Minimizing Home Decor

I found a small bin of home decorations that we aren't using. And if I want to minimize stuff we store, this needs to be looked at. Here's what is inside:

Small mirror (plastic frame)
Decorative gems (clear glass)
Empty candle holder (clear)
Green shiny bowl
Engineering ruler (broken, but belonged to my grandfather)
Decorative boxes (two)
Decorative stone (square) (from a museum)
Three lace doilies
Plate hangers
Three antique tea plates
Seven silverware pieces (real silver)

A few of the items have no sentimental value at all. The mirror, the green bowl, decorative gems and clear glass candle holder are all leaving. Those were easy to part with!

My mom had the antique plates on her wall in her dining room and I always liked them. I believe they were purchased by my grandmother because she liked them. My mother passed them on to me, but I have yet to do anything with them. I like antiques, but I don't plan to make them the main event of any decor right now. And the pink color on them is definitely not in my plans. In the end I decided to keep two of the three a little longer, but I'm giving up using them on the wall, so letting go of the plate hangers.

The silverware was found in my father in law's home after he passed. Not sure where he got them. A few do have the initial of our last name, but without a story, I'm realizing I'm not very attached. I also wonder if they may have some value for the silver. I did a little looking on eBay and realized the spoons would fetch about $2 each, and the forks seem to have even less value. Online they are described as silver plated, thus even less value than full sterling silver. I'm ready to let them go. The time spent to sell would not be the worth the reward of a few dollars.

I've used the ruler in decorating before. It's not a full length ruler. It was cut at some point. My grandfather probably had a project where he used the other half to jimmy something together! I see that I can buy longer ones for about $6 online if I ever want to use one in decorating again. So for $6 it doesn't seem keeping, however, I do like having an item that my grandfather owned. And right now, I think this might be the best item to keep since it is small. I still have a saw he owned, which we never use and takes up much more space. I will probably let that go instead!

That leaves the two decorative boxes and the square stone. The boxes were gifts to our daughter from my husband. I think I will keep them for now even though I don't have a use. I think they are pretty! And the stone, I'm still undecided on, but I'm leaning towards letting go...but I need more time.

Here is what I'm keeping:

This bin had been stored in closet.

I also have some decor in a cabinet. I going to put the items from the bin in the cabinet, so I can easily find it all in one place. I can also think of it as my container. If I have more than can fit in this cupboard, I may need to consider whether I really need this many unused decorations. 

Well now I have an empty bin! Less stuff, less containers needed.