out something like that, before you know it – there’s the collection of anything and everything elephant. An old boyfriend’s mother decided that I needed every piece of some horrible elephant figurine collection from Hallmark or something similar (*gag*). When the relationship ended I gleefully filled my trash bag with the hideous things.

As I strive to eliminate more and more clutter from my home I have held on to a handful of elephants (mostly pretty glass ones or art-type pieces) that bring me real joy when I look at them. They are up high on shelves and serve their decorative purpose nicely.

My mother recently went to Thailand, and I had to beg her not to come back with suitcases full of elephant stuff (she is a major hoarder and has served as the impetus for my personal clutter-free movement). Only a small Thai purse with elephants on it and a couple of t-shirts for the kids made the trip home. Ahhhhh.

By: verily

verily — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:14:58 +0000

I don’t believe in collecting kitschy crafty knickknacks and decorative items. To me, it is wasted money, a dust collector, and something for the cat to knock over. My one concession is the adorable Mexican band figurines I picked up from Target on a whim and keep on top of my entertainment center. And paintings/framed pictures for the walls. Everything else is functional.

By: Phil Sheard

Phil Sheard — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 08:54:08 +0000

Cheers for the post Erin. not much on the nick-nack front for me – except your prompt on photos made me realise that grduation photo that takes pride of place on a dresser is still somewhat relevant but 3 of the 4 friends are no longer close – so I’ve relegated it in favour of my wonderful nephew who’s 2.5yrs.

By: Dream Mom DBA www.dreamorganizers.com

Dream Mom DBA www.dreamorganizers.com — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:24:53 +0000

I am pretty comfortable with the amount I have in my home. I have a few things out, but they are mostly for decorative purposes. I always strive for a very edited look though. I also try to change things around with each of the seasons, so things don’t get so stale.

I try to do things for myself too. I just received some pretty roses yesterday so I put those in a vase and brought out my roses teacup and teapot and created a beautiful breakfast table. Then I lit a candle and enjoyed a beautiful breakfast smelling the roses and watching the little ground squirrel dig up and steal my tulip bulbs from my flower pot!

I think your post is right on the mark though-you have to constantly be editing to keep it fresh. I also agree with Hade as well. My sister is a minimalist and never has anything in her kitchen. The only problem is that it looks like no one moved in yet. I think it’s important to make a space your own-it should reflect your personality and reflect the mood or image you want to create to get you to your goals.

By: Fuji

Fuji — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:24:47 +0000

We have a few old tonka trucks that were my husband’s when he was a child as well as a couple of vases and decorative objects, but I’m trying to pare them down. Do paintings/pictures/posters count as knick knacks?

By: Vered@MomGrind

Vered@MomGrind — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:17:11 +0000

We hardly have any knick knacks around here, b/c normally I view those as dust-collecting clutter. We do own a few items that we brought back from our trip to China. Those represent a very special trip which created some wonderful memories, so I do plan on holding on to them.

By: Hade

Hade — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:11:09 +0000

I ‘m having the opposite problem to the one tergeted in this article.
Until maybe six moths ago, there were simply no such things as ‘nick-nacks’ in my life. I would systematically get rid of anything that even came close, on the grounds that I am an unclutterer to the nth degree: everything is clutter, unless it serves a demonstrable practical purpose.
The problem with this way of life is that it got to a point where my home was a place that continuously looked as if the inhabitants had just moved in, and hadn ‘t quite decided what to do with the place yet. My ex tried her best to stay away from here because it was ‘too empty’ for her tastes. And to be perfectly honest, I found myself spending entirely too much time in fast food restaurants, coffee shops and public libraries, and feeling more at home there than at ‘my place’. Speaking of pathetic …
So in a recent effort to redeem myself, I decided to actively start trying to make my two-room flat a real home. Most of the ‘nick-nacks’ that have since slipped in here, however, still aren ‘t really what other people would call ‘nick-nacks’. They are design elements, in a sense, but much more than that, they ‘ve become indispensible things that serve a real practical purpose in my daily routine. The prime examples are my giant wall clock (which I strictly don ‘t need because I ‘ve got clocks all around: on my laptop, on my iPod, and so on) and the dry-erase to-do board I recently hung beside my front door (which I payed entirely too much for because I liked the way it looked, despite the fact that I didn ‘t strictly need that either since I already have a to-do list in iCal.)
I personally feel a lot more at home now, and I don ‘t have to feel guilty for ‘cluttering up’ my space, because all of the items I ‘ve recently acquired have turned out to be really handy in some sense, despite the fact that it should be perfectly possible to live without them.
And yet, other people still feel there is something ‘not quite right’ about my flat. I don ‘t feel comfortable sticking random items to my walls just for the benefit of others, but I don ‘t want people to avoid coming to my place because it ’s so ‘cold’, either …
So, for those of you feeling that vague sense of guilt about having ‘too much clutter’ in your house: it turns out that ‘pure clutter’, by some definitions, actually may have a real purpose too, in some cases.

By: N. & J.

N. & J. — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:00:08 +0000

I did this right before I moved out to Colorado and ended up keeping five. I found that I would fall in love with something and then decide to start a collection but I didn’t love everything in the collection and it got the point that I was just collecting for the thrill of the find not the actual owning. I got rid of almost all the collections and kept a few pieces I really loved and I’m happy for it.