Urban Living
Small homes are fragile ecosystems. Throw in some clutter, and a small space becomes chaotic, cramped, and generally unpleasant. But when everything’s in harmony and organized, even the tiniest space can feel expansive and refreshingly minimalist. Urban Planning is a way to challenge yourself to make your urban home stylist, organized and functional all at the same time! I love a good house challenge! My favorite thing is to find a way to make everything in the house earn its keep while looking stylish at the same time, and that often means things need to do double duty. A small space can be just as functional, attractive and comfortable as a large space, if you know the secrets from choosing the right shade of wall coloring to properly furnishing your urban osasis. Selecting the right shape, color, and style of furniture makes all the difference in how your room will feel. White paint is the ultimate space-creator in that it makes the walls “recede” and reflects lots of light. White Wall Colors works best in rooms with a lot of architectural detail and interest, and in naturally bright rooms.
THE TOOLS TO URBAN PLANNING
To Do List
Life Changing Organization Books
Lets Begin the Urban Planning!
Step 1: Go through your list, room-by-room, and ask yourself how many of each item you really need. Highlight each item that can be reduced. You may realize that you only need five t-shirts instead of fifteen, two sets of sheets instead of four, or one frying pan instead of three. (Don't do any physical decluttering yet; just work on your list. Physical decluttering brings up emotional attachments and associations that add another layer of difficulty to the process.)
Step 2: Set up an outbox in your home: a waystation where you collect the things you're getting rid of. Items stay in the outbox for a little while, so that you have time to emotionally detach as well as the ability to retrieve something if you REALLY need it.
Step 3: With your list in hand, tackle each room. Give yourself plenty of time for this process—at least one day for each room. Don't get discouraged; it will take longer than you think, but you'll feel great once it's over. Go through each room, whittling down your possessions to the number you've benchmarked on your list and placing items in the outbox.
Step 4: After you've finished decluttering, update your list. Whenever you make a new purchase, add it to your inventory. By keeping your records up-to-date, you'll develop a clearer picture of everything you own, making it much easier to realize when you do or don't need something. Once you understand the time and effort that goes into owning something, it becomes a lot easier to buy less and buy better.
A great tip to the "Urban Planning" process is to make a blueprint (or an inventory list) of your possessions. With each room of your home, sketch your room to scale and write down where each item is located in your blueprint drawing. I recommend doing the blueprint process after you completed the four steps.
Step 2: Set up an outbox in your home: a waystation where you collect the things you're getting rid of. Items stay in the outbox for a little while, so that you have time to emotionally detach as well as the ability to retrieve something if you REALLY need it.
Step 3: With your list in hand, tackle each room. Give yourself plenty of time for this process—at least one day for each room. Don't get discouraged; it will take longer than you think, but you'll feel great once it's over. Go through each room, whittling down your possessions to the number you've benchmarked on your list and placing items in the outbox.
Step 4: After you've finished decluttering, update your list. Whenever you make a new purchase, add it to your inventory. By keeping your records up-to-date, you'll develop a clearer picture of everything you own, making it much easier to realize when you do or don't need something. Once you understand the time and effort that goes into owning something, it becomes a lot easier to buy less and buy better.
A great tip to the "Urban Planning" process is to make a blueprint (or an inventory list) of your possessions. With each room of your home, sketch your room to scale and write down where each item is located in your blueprint drawing. I recommend doing the blueprint process after you completed the four steps.