home hushing

the new interiors trend which promises to instil calm into your home, home hushing is a new concept. based on the view that every object in your home creates a (visual) noise - the more things in your home, the more noise, the less calm you feel

unlike many trends, this is supported by numerous psychological studies. one research found individuals with “overwhelming” amounts of clutter were more like to procrastinate, whereas other research found those who live in cluttered, noisy homes were more like to engage in coping and avoidance behaviours, eg snacking on junk food and watching tv

3 steps to hushing your home:

1) clear out one room at a time. strip the space to its bare bones, keeping only the essentials, eg bed, window dressings and lighting in a bedroom. allow to ‘breathe’ for 24 hours before returning anything into the space

2) be intentional with what you return to the room; think william morris’ “have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful”. everything else can be sold, donated or recycled. essentially, you’re decluttering, but in reverse

3) give every object a home; when not in use return it to its home. it’ll make it easier to tidy and reduce the chances of visual noise returning to your home in the future