The Gewgaw, Where does it all go?

Where does this crazy Torrance lady put all this gewgaw stuff??

In case you were wondering, we don't live like this guy's mom. That's called mental illness, or 'crazy horder syndrome'. Seeing that nightmare makes me feel quite normal. My house is vacant in comparison. Well, not really vacant. But I do have a few tricks for keeping things under control.

One way to not be overwelmed by little tchokas is to hide them. I have alot of baskets or little wooden boxes I hide things in, like this:



I get to keep little goofy stuff around that I can pull out at a moments notice, but I don't have to dust it, risk vacuuming it up, or look at it - but I know it's there.

Another way to control the clutter monster is to put thing in trays. Trays give the impression that you've made a modicum of effort to get things under control. Here's a tray within a tray:



By definition, gewgaws are the opposite of good design. In good design, form follows function. Does that mean a gewgaw is completely useless as well as tasteless? Of course not. There are always creative uses for things:



Buddha has been reincarnated into a toothbrush holder. In a previous life, he was a planter. By the way, we don't collect toothbrushes. The men in the family open up new toothbrushes without tossing the old - but that's another story.

Theming a group of items make them look like object d'art rather than a bunch of dust collectors:



Please ignore the dust on my object d'arts.



If you run out of room indoors, you can always look to the great outdoors. There, under a shrubbery, ceramic mushrooms feel right at home.

A rubber snake winds its way around cactus.



Oh, look...it's a garden gnome. What house is complete without a garden gnome?



The best way to cage the collection beast is to relegate it to a display cabinet. If I were really disciplined, I'd get rid of things as I acquired 'new' things - I think this is what a professional house organizer would recommend. I just keep piling things on top of one another. I think of it as an assemblage.



Hopefully, my assemblage doesn't fall out when I open the door.