Fran May calls herself a “recovering maximalist”: She loves to use color and pattern in her home — but all those colors and patterns added up to a big problem for her. As her maximalist decor evolved, what once was fun and energizing turned into visual clutter, the term for what happens when too many objects, colors, shapes or details compete for attention, overwhelming the brain.
“Life gets messy, and clutter stacks up,” she says. “Even when I’m not consciously aware of its effect, clutter drains me. It’s like an irritating background noise that I just can’t quite tune out.” She needed to learn how to turn down the noise.
May uses a technique called “House Hushing” to keep her maximalist tendencies from turning her home into a circus. Or, as she puts it, “House Hushing makes me focus on what I need in a space, and then on what I love to live with.”
What is ‘House Hushing’?
The creator of House Hushing, Myquillyn Smith, author of “Welcome Home” and “House Rules,” describes it as “a simple method for decluttering that focuses on turning down the visual volume of a room fast.”
The items that fill spaces in our home have a voice, Smith says, and over time, “what started as a lovely chorus grows into a loud roar as a room naturally fills up with decorative items, books, projects and the everyday stuff of life.”
To hush a room, simply remove the small decorative and everyday items. Smith recommends placing them in another room — she calls it “your holding area” — for 24 to 48 hours. Then, for the next day or two, simply “enjoy your hushed room. At first it will look weird, but after a few hours you’ll find yourself enjoying the more quiet and simplified space.”
Taking the pain out of decluttering
It can be difficult to separate from our things, especially objects we display in our homes, because they are tied to experiences, memories and people. But those things, and the feelings they evoke, can become overwhelming. That’s where House Hushing comes in. Smith says it offers an easier alternative to traditional decluttering because it takes decision fatigue out of the equation. When we ask our brains to make too many difficult decisions at one time, it can lead to impulsivity or even a shutdown. “It’s a one-day decluttering solution where you have proof that your room can look good and function with less.”
After a day or two of living with — and enjoying — your quieted room, Smith says, “you’ll find that you are protective of the simple, hushed feeling of your space.” You may also find, after putting a pause on displaying so many reminders of your life’s rich pageant, that you enjoy your rooms more without them. And it’s low stakes, because anything you removed can come back. “It is endlessly easier to go back to your holding area and only bring in things that you truly need,” Smith says. “I call it ‘Backwards Decluttering.’ You have the right mindset to approach your excess stuff, because you’ve experienced the reward of decluttering without any of the perceived pain.”
Use it for a decorative reset
House Hushing is especially well-suited to people who “love and value beauty, and secretly know we should declutter, but we can’t imagine our room will look and feel better with less of our stuff,” Smith says. Design-focused and visually oriented people may find traditional decluttering threatening; after all, you’ve worked hard to create a cozy, vibrant and welcoming home, and being told to part with the things you curated to achieve that effect can feel overwhelming and emotional.
May calls House Hushing “the ultimate reset,” and says that her hushing typically happens with the changing of seasons. “My favorite time to hush the house is after the holidays,” she says. “I’m ready for less visual noise in my home and clear surfaces.” And doing it seasonally is a way to remind yourself that your space, like the world around us, is not static.
But skip it if the garage or attic needs decluttering
House Hushing addresses a specific type of clutter, but it’s important to remember that not all clutter is created equally, and that different clutter problems call for different solutions.
“If you’re helping your mom clean her basement or garage and she needs to get rid of stuff, House Hushing is not the way to go,” Smith says, explaining that it is only meant to address “visible clutter for spaces in your house you spend time in,” like the living room, bedroom or a home office.
May agrees. “It’s meant to refresh a space, not fix a serious clutter problem.” To tackle the basement, attic or other places in your home where boxes of things go to die, try other decluttering methods that are better-suited to sifting through a large quantity of your belongings because they set clear boundaries that aid decision-making.
In your main living spaces, however, House Hushing can be a quick and pain-free way to restore calm and to exert power over your things instead of letting them rule your roost.
“In the game of home decorating and decluttering, House Hushing is the bonus round,” May says. “We become blinded to our surroundings and wonder why a room doesn’t feel cozy anymore.” Taking out all those noisy objects can be akin to turning off the TV so you can enjoy the sound of rain falling outside.
Jolie Kerr is a cleaning expert and the author of the best-selling book “My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag … and Other Things You Can’t Ask Martha.”
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