{inspire} Organizing a New Year

As I mentioned last week, I'm pretty darn excited about the possibilities of this new year. More so than I have for the past few years. The past couple years have started with a very overwhelmed feeling about how much we have to do. But this year? I feel like we're going to rock life and the proverbial to-do list. And January really feels like a month to regroup. Especially for me this year. The holidays were crazy. Okay, who am I kidding? Our life has been running at a frenetic crazy pace since we got married. Two year ago. But I'm ready to get back on track in 2011.

Something I've been thinking about a lot for the last couple months is the idea of living with what I love. For a long time, when I was first on my own and had very little furniture, I was in the habit of buying to fill space, instead of buying what I love. I've gradually started shifting my outlook, but a switch flipped last year and I was just done buying to fill space.

So this month I'm going to take a journey into getting my life and style back in order. Want to join me? 

First, we're going to start clearing out and organizing. Do you all remember the episode of Friends where Chandler discovers Monica's secret closet?

I'm going to show you my secret closet, er, uh, spaces. I'm going to clean out my crap. Yeah, I know ... who isn't cleaning right now? But really, friends, it's been at least a couple years since I've taken a good hard look at what we use and what needs to go. It's been never since I've take a look at what I really love.

Next, I'm going to take a look at committing to a design vision based on what I love. Of course, that begins with actually identifying what I love. For the last few months I've worked on identifying WHAT I love about a beautiful interior, rather than just exclaiming love at first sight. I'll take a hard look at interiors I love and what elements I'd like to incorporate in our home. This will help me form said vision.

And last, I'm going to take the next step in creating a clear vision for our home by creating a color scheme. Our house is open enough that we need some sort of cohesive color scheme to really allow the rooms to flow and not feel disjointed. We've started this process, but I find myself off track a lot when thinking about upcoming spaces.

I'm excited to get started. We have a lot of big plans for our little home over the next couple years and I know that creating a vision now will help the process go smoother, and hopefully leave me happy and excited about our house in the end.

What are you organizing this year? Do you have a *secret* closet to stash all your disorganization? Please share so I don't feel like the only one! :)

**Images via Made By Girl, Apartment Therapy, Little Green Notebook, Wiki, Oh Hello Friend, Apartment Therapy, Sweet Paul**