My Dumb Brother's Four Elements of Tranquility

As a kid, my room was always a mess. I was a "collector" of all things: stickers, teddy bears, fun pens, friendship bracelets, Mickey Mouse memorabilia, badge-a-mint badges... you name it. I'm pretty sure my stuff multiplied while I was at school, and I never liked living in my space. I didn't know how to control it.

My older brother, on the other hand, had about four prized possessions.
His cassette tape collection (alphabetized by category); his stereo equipment (meticulously free of fingerprints), some weird cow horn thing on a leather strap, and his big ol' water bed (that he made every single day). He was a minimalist when minimalist wasn't cool... He was a minimalist teenager in the 80's. 

I thought he was a freak. 

But I loved hanging out in his room. 

It was like a tranquil retreat.

As I get older, I'm even more drawn drawn to peaceful places, and I've grown to realize my brother had the four elements of tranquil design figured out decades ago. He had:

• one organized collection of something he loved. 
• a clean room. And by clean, I mean free of dirt, not just free of mess. 
• minimal decor, and 
• comfortable furniture. 

I feel like I've achieved that in my master bedroom, but the rest of my house is a work in progress. On HGTV, design experts take a room from blah to the perfect retreat in about 3 days. I don't have the added pressure of lights & cameras, the added bonus of an expert crew, or the added luxury of a design budget. As long as I have kids in the house, there will be finger prints and random stickiness... and I'll probably always have more than one collection, but it'll be alphabetized and categorized and it will only stay if it's something I love. 

And soon enough, I will have my perfect tranquil retreat thanks to the inspiration of my dumb brother.