Flat / house as a user interface - I like it, management of clutter by optomizing clutter reducing activities. My difficulty is with piles of paper, there are never enough shelves. Yet most available shelves are filled with read books. To take your methodology I'd sacrifice space for utility, but in a London flat this is hard. Vertical space is easier, but we have eight bookcases already.
I need surfaces that afford assessment rather than storage, so a contained space for clutter will result in a full space and the need to assess the clutter, interesting. I already have a good system for recycling all waste paper, it is the other paper that collects.
I read this article a couple of months ago and it is gradually seeping into my life, things are organised around their proximity to usage more and the less used things do not get the prime spots. eg near my desk where my technical books sat, from O'Reilly etc, they are now slightly further away on a different shelf. This is for two reasons, the first that I can use the space for books that I have not yet read, the second that when I need them I get an inforced break and a moment to stretch..
