Author Archives: DecorhubNG

The Swedish Tradition of Death Cleaning

This Swedish tradition of death cleaning may be your most effective guide to decluttering

Decluttering even as overly emphasized still remains an aspect of house cleaning that a lot of home users struggle with. It’s common amongst Africans to be sentimental in nature and sometimes these sentiments follow through even to items as random as a cookie jar that was gotten from our grandparents or the plastic containers from the Christmas party we held years ago. Hey! Don’t get it wrong, its cute and nice to hold on to items because of the memories they stir in us, however, sometimes we unconsciously end up being collectors of many years of junks! This Sweden tradition of death cleaning will most definitely help you unsheathe, unpack and free yourself and your home from years of clutter. The Swedish Tradition of Death Cleaning.

Death cleaning was first made popular in the USA by author Margarete Magnesson who wrote The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to free yourself and your family from a lifetime of Clutter.

As called in Sweden dostanding is a Swedish word that means death cleaning. Do is “death” and “stadniing” is cleaning. In Swedish, it is a term that means removing unnecessary things to make your home feel nice and orderly when you think the time is coming closer for you to leave the planet. The general idea is to remove unnecessary things and get your home in order as you get older, so you minimize the amount of stuff you leave behind for others to deal with. Maybe it does sound a little morbid, but the concept is much more than that, It’s about organizing your life so everyday things are easier and being meaningful about the things you hold on to.

Jasmine Hobbs, a cleaning expert in London Cleaning Team explains that “the rules of death cleaning are simple. It’s all about losing everything you don’t love or use and not being afraid to talk about it” While some people may assume that it is reserved for the elderly, it is important to note that death is not exclusively reserved for the elderly. According to Hobbs “Anyone can do it at any age. The idea is to organize your life and make it run smoother”

So how does one begin?

These guide will take you through the easy ways to go about death cleaning.

• Be aware of the fact that downsizing is going to take some time
• Visit your storage areas, comb through every room in your home. Be thorough with every room, every nook and cranny of your home.
• Tell your loved ones and friends what you are up to. They might want to help you or even take things you do not need anymore.
• If you know of anyone family or friend that is moving into their new apartment, invite them over so you can show them items and they can pick the ones you no longer have any use for.
• You should note that it’s natural to feel some sort of way, maybe unappreciative, about giving out items you once cherished or received from loved ones. A way to go about this is to spend time with these objects one last time and then dispose of them.

The idea of Death cleaning is really not as scary as it sounds after all, it’s a method of decluttering that can keep you conscious and intentional about the things you keep.  Find more tips about The Swedish Tradition of Death Cleaning here

Five Uniquely Stunning Chair Designs for your Home

Think about furniture designs and you probably wouldn’t have come cross these exquisitely amazing chair designs anywhere you have been. Thoughtfully and innovatively designed, these unique collection of chairs are the ultimate next big bang you need to jazz up the mood and design in your space. Brazen up your mind as you ponder upon the inspirations from today’s post about – Five uniquely stunning chair designs for your home.

A three Legged Wooden Chair by Milk Design

Founded in 1998, Milk Design specializes in designing basic daily objects such as furniture pieces and home accessories. The Wong Chair is a minimal wooden seating piece that explores the tradition of solid wood furniture in combination with contemporary elements. Made from a combination of white oak and walnut timber, the chair’s design features three legs only, which are sticked together using an innovative joinery system.

Exploded Chair by Joyce Lin

Designed by Houston-based artist, Joyce Lin, the “Exploded chair” embraces play while maintaining functionality. The piece was designed in her final year at Rhode Island School of Design. This piece takes traditional conception of what a chair is, dismantles it, and places it in clear Perspex containers. The maple-wood chair that sits loosely within its crystalline sarcophagus looks much like the archetypal kitchen seat. As the ‘Exploded Chair’ is moved, its wooden pieces rattle around inside their compartments. The piece is both familiar and disorienting, playful and disconcerting — a dichotomous piece on which to seat yourself.

Arm by Clark Bardsley

Designed by New Zealand artist Clark Bardsley, ‘Arm’ has been described as an “anti chair”, incomplete and complete- it is a nonsensical seat that cannot be sat on. Crafted from steam-bent American Oak, ‘Arm’ is designed as an outline of a chair — a Sack-Back Chair to be precise — as opposed to the chair itself. It is not to be sat on, but to be placed over another object — “from a plastic patio chair, to an office chair or even a bucket”, Bardsley states — to create a completely new seat.

Five Uniquely Stunning Chair Designs for your Home

The Abstraction Chair By WoongKi Ryu

Created by Korean designer WoongKi Ryu, The Abstraction Chair draws inspiration from modern abstract artist Wassily Kandisky. The use of primary colors and bold use of geometry in Wassily’s works were drawn together to inspire the design of The Abstraction Chair. Ryu’s design features a round wooden seat and colorful shapes that playfully arc from the basic structure of the chair. Drawing formally from the expressionist works of Kandinsky — specifically Composition VIII— Ryu has brought the graphic shapes that the Russian artist was so renowned for into a three-dimensional realm. Despite its use of practical materials and traditional techniques the seat argues for form above function and is, as such, delightfully obtuse in its final design.

‘Poetic Furniture, Frozen Textile’ by Demeter Fogarasi

Hungarian designer Demeter Fogarasi takes us all by surprise with  for his ‘Poetic Furniture, Frozen Textile’ chair which features a windswept piece of material “blown” onto its frame. Made from biodegradable plastic also known as polylactic acid plastic (PLA), and natural textiles, Fogarasi wanted to create a composite material that could be used for his new chair idea. As he explains, the aim was to create a material that not only possesses “good technical properties” but also “emphasizes naturalness” and looks both “intriguing and inspiring.” The final product was a material made of layers of plastic and textile that have been heat-pressed together to make a composite material. This can then be reheated and shaped once cool, enabling the designer to set it into his desired shape.