I don't really strive for the absolute reduction to large, basic forms. Without having built my space to control the lighting exactly as I intend, I think that

I don't really strive for the absolute reduction to large, basic forms. Without having built my space to control the lighting exactly as I intend, I think that'd be impossible. Mostly I'm just for removing things that aren't being useful to eliminate the costs of having to deal with said things. However, do not underestimate proper use of color. My bedroom is backed by a Benjamin Moore Jack O' Lantern [1][2] that gives the desired effect (and similar in the bathroom with Shy Cherry). My living area needs something, and I'm considering finding photos (Monaco Grand Prix, Targa Florio) to enlarge and use as panoramic wallpaper. ----- One thing I have noticed is the opportunity cost of having useless things. Not just the space to store it, but not having the space to store useful things, and the lost opportunities by not having those useful things. The most common example are having clothes you don't wear. Since they're taking up space in your closet, you end up running out of the clothes you do wear, and not having enough of the preferred styles/articles you like to wear. So by keeping the articles of clothing around, you end up creating this ridiculous artificial problem for yourself which results in more frequent laundry. I've noticed similar with pots and pans. The 3-quart pot is dirty and I want to make some pasta? I can't with a 2-quart or 1-quart, so I won't be having a shrimp scampi that night. If I simply got rid of the useless pots I almost never use, and bought more of the ones I did, I'd be eating what I want (and probably better overall). Additionally if the pots are decent looking, and are well organized, it's free decor. I once went to someone's home and their bath towels were in an open reach-in closet, but meticulously folded and stacked. I was impressed, because someone had made some plain, boring, inexpensive bath towels part of their decorum rather effectively. [1] http://i.imgur.com/yyi62.jpg http://i.imgur.com/yyi62.jpg [2] http://i.imgur.com/D1DyH.jpg http://i.imgur.com/D1DyH.jpg