If you aren't already on there, check out ApartmentTherapy.com. Right now they are doing the "January cure", which is a step by step process for improving your home over the month - not just buying stuff but organizing, revisioning, etc. Also, they have a lot of real house tours that are not as staged as what you see in magazines. Lots of people in rentals, with young kids, on a budget etc - real life homes, basically. They do favour a trendy hipster version of mid-century modern esthetic but other styles do pop up.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com

Raisin, I don't think I'll ever be finished either. But the first important purge will be done, then it's more about fine tuning the details and keeping it up, I think.

Thanks Jules! I think I've seen that site before, but it somehow got lost. I've bookmarked it now and I will go back to it, I think it looks really interesting!

Hmm. I don't know that you could guess how I dress from my decor. My decor isn't really decor. My decorating method is preppy: Start with a chintz sofa, add more seating and a fern stand from grandma, throw in a few modernist bookcases and a Louis ghost chair by the modern design masters, toss in a few more hastily bought IKEA bookcases because the book situation is getting dire, try to find some wall space for the new painting...

I really do need some breathing space. That is the key thing about minimalism for me. I'm slogging my way through a decade project to do that. I'd junk all my furniture, but that legacy stuff was built to last.

Mmh, how would you define decor then? Maybe I don't have decor either...

I don't know. I just have the sneeking feeling that decor is home-filling in a bundled package. Even if you don't get everything all at once, there seems to be a plan - in existence from the beginning - that guides every acquisition. Also that home is not quite the whole life lab that I treat it as. It's like a style in and of itself, a way of being in the world.

I have a neighbor who's place is amazing. Plenty of room to breathe. Everything nicely arranged and coordinated. Includes a few decorative touches, like a floor-length mirror. I'd kill to know where she stores her tax documents - our places are shoe boxes. Infant-sized shoes. There is nothing additional brought in and nothing unrelated to a home functioning as a home.

My cousin is also like this. She's all about art. She's an art academic for goodness sake! And yet she doesn't bring it into her home. She goes to the museum to look at it. She put in custom storage in her studio instead.

Meanwhile, I have rejected badly needed storage so I have wall space to lean paintings against...

My decorating style is far from minimalist, although I really love looking at other homes decorated that way, and I can understand the appeal. My style is more... well, MORE. I tend toward deep, rich colours, lots of bookcases, and more close, comforting spaces. Even so, I get deep satisfaction from purging and not having too much "stuff". I like organization, and while I may not be a minimalist in terms of decorating, I don't like too much kitch or curio, either. I do love the photos posted so far. So different from my style, but beautiful.

Rachylou, that makes sense. Although I don't really have a plan from the outset either. I just have a certain feel I want it to have and see what happens when I run with it. I don't think I'm disciplined enough to buy something now with the knowledge that it will look perfect with something I'm only able to afford in who knows when. My place isn't big either, on of the reasons why I'm decluttering right now. I didn't have that much stuff, but it was too much for my small flat!

Echo, sound great too! I'm also a fan of organizing. I'm not really "minimal" at the moment either, I'm just getting rid of "stuff", like you said. I have no idea if I will continue to purge as much as I'm doing now in the future. It's easy at the moment because I didn't have to make any difficult decisions yet.