Mrs. B. goes to her office on a daily basis and sometimes dresses like she will be meeting the queen. If possible, she will try to out dress the queen. It does not matter whether she will see anybody in the office as the place has been largely deserted since March. Mrs. B. says she dresses for herself and she will wear her pretty dresses and wear high heels just because she can.

In the same way, we painted a kitchen wall in the color Mambo, which is a bright blue purple. It nicely sets off the brightly colored tea towels. The remainder of the kitchen diner is decorated in neutral colors with accents in softer hues of blues, pink, yellows, orange, red and green. We can get away with it as we are so close to the seaside that a sort of sophisticated shack by the sea look agrees with the space. The light close to the sea is quite a lot brighter than the greyer light inland in the Netherlands.

Strangely enough a number of houses in the same area are all decorated in dark greys and whites without rugs or any wall decoration. Apparently it is the fashion here. A friend in New York told Mr. B the same look is also fashion in Manhattan. Even the furniture looks the same. We had dinner with the director of an IT company who happily told us that we could order things over the internet, which would be produced on the other side of the world, be shipped to us and it would be all handled by machines. How boring buying something generic which was not made with some love or enthusiasm for the product. We love people who love or have a passion for what they do for a living. It always shows in the product regardless of the type of product.

Mrs. B. asked her big sister why some of her paintings felt so miserable. She answered that these were on a subject picked by her art teacher. The paintings reflected the lack of love my sister had for the subject matter. Passion for any subject will always shine through whether it is painting, music or writing.

Why settle for something generic? Why be the same as the other people in the street? Maybe it feels safe, but is it you? Just remember that when the decoration of your house reflects your heart and soul, it will not be a house but a home.

Hugs and kisses,

Mrs B.

Mrs B. inherited tea towels from great aunt Gertrude and a great quantity of household items from her late parents. And she banged it out of sight in to a cupboard and into a very large attic for about 4 years.  But one day, Mr. B. sorted out a number of obsolete books, which he no longer wanted and left them on the ground in the middle of the study. Mrs. B took them away, put them in a bag for the charity shop and then thought ‘wait a second’. She opened the doors of all the cupboards in the kitchen diner, living room, halls and bedrooms and started taking out stuff. She had faithfully stored unwanted items for 4 years, but now they went on the kitchen table and from the kitchen table in a box and then they were exported to the charity shop.

Great Aunt Gertrude’s brand new tea towels suffered the same fate as Mrs. B really did not want the daily annoyance of looking at brown, green and orange checked tea towels hanging against a yellow wall.  Also the perfectly decorated tea towels which did not dry glasses properly suffered the same fate as tea towels should look good, dry well and not need too much ironing. Mrs. B  has maintained this standard since then as life is too short for annoying tea towels. The Black Hats had so much glass stemware that half of it went to the charity shop and was never missed.

Anyway, it took 5 trips to the charity shops with the boot of the car loaded full with unwanted inherited stuff. It is amazing how many things a person can collect, when you momentarily look the other way.

With every trip, Mrs. B’s head felt lighter and her mood improved. Not having to face unwanted stuff anymore feels like freedom.  Never forget that you are free to decide what goes in and out of your house. The same goes for unwanted presents.

Our good friend Em still had all the gifts brought home by her then ex-husband hanging on her walls. His name was still on the card next to the doorbell. One day Mrs. B had coffee with her and asked her whether Em realized that the traditional Indonesian daggers hanging on the wall in the entrance hall were pointing at every visitor coming to her front door. She had not. Mrs. B then pointed out that the next work of art hanging there was a picture of a house with the doors locked with a big out of scale lock. Let us say that the remainder of her hall decoration was not very welcoming, whilst this particular part of the house is situated in the helpful people and travel area. A few days later Em called us and said that she boxed up all her ex-husband’s gifts and sent them back to him. She also made a new card only listing her own name to hang next to the doorbell. She felt relief when she had done so.

Another friend told me that she put all the unwanted gifts she received in a box, which she banged in the back of the cupboard. Another dust bunny fest!  According to Ms. Manners, once a gift is given, the recipient is free to do what he or she wants with it. You might want to take it to the charity shop. If you do so, please do so immediately so that no negative energy gets attached to the object. Or else, give it an accident and blame the cat, dog or your elbow. When Mrs. B.  suggested to her friend that a box of unwanted gifts is not very inspiring, she saw my point and sent them out into the world to find somebody who would appreciate the items.

We learned our lesson well. The last time Mr. B.  inherited stuff, we took possession, had a look at it and decided that it had to leave the house immediately to find another owner. And so it went..

By clearing your unwanted stuff, you will remove negative energy from your house. When you have a few things such a painting, print or other item that you truly love, find inspiring and improves your mood when you look at it, you enhance the energy  in your space allowing you to live your best life.

May the force be with you!

Hugz & Kisses,

Mrs. B.