Let’s see … what’s lying around the place right now?
Various stuffed kitties that look more or less like my real cat.
My real cat.
Books, which have overrun the shelves and are establishing outposts on, under and around the other furniture.
Prints of a Korean sword dancer and of a Japanese lady arranging her hair.
Little statues of Mary and St. Jude, a stone plaque of St. Cecilia (again) and two hammered-tin folk-art angels.
Catrandom
I have unintentional collections of:
Buddhist Statuary (12+)
rocks (20+)
Cocktail shakers, retro (9)
DrJ! You rock! I have the young Elvis one in my kitchen. Roomie refused to let me put it in the living room.
Anyway…my apartment has tons of stuff in it. Let’s see here…
Living room: about 6 different throws, 4 cross stitch pictures that either I made or my roomie did, a picture of Edinburgh castle, the roomie’s video, book, and CD collection, and a drawing I bought of the entire cast from the TV show Homicide.
My room: Hoo boy. Various art prints from the National Gallery. (Mostly Monets and Seurats) A signed cast poster from Phantom of the Opera. Postcards from Scotland, and a picture of Crim Dell at William & Mary. Have a bulletin board with tons of pics of friends, postcards, sports tickets, etc. Then we get to the books. I have a 6’ bookcase that is packed full, and I have more books in the nightstand next to my bed. CD and video collections are in shelves next to the bookcase. As for knickknacks…I collect shot glasses, so those are all over the place. I have 6 beanie babies draped over various parts of the room. Then we have the candles, the dragon statue, the stuffed Pooh bear I’ve had since I was 2, the Mexican blanket…
It’s a lot of stuff, but I manage to keep it neat. Mainly because I clean every week, and have a place for everything. Speaking of which…time to finish up. 
“You are sweet, kind, and considerate… Like a grown up boy scout with tits!” - Brian, aka SDMB’s one and only Satan.
“I’m hungry. Let’s go get a taco.” – Mr. White
Or, perhaps, a burrito.
My house is filled with my personality.
I love wolves and have wolf pictures, statues etc.
Computer books everywhere, you know right off the bat what I do.
Fish tank, love to watch them when I am stressing.
Books and more books. My favorites are, Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (have some porcelin characters next to the books.) One shelf is dedicated to the history of Colorado. Both in pictures and actual writings.
My computer is in the living room too.
I call my decor “Casual, Contemporary” It’s not really contemorary, but sounds good to me.
I thought it was the thumb that seperated us from lower species. Man, I learn something new every day!
I have within the last two years combined two homes into one. Because of memories it’s harder to get rid of the things that were in the house when I moved in. But I am getting better at it. All the things that I have setting around have a memory attached to them. And I love turtles…and lighthouses. So I have my collection of them. And my Canadian friend also sends me wonderful little gifts that she runs across…a friendship candle, book, photos…various items. So my home is warm and lived in. When you come in you feel like pulling off your shoes and curling up on the couch for a nice chat. That’s the way I like it. No formality here.
“Do or do not, there is no try” - Yoda
I agree that homes without books are weird. How can a house not have at least one full book case?
My living room is a mess, but that’s the way I’m used to it. I have a bookcase full of books and every surface of it not occupied with books is covered with nicknacks and brick-a-brack, preferably cat or dragon shaped.
There are two more bookcases full of video tapes, and again any space without tapes has nicknacks, candles, kerosene and oil lamps, etc.
Another book case is about half full of books and the rest is occupied by reproductions of Egyptian statuary and a Senet game.
The 7-shelf plant stand doesn’t hold plants but instead holds giant vases and Coca-Cola memorabilia, some new, some antiques.
There is a shelf over the TV specifically for more nick-nacks and a few small stuffed animals I want to keep out of the dog’s reach.
A what-not shelf holds tiny, breakable or losable nick-nacks, including pewter D&D pieces, a tiny Egyptian perfume bottle, a small Chinese statue (probably genuine–possibly pilfered tomb art? Need to get that appraised someday), and more.
The Werlitzer organ is also adorned with nicknacks, candles, and (empty) candy dishes (keeping them full is an impossibility around here ;)).
The antique radio holds the VCRs and satellite box. No room for nicknack and brick-a-brack on it.
On the walls are a few (probaby tacky but I don’t care) matted or framed cat posters, a poster of St. Mary’s Lake at Glacier National Park, and a painting of Crater Lake done by my Aunt Lois.
There are houseplants around, including jades, a banana tree, a palm tree, wandering Jews, and something unidentifiable but huge that I inherited during our office’s last move.
The dog’s crate resides in the middle of the living room and passes for a coffee table/catch-all.
Hell, everything is a catch all.
And that’s just the stuff I’m not embarrassed to talk about 
Yes, the house is a mess, yes, the husband is frustrated (he likes the Spartan look), yes, I don’t give a damn
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
I would like a spartan environment. Last summer, I bought a brand-new couch & loveseat. I cleaned my house until it shone. I hid the junk, and put into place the stuff that was not junk. The house looked great.
Then my two-year-old came home.
My house looked fabulous for about 20 minutes. Now it just looks like I have children. Oh well.
(IMHO, the deities made refrigerators speicifically for hanging kid art.)
