Transplanting a Seattleite

Or you can accept that these are people who have become extremely ruthless about Getting Rid of Things, likely as a result of living for decades with _50_ unopened boxes from previous moves.

I agree that bookcases are Papa Bears (I didn't include their full list of examples). I am unconvinced that similar objects grouped together would be judged by these authors to be one thing. I think they might tell you to get rid of all the small item and get one bigger/better item in its place.

However, I absolutely agree with you that grouped small items = one large item for decorating purposes. My mother-in-law does watercolors, which are nice, and which we have a lot of. I took four of them (she quarters a canvas, so they are roughly the same size), had them framed and matted to a uniform size and shape and had R. (because I am Sloppy) hang them in a rectangle on a wall in the bedroom. I _love_ the result, and I didn't have to shop for some huge thing to put in that space.



It is not possible to put any furniture along this wall, as there are doors at either end and one in the middle:



To the right of the bathroom door, you can see the curio cabinet.

Other example from this room of grouping small to make large. It's above the bed in the master suite, so the, er, NSFW aspects of the art are appropriate:



And another example of grouping small to fill a large space:



That's in the upstairs hall -- you can see some of the toy storage "book"cases further along.