I'm moving house. Again. Eleven months after the last time. Half my stuff is still in boxes. And half my stuff is getting decluttered, sold, or given away. For this move, I'm being strict. The new home is smaller and in the city, as opposed to the country house I am in now – so I am learning how to downsize without compromising on my style.
While packing, I've been taking a long, hard look at what counts as essential for a home in 2025, and my decisions are surprising me. Things I thought were key to a happy life are no longer needed, while some things many would think were unnecessary are, in fact, important to the way my new, smaller rooms look and feel.
I've been learning about what are the design essentials every home needs (and these are coming with me in this move), and the things that I definitely don't need, especially when space is tighter.
The non-essentials I am ditching in this move
Over the years, designers have told me these pieces were essential, and I believed them. But now I am moving into a home where space is tighter, I have realized these pieces are a bit of a luxury – a definite non-essential.
1. A home office sofa
At one point, surely after COVID, a sofa was a home office essential. We were all spending so much time on video calls that a relaxed seating option was a necessity. But, surprise, surprise, mine has just become a dumping ground for mail, clean laundry, discarded sweaters, and bits of old envelopes that have important work notes scribbled on them. The only one who actually sits on it is my cat. So it's going, unable to justify its position in the removal van.
2. A bed-end bench
It's what hotels do, right? A cushioned bench at the end of the bed, somewhere to sit in comfort as you gather your thoughts or dry your hair or wait for your partner to finish getting ready. But, like my office sofa, it just became a place for half-worn clothes or laundry that needed to be put away, anything but relaxing to look at. It's gone.
3. Entryway seating
You may be sensing a theme here, but yes, the bench in my entryway, has become less a place to sit and calmly put my shoes on, as it is a place to throw mail, bags, and coats the moment I walk in the door. Entryways are meant to be pass-throughs; they were never designed to be places to linger. So get rid of any seating and swap for a console so you can actually get in some entryway storage, as well as a nice spot to style some vignettes.
The design essentials coming with me
These are the pieces that have survived my stringent decluttering for downsizing and will be making their way to my next home.
1. A comfy and stylish office chair
Osteopaths look away now, as I'm sure this flies in the face of all Health and Safety wisdom, but in light of not having an office sofa, I'm clinging even more firmly to my comfy office chair.
I've requisitioned one of my velvet dining chairs for the job. It's not ergonomic, it doesn't swivel, but it does have a high back and so offers some level of support. Essential for the piece of furniture I use more than probably anything else in my home.
Its soft gray is just as soft as its boucle fabric and deeply cushioned seat. You could happily work in it all day.
Designed as a dining chair, thanks to its high back and rigid form, it would give you good enough posture to work on (please note, I'm not a back-care specialist, clearly).
Florals, for a room you're meant to work in? Truly groundbreaking! This pretty pattern would help form a creative space.
2. A characterful collection of crockery
My glassware and mug collection are both being thinned down. Anything that isn't part of a set, anything that is not a favorite, is going (so much less to bubble wrap). But my bowls and plates? Particularly my salad bowls? They're staying. Loved and collected over time, they bring real character and charm to the table. You can always buy new glassware, but you can't buy that one salad bowl you've had for years and that still brings character to a kitchen every time I've moved house.
Yes, this irregular shape does look charmingly handmade, and yes, it is in fact less than $20 at Walmart.
More sophisticated and less handmade than the Walmart offering, but the glaze is no less satisfying. A watermelon and feta salad would pop in here.
A little more expensive, but if you treasure it forever and take it on multiple house moves and bring it out at multiple dinners, then the cost-per-use is minute.
3. Verstile throw pillows
I'd fallen out of love with couch pillows lately. Two boisterous puppies had chewed all mine up, and moving them out of reach each day to bring them back down in the evening under supervision was too much like hard work. But since my dogs have calmed down, I've reintroduced them, reminding myself how a little pop of color goes a long way. Yes, they're bulky to pack, but yes, they're staying.
Deckchair stripes continue to be a big trend, evoking vacations and shoresides and summer and fun. A reason to keep this pillow, for sure.
The vacation vibe continues with this painterly pillow cover from H&M, evoking la dolce vita and the Amalfi coast.
It's easier to justify packing something if it has two uses right? And this is a floor pillow as well as being something you can use to bring a bit of on-trend oxblood red to your decor.
4. Chic candlesticks
Ok, but hear me out. Yes I think candlesticks are essential. Instant ambience creators, turning a dinner into A Dinner, or bath time into A Soak. Or, of course, in a power outage, you'll be so glad you have plenty of vessels to house your candles. Plus, they're tall and skinny and really easy to wrap. So while my unlit scented candles are going, my candlesticks – and the candles that go in them – are staying.
This is so elegant with a long, thin taper candle in it. It's the brown of the marble – so grown up. Plus, it works with this season's on-trend chrome tableware.
Tall and slender, these gold candleholders would look smart placed at irregular intervals down the center of a dining table.
I've experimented with multicolor candles, yes, but I always come back to white. An unexpected twist (literally) in them is all the 'fun element' you need.
5. Timeless vases
Ok, so this has been harder to justify, as even the tiniest of my vessels needs a lot of bubble wrap (and therefore a lot of space in a packing box) to ensure it arrives in my new home safely. And while I probably ought to let them go (seriously, they're at three boxes now), I can't. Because placing them on a new shelf in a new house, or on the same dining table in a new dining room, makes the place feel like home. I think it's ok to have illogical loves of things just for their beauty, and for that to make them essential. Kind of essential, anyway. They're staying.
Truly one of my most treasured belongings, I've had my Fast Vase for nearly 20 years, broken it three times, and bought exact replacements. I love it. Its shape, the way it looks like it's speeding, and its silhouette against more organic forms is perfect.
Equally interesting in silhouette, this modern form looks just as good with flowers in as it does left empty in the middle of a dining table
Like interior architecture, these totem-esque vases stand tall and proud, ideal on a mantlepiece to create an interesting shape.
6. Decorative trays
If I were decluttering, surely I should declutter both the stuff that goes on my decorative tray and the tray itself. But I can't get rid of my vessels, and so I can't get rid of my tray, which helps to contain the objects and create a sense of order. Anyway, it's slim and mostly flat, so it packs like a dream.
I swear by trays as a decor essential because they really elevate a surface and make a vignette look more intentional. And they are so versatile, you can pop one on a coffee table or an ottoman for a spot to perch a drink or add one to the middle of a kitchen island to stack cookbooks and add a vase of flowers.
It's the roundness of this tray that makes it so appealing, softening the hard edges of a conventional tray shape. Would work on a round or rectangular coffee table.
If, like me, you favor white objects, then adding a bit of color and pattern as their base helps to create a pleasing contrast. This abstract print nods to Art Deco glamor.
The delicate marble veining and delicate irregular form make this tray a thing of beauty – I'd be tempted to leave it empty and let it sing.
Clearly, my definition of essential wouldn't be the same as, say, Marie Kondo's. Unless you factor in that all these things bring me joy, or good back support in the case of that office chair. What I've really done is look at what is cluttering up my life (or being used as a vessel for clutter) and get rid of that, keeping only what makes me happy and will actually work in my smaller space.
