What the House Hushing Method Is (and How to Use It Effectively In Your Home)
Inside: Learn what the House Hushing Method is and how to use it to create a calm and decluttered space that you love.
In our pursuit of a simpler, more serene life, many of us strive to create a home that feels like a sanctuary – a place where we can unwind, recharge, and live with intention.
But when you’re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of stuff and clutter in your space, how do you even begin to achieve that goal?
One easy and effective way to make it happen is the House Hushing Method, an approach that goes beyond decluttering to bring quiet, calm, and harmony into your living space.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by noise and chaos in your space, this method might be just what you need.
Not sure what the House Hushing Method is or how you can implement it effectively in your home? Keep reading to see how this decluttering strategy can help you achieve harmony throughout your home.
What Is the House Hushing Method (AKA the Hush the House Decluttering Method)
House Hushing is a concept that was created by Myquillyn Smith back in 2015. The idea is to start with a clean slate as you re-evaluate the items in your space.
Existing in a home filled with too much stuff can cause all kinds of problems – sensory overload, increased stress, inability to focus, and even detrimental impacts on your physical health caused by the dust that gathers in unseen places.
The House Hushing Method is a way to bring calmness and serenity into your space by reducing physical clutter and sensory “noise.”
The goal of house hushing is to eliminate the elements that disrupt the peaceful flow of your living space – unnecessary items, disorganization, or visual distractions like overbearing and mismatched artwork.
Think of hushing the house as a way to create a “quiet” home in terms of ambiance, energy, and atmosphere.
The House Hushing Method doesn’t just focus on decluttering and embracing minimalism. It emphasizes the emotional and sensory aspects of your home and aims to create a soothing, purposeful place where your mind can rest at the end of a busy day.
How to Use the House Hushing Method to Transform Your Space
Ready to quiet your house and create a more tranquil space to spend your days?
Follow these steps to effectively implement the house hushing method in your home:
Step 1 – Pick a starting point.
As motivated as you might be, you can’t hush your whole house at once. Instead, you’ll need to navigate the process step by step, area by area.
You could choose to tackle a room as your starting point – your living room, your kitchen, or your bedroom.
If you’d rather start small, you can pick a more confined space – your pantry or your walk-in closet – or go even smaller by tackling a kitchen cabinet or drawer.
Step 2 – Identify a holding area.
You’re going to need a place to put all of the stuff you remove from the room you’re working to hush – and it needs to be in a separate space.
You can dedicate a rarely-used room to serve as your holding space, move everything into the garage, or pile it high on a kitchen table.
It won’t be there forever, but since you will want to keep your room clear for at least 24 hours, it should be a place where it won’t be in your way or cause unnecessary stress or inconvenience.
Step 3 – Clear it out.
Once you know where you’re going to temporarily stow your stuff, it’s time to clear it out of the room or space you’re hushing.
Some people take a maximalist approach to the task at hand and remove everything, even the furniture.
Others leave couches, chairs, and tables behind but pull out everything else. Your surfaces, walls, cabinets, tabletops, mantles, windowsills, and floors should be completely clear.
Step 4 – Sit with your empty space.
While you might want to rush the process, it’s important to give yourself some time to breathe and adjust to your newly-empty room – if possible, at least a full 24 hours.
During this time, you can play around with the way your furniture is arranged. See if shifting things around can create more space or a more relaxing environment.
Think about all of the stuff you moved out of the space and assess whether it actually belongs in the room or if it needs to find a new home.
Chances are, you’ll quickly appreciate the peaceful feeling you experience when you’re in your mostly empty room. You’ll want to hold onto this feeling as you move to the next step in the process…
Step 5 – Be selective about what you bring back in.
When you’re ready to bring items back into your room, do it slowly and with intention. Don’t just throw things back where they previously were; instead, take a more critical approach.
- Does this item serve a purpose or bring me joy?
- Would I notice or miss it if it were gone?
- Does it align with my vision of a peaceful, relaxing home?
Based on how you answer those questions, you might choose to bring some of the items back into the space they previously occupied.
You could decide it’s better suited for another area of your home. You might decide you don’t actually need to keep it at all and would be better off donating, discarding, or selling it.
And going forward, be more intentional with shopping and selective with the items you bring into your space.
Step 6 – Establish functional systems to stay organized.
For the items you choose to keep, it’s important that they have a dedicated place where they belong. Otherwise, you’ll quickly end up with cluttered countertops, surfaces, and closets.
Boxes, bins, and ottomans with hidden storage can be effective ways to stow items you want to keep close by without creating a ton of visual clutter.
Shelves and closets can be optimized to ensure whatever you’re looking for is easy to find with the use of labels and thoughtful organization.
Taking a few minutes at the end of each day to tidy up and ensure everything is in its proper place can go a long way in keeping your house feeling peaceful and relaxing.
Do you think you could benefit from the house hushing method? Leave a comment and let me know what you think!
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This is a lovely way to think about how to make a home tranquil, and why we should want to! Thank you.
