You commented about the view out your kitchen window - putting shepherd hooks out and hanging plants and attractive "house" bird houses could be a start to improve your view.

Oh, thanks for moving you collection of refrigerator magnets, I wasn't sure how to "politely" suggest that, :-) , so someone else did!

Could you post new progress pics using your accent lighting?

I hate to disagree, but don't paint that frame on your mantle black, it won't work, a light brown to define it maybe.

I agree, don't paint it black.

The cat art is custom and the frame too so no way I'm painting that. I actually reworked the mantle and I'm liking it more but am wrapped up in a friends wedding this weekend so can't post pics till later.

Great, enjoy the weekend!

Have fun!!

@happyleg. It would block access into kitchen from that side. I wish it could fit there. The bookshelf is just a touch wide for that spot.

My response is late. I see that you have started improving your cute little cottage. But, I will mention a few suggestions that I have: 1st clear all extra items and store them out of sight, less clutter makes your accent pieces pop! Some fresh paint with a splash of color (accent wall) reupholster the dining chairs. MORE organization….please visit IKEA.com they specialize in decorating and organizing small spaces. It will give you some great ideas. Less is Best!

Where the desk is at now, you could make a window seats & put storage in them with the dining table.

Painting is planned but for now I am trying to figure out what I can do with what I have.

Thanks everyone. The wedding is all done and was a big success. I tried moving the bookcase to behind the island but didn't like how it blocked the view to the kitchen and it just made the room look very full of furniture (more than it is already). It did make the fireplace area look more open when it was gone, but the fireplace is so oddly placed in the room that I actually preferred the bookcase near it than when it was gone, because too much focus on the fireplace seems to weirdly orient the room to that corner.

I did take down the candle sconces above the bookcase, which definitely makes the area look cleaner and more open. I really like the kitchen more clear, too. So, things are changing for the better.

I will post up pictures of current progress soon - my phone died unexpectedly and my camera, so when I get it back I will post up photos.

I'm also getting angry because every step forward is two steps back - as I remove clutter I'm left with it lying around in piles. Now I have it in boxes but to find a spot for it in the closet will be a whole expedition. I'm feeling frustrated by how difficult it is to organize the storage in my home and feel like about half the stuff just needs to go. I've always lived in bigger houses with whole rooms I could chuck stuff into and having to burrow into some odd storage closet off the eaves of the attic just to put away one box of books is frustrating.

I recently moved from 2100 sq ft to 1400 sq ft. I rented a 15-yard dumpster and threw out stuff I hadn't used in 10 years! The dumpster is full!

@ChickieD: I can understand the frustration of no longer having a spare room to chuck things in. If you want general ideas and suggestions abut decluttering after moving, you might want to start another thread. It's a popular topic especially among downsizers and recently combined households.

Nancy Walton ...A dumpster.. you really do things in a"Big way"..LOL.. gives a new meaning to decluttering!!

ChickieD.. don't feel bad .. there comes a point in all our lives when we can overburdened with "STUFF".. just have to let go of whatever we don't absolutely love.. been there..LOL

Nancy- could you not have donated the stuff?? Why would you pay money for a dumpster when you could give things away via Craigslist, Goodwill, a local church, etc.?

Chickie, what about renting a "pod" so that you can de clutter, and then have an agreement with the "others" in your life, if it has been in the pod for "x" then it goes! And only rent the pod for a set period of time?

I used a dumpster because most of it was not usuable by anyone else.

Can family or friends store your stuff?

It's ok to keep your chickens, it's a collection.

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm definitely very close to getting a storage unit because there are some things I want to keep until we move in a couple of years, but will not be using until then, and getting them out of the little bit of storage we do have in the house will open up a lot of space.

Here's the updated fireplace. I cleaned up the kitty stuff. So, mantel things - too cluttery still???

I know people feel the bookshelf is blocking the real focal point of the room, but this really is in a weird corner when you walk in, so I want I still prefer the bookshelf where it is because from the door it looks nice. The piggy banks and candles are just stashed there temporarily and probably do not live there.

YES CHICKIE IT IS STILL TOO CLUTTERED;O) ,,,, sorry for screaming hehehehe

You have like 13 or 14 items on that mantle SMH....scale it down to the picture, the large vase, and 3 more things, so a total of 5 ;)

I can't say the pot hanging there does anything for the look either....

Yes, still too cluttered. How about a little basket on the shelves to house the cat food that's sitting on the floor.

Would suggest going with a theme on the mantle. Start with the bird/cat picture & then use some other related items.. bird nest, branches, the rock collection is nice, no crystal candle holders... keep it close to nature. Maybe a bunch of dried lavender to hang in place of that frying pan.

