For clutter or worse - keeping it tidy for a happy marriage

“IF SOMETHING comes in, something goes out,” my husband always says.

He has a huge dislike of clutter.

Open, clean space and a minimalist approach to home decor is his preference.

I like order too, but I’m a creative person who sees potential in all manner of goods.

I once went through an upcycling phase.

I trawled through webpages of ideas looking for inspiration.

I turned drawers into shadow box shelving and made decorative button flower bouquets.

I bought cheap canvas wall art from op shops, spray painted them and made a series of fairy art for my daughter’s bedroom wall.

At first it was lots of little things that started appearing on walls and inside shelving around the house.

The deeper I went into upcycling ideas, the more obsessed I became with turning junk into something useful.

When there were council kerbside collections in our area, I drove up and down the streets looking for ‘treasure’.

I had a smaller car back then. It was a Nissan Micra with a hatchback boot.

I’d lay the back seats down and return home with half of whatever I’d found sticking out the back of the open boot.

Illegal, yes.

Once home, I’d push, pull and shuffle it upstairs and onto our front balcony.

There are so many ways to upcycle unwanted items and turn them into something wonderfully useful.

I had the vision but results were harder to achieve than they appeared to be in the tutorials.

The enthusiasm and excitement of an item’s potential faded after a few days when I discovered how much work was needed before the fun stuff started.

Sanding, removing paint and following the adage ‘measure twice, cut once’ felt like far too much work.

I’d start then see something else that needed ‘love’, pick it up and bring it to a home that had several other pieces still awaiting a makeover.

The tipping point came when I had a dresser on the balcony midway through its makeover.

It’d been there for months.

I was gluing small tiles to it, in an attempt to emulate what I’d seen on Pinterest.

This is when my husband put his foot down.

“Nothing comes in unless something goes out,” he said.

I don’t blame him. Our downstairs garage had become a graveyard for my half-finished projects.

I’d shoved them in a dark corner when I realised they wouldn’t turn out the way I’d hoped.

I still enjoy being creative but nowadays that’s done on a smaller scale.

Our home is clear and clutter free.

I have a room dedicated to my art and crafts, and extensive Lego collection.

And storage systems keep everything in order.

I still bring home unwanted furniture from time to time but as requested, only when there’s already a space for it or something has ‘gone out’.

Sometimes though, I buy big bulk lots of Lego pieces and they spill out across the craft room floor as I sort through it.

My husband makes sure the door to that room is closed just enough that he can’t see it as he walks past.

To his credit, he doesn’t push the issue which is good because he wouldn’t like the ‘something out’ to be him.