Thank you. I love this method and approach to decluttering and never heard of it before. It would be super helpful to feel the result first, to understand how to create a calm oasis without it being stark. I think it will also help my paralysis analysis. 😉
Oh Dear, I have a PHD in “organized” bins, boxes, bags, labels, notebooks of inventory with photos, etc. Maybe, I am a kind of “Organized Hoarder;” that person who excuses excess ‘stuff’ because it is so well-organized and mostly out-of-sight (hence, decluttered). Although helpful if needed for an insurance claim, decluttered (out-of-sight) stuff is a weight that is carried as much as a limp that affects mobility. Reality Check! Clutter that is out of sight is NOT out of mind. It weighs on you like an invisible “To Do” list. As such, you live with a internalized sense of failure in having NOT achieved the ideal of freedom-from-clutter. So, I wonder: Is that ideal of a uncluttered (hushed) environment TRULY realistic in a day-to-day life experience? Or does it cross over into the behavioral disorder of perfectionism?
I love the hushing method!
I hushed my dining room on Monday and have so enjoyed the calmness and feeling of the room that I am hesitant to bring anything back in. How do you decide what, if anything, to bring back in?
I think that’s where you go slowly and do a bit of trial and error. You could test adding a couple of things and then see if you prefer it that way or liked it better with less. The purpose of House Hushing is to create that blank canvas so start over and then try out some options to see where you land. Good luck!
I think I would love the hushing method. I moved into an apartment where I am almost a year ago. My situation is that I live in a small space. I have a small kitchen that does not have good storage to make it easy to organize. Do you have a plan for a person that lives in small places? I am overwhelmed. It’s a nice apartment but I am not feeling joy at the the moment. I feel stuck. I have ADHD and I know that it does play a part. I would be grateful for any suggestions you may have. Thank you very much 🙂
There are so many areas that need this process. Could I start with individual shelves in my pantry? If I do this, I’m hoping that I’ll actually find out what I have and do more cooking!
this sounds like the best decluttering strategy I’ve seen. I can’t wait to start anywhere in my home — as soon as I have just a little time. my biggest obstacle is the enormity of need. whenever I think about decluttering a room, I’m taken away from that focus because I need to drill down to a more finite clutter–the drawers or closet, etc. so I pick a closet and realize I need to clear out the drawers in another area to put things from the closet. and the trickle-down seems never-ending, so I become overwhelmed and quit–wondering why I spend so much valuable time reading about decluttering.
I’m just overwhelmed I spend all this time reading about decluttering,I have donated several times between last year’s end and now so that’s something Im going to try this method, empty room should help me.
I didn’t know there was a name for it, but I’ve always wished I could completely empty a room and start over. I literally have absolutely no place to serve as a holding area. my husband is somewhat of a hoarder, and there is not a single space in the house to do this in. I want to get a ginormous connex box and put everything in it! then could pick and choose what to put back in. But he is not on board with the idea.
Do it anyway. He will survive.
IMO, a “holding area” is a terrible idea and you’re only churning; that is, moving the clutter from one space to another without actually dealing with it. Declutter, period, and you will have a calmer house.
Different methods work for different people. This approach gives your space a clean slate so you can decide what you want to add back and then declutter what you don’t. But it’s also ok if a different strategy works better for you :).
I just hushed the inside of my fridge over the weekend 🙂
I have never heard of the house hushing method, however, I actually did it a few years ago. The first floor of my home, living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and bathroom. I purged each area and either sold or donated old items, items that did not hold good memories, mis-matched items etc. Then the renovation came. Once it was time to put stuff back, I was very intentional about doing so. The living room, kitchen/dining area, and one of the bedrooms still do not have anything on the walls. Knick knacks are gone. Replaced with items that are more artistic and made of natural materials and have a certain meaning to me. Cabinets are not overflowing, old toiletries are gone. My holding space for items that I was unsure of went into plastic bins in the basement. I have now started, what I refer to as the next layer of decluttering. I call it that, as it is a journey which started several years ago. I started slowly going through the bins and purging more items. Need to do more but I am proud of all that has been accomplished. I told my family that they will thank me one day as I am not leaving them a big mess. Thank you for the great article as it was an affirmation for my and a reminder of my great progress.
I too have this thing of keeping things in boxes. It’s not clutter if it’s in a box! but after a while the boxes spill over and what was a clean and to my mind tidy room becomes a cluttered one instead. I try to keep my bedroom tidy. The living room is tidied up every evening and then in the morning after our morning cuppa. The old newspapers go into the recycle box and today’s are neatly folded on the coffee table. The only bugbear is the desk. It’s piled high with my husband’s papers. I have given up telling him… he will do something about it when he gets a VIP guest. So I don’t think we will ever have anything near to hush. But I do banish anything that should not be in the bedroom and the bathroom. And the kitchen as far as possible because it’s a very tiny kitchen and there is no case for anything non kitchen to be there. However I used to find my helper (whom I got after a stroke) would leave her handbag on the dishwasher. I finally got her to leave it on the dining table instead.
she’s only there for 2 hours so I can stand that. She cooks because I can’t lift the pans safely any more. I have another help who cleans floors and dusts. She’s good about tidying up but complains that it’s all done before she comes!
I love reading about minimalism and hush. I just don’t think we shall ever get there. Not at 82. but I am slowly getting rid of obvious bits of junk, and encourage hubby to the same. Eventually, he says.
Great article and approach.