Lauren Li of interior design and decoration firm Sisällä guides us through her strategies for keeping and displaying sentimental items, and using beloved objects as forms of decoration.
Hey Lauren! What is your take on the Marie Kondo craze?
My take away after delving into the Konmari method is, don’t be too hard on yourself or you may live to regret it! Hold onto sentimental things that hold special memories, and instead of throwing them out, move them to a new spot in the house. Those pieces that ‘sparked joy’ when you first laid eyes on them may look a bit tired now, but just store them and bring them out in six months. You’ll feel that spark again and be so thankful you still have it.
Don’t go too extreme. For me, the most depressing thing about ‘Tidying Up with Marie Kondo’ is that an absolutely bare room is celebrated. No-one should live in a house so minimal that the rooms have absolutely no furniture or artwork (what is the purpose of an empty room?). In the process of throwing everything out, the soul of the space is thrown out too.
What’s your advice on storage solutions?
When storing sentimental pieces, keep a combination of closed and open storage. Pieces like vases, candles, ceramics and décor objects can be shown on display on open shelving and occasionally refreshed and swapped out with other pieces stored in cupboards.
Where built-in isn’t an option, a few key pieces can serve a function and still look great. A bench seat, hooks, mirror and a console for keys and to store mail means that the space works and you’ll never lose the keys again. Shelving that has closed storage incorporated in the design is perfect, such as the String System from Great Dane.