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[RedTop]

A couple of days after I responded to this post, an odd memory came back to me, and now I realize why visual clutter is such an issue with me.  

When I was 6, my mother drove my grandmother to visit a friend who had lost her husband a few weeks earlier.   We were led from the front door thru large rooms to get to the seating area where this woman wanted to seat us for the visit.   My grandmother and mom sat down, mom turned to me, only to see I was not there.  She takes off to look for me, thinking I’m nosing around in one of the rooms we just walked thru, but finds me sitting on the glider on the front porch.   I refused to go back inside the house with her, saying it was too scary in there.   Even when mom threatened to whip me, I still refused to go back in the house, so she let me sit on the porch.   The woman brought me cookies and koolaid and I was fine.

I had never seen so much stuff inside a house!   The eyes of the many deer heads on the wall were what sent me running outside, but every room was stuffed so full, my eyes just couldn’t take in all of the furniture, every inch of walls covered with pictures, tables covered with knickknacks, lots of breakable items, nothing kid friendly about the place, and I kept tripping on throw rugs as I tried to follow my mom.   And then there was the cat pee smell.  I told mom and my grandmother they smelled of cat pee when we got in the car, but they didn’t believe it until Papaw told them he smelled it on them too.  

[CoG]

@RedTop , the most singularly, breathtakingly beautiful room I've ever been in was my Godmother's Boston Apartment.  Virtually every centimeter of the space was filled with treasures collected from North, West and East Africa and the Holy Lands.  

Unique, hand crafted works of art lined the walls, graced the  planar surfaces. Tapestries from Egypt covered upholstered stools and floor pillows. The rugs were hand tufted in Morroco and Senegal, pottery forged in Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzanian leather covered the couches, formed urns and suitcase and trunk collections.  And the paintings, OMG! On silk and canvas, hand milled paper and wood, gilt , jewel encrusted and Cloisonne ....... The "nick nacks" were from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Lebanon, Israel, Portugal......

The point is that she amassed treasure.  Entering her space was like stepping into an Indiana Jones set in the middle of civilization and not one item could be misconstrued as junk. It was a museum where you were allowed to touch the art work. The space was "filled" , not stuffed and "cluttered"  because of the magnificance of the individual pieces, and because of the harmony. The place was divine, not scarey.

The problem with the OP example is that the pieces are mundane , discordant. The fabrics are mismatched in color, hue, tone, period and  pattern and of questionable intrinsic value. There is a giant alien urn in the epicenter of the space. There is no theme or unity.

There is a dismal paucity of imagination in this room. ( just look at the book collection.  Who collects books because they are the right size?  Were are the first editions, the autographed copies, the leather bound gilt paged antiques? ) This space, like the one from your youth, has not been blessed. 

Minimalism is a respected decor option but- How sad it would be to live a lifetime devoid of tchotchkes.

[RedTop]

@CoG,

I work very hard to be a minimalist; just don’t like stuff.    

[beautybee]

All those books yet no place to put one down if you are in the middle of reading. No place to put a drink. I would get rid of the chairs, antlers, stuff on coffee table and side table. Than I would find it a bit restful.

I do like looking at rooms full of stuff. On the youtube chanel, Quintessence, all those designers homes are filled with tons of things. But they have  people to come in and clean and dust for them. It would take me all day to dust one of those rooms.

[wagirl]

collecting dust, me thinks!! Not a fan of animal parts as decor altho I know it is not real.

[CoG]

”More is more, less is a bore”, Iris Apfel.

[beautybee]

Love Iris! Her apartment is chockablock full of stuff. She has a housekeeper that looks after her and her stuff. But for me, cleaning and dusting all that clutter would be a chore and a bore.

The most important thing is that one is comfortable in their own home, no matter what anyone else thinks.  

[Kabella]

I like the Rug & the Tray. Enough said....