I think that the decor on the mantle is pale & the cabinet in front is such a vivid color that the cabinet is the focal point of that wall. Maybe paint the cabinet a rust color so that it will blend in more with the fireplace & the items on the mantle will be more prominent.
Or do you have another slimline cabinet that would be shorter & have doors that could be used more effectively for storage in that spot?

Yes to the nature theme--1 picture and 2-3 related items. It's too cluttered. The kitchen was much improved when you decluttered the top of the fridge and other spaces. Same goes for the rest of your place. It's a charming house, but we can't really see with all the stuff. I still think moving that cabinet by your front door with a nice bowl on top for keys and a mirror would be functional, simple, and really give you the focal point you've said you want.

Oh, u didn't move the blue bookcase? How about by door?! It kind of blocks the fp, the main focal point.

Oh, sorry. I just went through your images again and see that you have the gigantic armoire near the front door and can't move your blue cabinet there.

Every surface is covered with stuff. The key to living in a cottage style home is to have much, much less stuff, not an extra room where you can throw things. It's not a storage problem but a too-much-stuff-for-the-current-house problem or a wrong-house problem. If you want a cleaner, more harmonious cottage look, then read all the articles on downsizing, decluttering, etc. If you're not up for that, just enjoy your stuff in the new setting and don't worry about a focal point. The house is adorable. You said people like coming into your home. That's more important than a focal point.

Firstly seriously de clutter - tidy away the nick nacks and get rid of magnets etc and then you can see the room for what it is.

I would move / get rid of the book shelf by the fire place. Lower the mantle and put a mirror above it and add a wood burner so that the fire place is used for what it is and not a storage space.

There are lots of ing you can do with that space but firstly just de clutter so you can breath a bit

The blue cabinet may 'look nice' from the front door, but it really doesn't look good from the rest of the room. As Margo has suggested limit the items on the mantle to 5, hopefully with a theme, remove the pan (maybe display it in the kitchen where it would be more appropriate) and move the blue cabinet 'somewhere' to another room. This would leave you with one corner of the room that has room to breathe and you can expand from there.

I bought the cabinet specifically for that spot. It doesn't really go elsewhere in the room. Previously, the things stored on it were in another piece of furniture that really blocked our ability to walk between the island and the table. Even it isn't perfect, it's an improvement over what we had before. I know it's easy to focus on the fireplace in the pictures, but it really is not the focal point of the room from any angle where people actually use the space; we sit around the table, at the desk, or are standing in the kitchen. I tried moving the cabinet and did not like it. I am going to keep it where it is.

If the colors of the items on the mantle don't work with it, I have other pieces of art I can use up there.

Thanks for all the encouragement to declutter. I am working toward it and the room is staying cleaner now, which is nice. It's a big challenge to store things in our home, and it's easy to say, "put it away," or "get rid of it," but harder for me to actually get to the storage areas we have. Right now the items I've cleared out are stashed in a plastic bin under the table on my deck. This is obviously not ideal. I'm trying to figure out where to store things and how to make a better dent in the storage - it is a huge huge issue. My husband comes with lots of gear for camping and outdoor sports and we have a lot of books and things stored that I'd like to get rid of, but need family to work with me on it. When I take things out of our storage areas in my daughter's room to try to organize, I have no space to move in the room; we have to crawl into the storage areas in my bedroom. At this point I'm ready to get a storage facility rented just to have a space that I don't have to crawl into or contort to get into.

This room and the next are the ONLY areas in the house to display any of our artwork. The upstairs rooms are under the roof so we have no wall space upstairs. It is very tough to choose one or two things to display. If everyone can hang with me and deal with my complaining, I'll keep working toward it and post pics as I go.

Chickie we are like birds on a wire;))

@ChickieD.. I can sympathize with you.... after 44 yrs. of "housekeeping" one can accumulate a lot of "stuff"!
In the last few yrs. as I repaint a room I remove everything & slowly put things back in. I put things back in not because they were there before but with the idea that they are useful, will help to make a vingnette, or are a very treasured item (that will also blend with the feel of the room). Everything else I put in a storage box in my attic. The next year at the community yard sale if I have not found a place for these items or needed to use them out they go. That way I get rid of unneeded items & make a few bucks for for "some of those necessary purchases that are always popping up when trying to upkeep a home . Funny how after over 40 yrs. something is always breaking down!
Resist the urge to use every item just because you have it. Your room will have space to breathe & so will you. Good luck.

