I am someone who loves to decorate. Who loves peeking in windows at night to see what the owner has done with her home. When I lived in Philadelphia and Boston (cities where I could walk for hours) I loved nothing more than getting a glimpse inside someone’s home in the evening. When my favorite decorating magazines were still being published, I looked forward to sitting down and looking at every story, every detail. Blogs have taken the place of magazines and windows for me. I get to travel the globe, peeking inside people’s homes…with their permission!

I love the all white and cream look, but it isn’t practical for me. Both my husband and I have a tendency to spill things. I have two big dogs with lots of hair. I never tire of seeing it, though. I love those bloggers’ homes that are spare, with hardly any excess stuff around. I admire them. I wonder how they do it. Do they continually purge? Do they have lots of storage space so they can rotate things in and out of rooms? Do they collect just one thing? Do they read and collect books? If so, where are the books, the magazines, the “things?”

Friends, I am not that sort of person, though I wish I could be. Yes, we live in a tiny cottage with no attic or usable basement. But I suspect I would still be dealing with the same issues even if I had tons of space. I love my collections. I love books. I have piles of things.

This pile is on the old wicker ottoman that is just to the left of my chair. Very typical, I might add. I’m reading the paperback on top, there is a book by Kelly Rae Roberts about the creative process just below it, the new Country Gardens is just below that. Then we come to the book from my giveaway which I have to send out to Tracie this week. Below that are books to read and review in the upcoming months. And on and on it goes. If I dared to show you, you would see a stack of books and papers just to the left of this under the table. Oh, and my Nook is on top of the table along with a sampler pattern I have yet to start embroidering.

This cabinet is jammed full of china and pottery, plus a few wedding cake toppers. I have one other cabinet in the den – and that is full. And I need even more display space.

A somewhat grainy photo because it is so dark and stormy today – but it will do. All table tops are crowded around here. This table has become, through no plan on my part, all things sea. There is seaglass, a boat assemblage from Linda Crispell, and a Roseville dish loaded with seashells from my recent trip. I just added the dish the other day. There is a shelf beneath that holds some favorite CDs.

I seem to spend a great deal of my time making stacks of things to sort through. What do I get rid of and what do I keep? If I keep it, where do I put it? I’m not a hoarder. I’m pretty good at purging when the need arises. I can be ruthless. But….not with the things I love. Not with my books or my china or my pottery or my paintings or my music or my little treasures.

So here is my question: Do you suffer from the same problem? Am I the only one in a mass of spare decorators out there who has stuff? Are there kindred spirits out there in blogland?