“The quickest way to a man’s heart is through his ribcage.” --anonymous redhead
Despite the fact that I have a husband and 3 kids, my house is relatively clutter-free. Well, if you come over, I won’t let you see the kids’ rooms because it’s usually too scary to go in there- they’re allowed to make a mess in there (no food, though, and they still have to clean up periodically) in return for not trashing the rest of the house.
I have a weakness for candles, but I try to contain them. My living room is a vast space, big enough to host a real Texas hoedown. The old moldings, high ceilings, and hardwood floors are artwork in themselves. I have a few well-placed antique family photos; my favorite is the family portrait that was taken in Sweden in 1907. In the entryway hangs the one drawing I’ve done in my whole life that I can tolerate (a portrait of my son); other people buy my stuff but I can’t stand to look at it myself.
Books are mostly packed away in the attic, but I have four shelves of antique medical and nursing books. My actual school nursing books are still in the attic of the house we used to live in. Most of my favorite books are on my friends’ shelves, and their favorite books are on mine.
Most of my furniture is pretty shabby, but I like it that way. It’s comfy, you don’t have to worry about ruining it, and if I bought good furniture now the kids would just spill Kool-Aid on it. I do have a funky old loveseat sort of thing, made of wood and leather, that was handmade by a Navajo Indian. I also have a very old sewing machine (you know, the pedal kind) on top of which sits a cool old typewriter: the keys are not quite in the modern arrangement and the hammer things curve in from the sides instead of striking up from the bottom.
I’m going to put a little sign in my front yard that says, “Mars is Heaven”.
I burst out laughing when I read this, Dr. J. One of my treasures is a cheapo plastic “Audrey” penny bank. That is Audrey the carnivorous plant from “Little Shop of Horrors”.
It looks like a really, really bad imitation plastic plant. There’s this bulbous, faintly obscene thing nestled in the center of the leaves. When you put a penny on top of it, the leaves wave, the “thing” snaps and a very tinny voice growls, “feed me! feed me!”
Ah, being an icon of elegance and taste is pure hell.
Veb
I’m at my computer in the bedroom. To my left: a crystal table clock; a Magic 8-Ball; a wicker bird with feathers that look like pine cone petals, and glass eyes, bought at Pier I imports; books on either side of the computer table threatening to topple over. To my right: clock radio, stuffed animals from when daughter was a baby; jewelry in need of a jewelry box; silk flowers in a vase, delphiniums, babies breath, assorted greenery, bought one piece at a time and now worth approximately $65 but needs lots more flowers (there are the “good” kind that look real, not the cheap plastic/polyester); framed pressed pansies on the wall; giant blown-up framed photos of waterfalls we have visited; a Real Hair Ken doll that looks like Jefferson Darcy on Married With Children; an Elvis doll in total black leather; another Ken in a black/hot pink spandex jumpsuit, we call him Brian Boitano Ken; a stack of Entertainment Weeklys, a stack of Psychology Todays, a stack of Movielines, a small stack of Outdoor Lifes, the kind that every issue has a giant snarlling bear on the cover and inside a story on how the hunter went hand-to-paw with the maneating bear and unfortunately lived to tell; old cassette tapes with songs of the 80’s. My daughter’s room should have a sign on it saying “Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid” - or - “Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here”.
By the way, all of your houses sound beautiful and charming, and so not cluttered with old magazines and appliances and outdated music! Why is it some people can arrange a group of Small and Interesting Objects on their coffee tables for perusal, and when I try, I come up with the an effect that just screams, “Oh look, more junk.”?
Three years ago we were planning to move, and the real estate agent advised packing up everything 'that you don’t use every day.'Well, that covers a lot of territory. But, my sons attacked their rooms, and I took care of everything else…
We ended up NOT moving, and those things that ‘we don’t use’ stayed in boxes in the attic, for TWO years. I decided that a charity must need those things a whole lot more than the attic did. So we unpacked and de-boxed (probably NOT a word) and gave away clothes, toys, appliances, and yes, even some beloved books.
So my house is neater, but what has been demonstrated, each person’s area sounds just enough different as to mean ‘home’ for them, and that is what really counts… you know the sigh when the door closes behind you…and you shut out the world.
“Consider it a challenge…”
Clutter is my LIFE! Apart from the obligatory bookcase stuffed to the gills (sci-fi and tech stuff predominates, but there’s a smattering of other stuff), there’s the desk heaped with techno-tchotchkes, the stacks of CD’s (audio and data), the stuffed Y2K bug on top of my computer monitor, and the “Sitting Duck” poster on the wall (it’s a very nicely done cartoon duck in a beach chair, holding an icy drink, and looking with mild concern at the fresh bullet holes in the wall behind him).
Oh, yeah, there’s also a server farm in the living room.
I’m not a techie or anything…
Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased.
Does anyone else remember, a few years ago, a photo essay of peoples from all walks, world wide, and everything they owned piled in front of the house they lived in.
They had photos of third world families, standing before a small hut a few meagre possessions and a few children. And it went on in that vain. It was very interesting because when it came to the west, well, it was shocking.
Seeing this essay has stayed with me a long time, and I often think. How embarassed I would be, were I to be revealed in such a way. An embarassment of riches. (By the way, by every western economic measure I would be considered poor, below the line, etc.)
Does anyone else remember this, or is it just me?