Just a few questions..
Does the fireplace function or do you have plans to put an insert in it? If it has no function would that spot be more serviceable if you installed cabinets there kind of making it like a hutch for you dining table (or maybe you have a separate dining room)?
Could you tell us where the focal point is in this room?

@Leona, it does not function but I would be interested in an insert. However, the original fireplace is up inside and the cats like to sleep in it, and use this as a throughfare to the laundry room where their kitty litter is, so I'm likely not to block their access to it.

This is the dining room - and the other room is the living room - and that is pretty much the entire downstairs. Upstairs, two bedrooms.

Focal point, I think, is the table and light fixture above it. I think that somehow the room should feel more focused on that.

@ChickieD.. may be quite difficult to make the table the focal point with so much going on around it.
I just had a crazy idea...
since the bookshelf in front of the fireplace is quite tall & is blocking it partially in a bad way... how about having it exchange places with the lower cabinet that is by the stairway ( if that piece is wide enough to cover the entire opening of the firebox).. and the bookshelf is not too tall to be placed by the stairs. That way the lower cabinet seems to have enough room beneath it that the cats could still still access their pass through to the laundry room. Their food dishes could be placed to the right side of the lower cabinet & be out of sight.The cabinet with doors would make the fireplace look not so busy & jammed. If you decided later to put an insert any cabinet in that spot would be too close to the heat.

@Leona Malone, thanks for the suggestion. I have considered moving the bookcase there; however, the main reason I bought the smaller piece that is near the door is because my husband tends to put all his crap on the table that he needs to take the next day. It really really really bugs me to have stuff on our table while we eat. So, I'm retraining him to put his stuff in that cabinet, and so far it is working pretty well. Even though I could rejigger the taller bookcase to be a drop spot, I think the shorter piece works better for it.

I did move the bookcase away from the fireplace - I'll do it again and take a photo - I didn't think it made that dramatic of a difference. I preferred it with the bookcase there; I think because it does take the focus away from the fireplace and it's just in such an awkward spot that it seems better to not treat it like the focal point.

@ChickieD ... you just gave me an idea!
Since I am always looking to re - purpose things that I have....
Since you are in need of a lot more storage space do you have another cabinet about the same shape as hubby's drop of cabinet..... maybe an "old dresser with drawers" & legs tall enough for kitty's pass through....enough to totally cover the firebox & a bit more. This would give more storage while totally hiding the firebox & it could then become the focal point. Think that this would look very nice while being of great service. Set it up like a buffet . This would designate that side of the room as a dining area & make it look larger. Great place for table linens & silverware. Kitty's extra food & accessories could be stored in bottom drawer.
Your taller cabinet could then be used in another room in a more suitable spot.
Just a suggestion.

Creating a focal point can be confusing! Here is an article that might help:
http://bit.ly/1r9k4db

"ChickieD ... have you made any more updates to your sweet kitchenÉ

Thanks @Lanie D'Eon. I decided that I need to get some storage space freed up first. I'm renting a storage unit and have some time in a couple of weeks to move some of the books and things we have no need to access but want to keep until we move to another home.This will free up some of the little accessible storage space we have to put some of the knick knacks away so they can go into rotation instead of all being out at once.

I did get a new cabinet in the kitchen for pantry items and that has made a big difference there. I have a few finishing touches to totally get the kitchen done, but need to wait for warmer weather to run saws for trim pieces.

Excellent idea .. glad to hear that you will "have some room to breathe".Wishing you & your family a Merry Christmas from Nova Scotia , Canada!

Thanks @Lanie D'Eon. When I purchased the house, my then future husband was renting a room in someone's home and my daughter and I lived in the house for a year and half with my husband coming for frequent visits. I had no idea that he had a ton of stuff in a storage facility and because of all that was going on at the time he moved, we had no chance to comb through his things and figure out what needed to come and what could go. So, we've ended up with what storage we have filled to the brim, and because the spaces are small and awkward we never can sort through what we have. Meantime, we bring more stuff into the home and just have no where to put it. So, clearing things out will hopefully make it possible to declutter the living areas. I still think they will always be tight.

I think a good rule you might apply is; 1 drawer, 1 shelf, 1 corner at a time. If you pick a starting point and just work clockwise around the space, tackling one small thing each day that you work on it, you'll eventually see a change. Sweet place and not all of your stuff is clutter; it just needs tweaking so the eye can appreciate it.

I would remove the bookcase beside the fireplace. Then I would take out everything small from the d/r, office, kitchen. Leave only the table and chairs, the desk and chair and the island etc. Completely clear the surfaces and walls, then add back in one at a time, only what you really need. I think a clear, uncluttered look will then give you space to decide the focal point.

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