Working at Minimalism

I really don't want to be a minimalist in the true sense of the word.  I want to be able to organize everything I have and care for it properly.   Since I am not extremely organized in our home or in my mind, the best way to do that is to have less stuff!
I only want to keep things that our family truly needs or that we find beautiful.  Everything else must go.
The main room consists of three spaces, dining, kitchen and living room.
Since we have nice molding around our windows I got ride of the pointless sheers that only served the children to rearrange and drive me batty.  It seemed bare at first, but now I like it.  Less mental clutter.
I also got rid of all the paperwork on the fridge and set up a paperwork station above the staircase and out of the main room.  
I also centered the couch, which was pushed aside to make room for the Christmas tree and then we just put the swing there.  The baby will be moving to the nursery soon and so I decided to keep the bassinet in the corner for now. 

 To be fair this is the before shot: