Like you, every day, I’m slowly adding more stuff into my home.
There’s the functional pieces from the sofa to the coasters, the cozifiers (thanks to Deborah Needleman for that perfect word) like the extra throw pillows and snuggly blankets, the stuff of daily life; shoes, mail, mugs and dog beds.
Over time, every room in our house is holding more stuff and we’re managing it whether we realize it or not.
If everything that sits out in your home has a voice, what started as a pretty melody can turn into a screaming roar when left unchecked.
At times I’ve felt like my stuff is yelling at me and that’s not how I want to feel in my home.
I love all the decluttering books and methods, but sometimes I need a quick win without all that decision making. As a visual girl who LOVES pretty things, I found a way to experience the visual rewards of decluttering in a fraction of the time and I’ve been doing it for years.
House Hushing is backwards decluttering.
How to Hush your House:
To Hush your House, begin with just one room and 24 hours.
You’re gonna find a place in another room to act as a temporary, 24 hour holding space–I’ve used my covered side porch, a corner of our bedroom, today I’m using our dining room table. The most important thing is the holding place must be in a separate room.
Then you simply remove all the smalls, gee-gaw, tchotchkes and decor and stash it in your holding area. It’s like a cleanse for your surfaces. A home reset. And the best part is you experience no decision fatigue because you are not making decisions. You’re just temporarily moving stuff out.
That’s where the magic begins.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed and lack motivation to declutter, hushing your house is going to jump start your journey in a brand new way.
Once you hush a room in your house, you can see it with fresh eyes. It’s so easy to become house-blind to all the visual stuff we see daily. With a hushed and quiet room, you get to experience a sense of peace in a matter of minutes.
What happens after Hushing?
I always like to wait 24 hours before I bring anything back in so I can fully experience the room with less. It’s a great feeling and once you live in your hushed, quieted room for a day, you’ll start to feel how wonderful it is and you’ll want to protect that feeling. Once I hush a room I usually have one of two reactions:
- I’m ready to bring stuff back in but I don’t want to lose that peaceful, simple feeling so I’m super picky about what comes back and protecting the serenity of the room, what I don’t use I’m able to donate without hesitation because I can see that my room looks great and I don’t want to risk wrecking that up.
- I’m crazy motivated to take it a step further and decide to go through the less visible parts of the room and do a deeper declutter before I move my favorite items back in.
Either result is a win and you’ve avoided any decision fatigue.
Want to learn more about House Hushing?
Join me in my private, Cozy Minimalist Community where we are Hushing our Houses and backwards decluttering together through the month of January, it’s not too late to join us. Each week we’ll have a theme, a lesson, and a simple, low stakes assignment. You can sit back and quietly watch or join in sharing images of your Hushed House.
What’s the difference between Hushing the House and Quieting the House?
In the past I’ve used these two terms interchangeably, because they both described the feeling you get when you remove stuff from a space. Maybe you were here for this post from 2015 when I Hushed my House for summer, along with this rug that helped hush our family room.
Last January I created a reel and wrote about quieting my space and referred to it as House Hushing and people and media outlets instantly grabbed onto the phrase House Hushing. Why am I so confusing?!
Now I realize that Quieting the House is a decorating step (step two in the Order of Decor) and involves removing window treatments, art and rugs. House Hushing is a decluttering technique with a lighter touch. There is a difference!
Who’s talking about House Hushing?
The Telegraph calls House Hushing “decluttering 2.0”. (I’m all for that!)
Apartment Therapy calls House Hushing one of the best decluttering methods of the year. (Yee Haw!)
The Guardian asks if House Hushing is the key to a tranquil life… (it’s not, but it can’t hurt!)
Santa Barbara Independent says it just might work for the heart as well as the home (this makes me so happy!)
Living Etc wonders if House Hushing “might just fix even the most overwhelmed homes” (Okay! I want to find out!)
Saga Exceptional works through 5 diffferrences between House Hushing and Decluttering, specifically the KonMari method. ( love this!)
Homes & Gardens reports this method is the perfect way to declutter your home when you feel overwhelmed, (That’s why I started doing it!)
And in the same article mentioned above, Ilia Mundut, the Founder & CEO of HeftyBerry suggests, this method ‘Is a revolutionary approach that prioritizes tranquility in one’s living space… (OH MY GOSH!!! Let’s start a house Hushing revolution!)