Clear Out Craze

So, I woke up this morning with every intention of clearing a wide path through the dining room and living room. On Monday the piano movers are coming to take my piano- which I do not have the talent to play- to my grandmother's house. Nanny enjoys playing and my teenage cousin is a natural on the piano, so this will give both of them the opportunity to play. After all, it has just been sitting there looking pretty in my dining room these past few years.

But I got sidetracked. See, my linen closet has been driving me crazy for the last few weeks. Not that it was very disorganized, but I didn't have a designated space for the new king size bedding. So instead of working downstairs, I tore everything out of the linen closet, made neat stacks all over the beds, vacuumed, dusted, then began to put everything back.

And even though it looks almost the same as before, I'm pleased with the result:



Three hours well spent? Maybe. I worked on several other things at the same time. I have a large pile of clothes for my friend Sheri's daughters. I had a big clear out of winter clothes last weekend. Now I just need to get them to her.

I've been getting my exercise running up and down the stairs to check on laundry every 45 minutes. I still have a small stack of boxes to go to the basement. I decided that there is really no need to store extra tiles, grout mix, robe hook and replacement toilet seat in the linen closet! Those things belong in the basement. I've kept the tiles up here so long because I wanted them handy for when we make the final repairs to the bathroom walls, but since that has already been about 5 years, I think I'll take the risk by moving them farther away. Ha! Maybe some great tile layer will magically  knock on my door this week. Let's not hold our breath.

Meanwhile, things are really coming together in the back bedroom. As I mentioned, I had a big clear out last weekend, making lots of extra drawer space, so I was able to make more room for Lewis to store stuff. I've been feeling kind of guilty of late. I have clothes filling two closets, with a few winter coats stored in the third. And, until last weekend, I had clothes in dressers in all three bedrooms. Really.

I've also been gearing up to make some major changes to the side bedroom, which I am very excited about. Soon I'll show you my plans! Stay tuned.

The Great Book Case Shuffle of 2010

I completed nearly every task in my 34 step plan this weekend. Mostly on Friday, very little each on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Oli was pretty good about staying out of the way for the most part. Except when I had the camera or the vacuum out. For the camera, he poses. For the vacuum, he chases and barks. It is a game.

I won't go through it all because, well, that's boring, and I already bored you with the plan. I started fairly early Friday morning and mostly I followed it, but I did hit a snafu midway through, adjusted my plan, and got through most of the list by bedtime Friday night.

the dining room stacked with stuff waiting to go back on its shelves; Oliver looks on at the activity

I dusted and vacuumed and washed nearly every surface in my living room this weekend, getting to corners and nooks and crannies that can't normally be reached. A good thorough spring cleaning- in the middle of July.

The big bookcase I moved from Oli's room, now in its new spot in the living room. When I had all the shelves out, I thought maybe I could slide it out of its spot to clean. As it turned out, it was quite easy to slide. I popped the feet onto those furniture moving sliders and carefully pushed it straight through the dining room. It is heavy, but manageable.

Also, I knew mom had asked Bill to come over around 6:00 to measure for some new windows (more on that later). So, I got some L-braces at the hardware store and Bill kindly helped me level the book case and install the L-braces.

my big shelf, finally in a good spot, braced to the wall, and loaded with books

my extensive collection of (no less than 26) bungalow-specific books


Oliver posing in the empty spot where the big bookcase had been

This is to be my new "pantry" area, with storage for small appliances that I don't want cluttering the kitchen counter. Even though I measured, and measured, and measured, I still came up 4" too short here. As you can see, I miscalculated. The wide shelving unit was to be flanked by the two shelving towers. That didn't work out. Here is where the plan adjusting came in.

I ended up leaving the record tower where it was, but I emptied, dusted and cleaned the corner, shelf and contents, then gave it a quarter turn. The wall actually looked too empty there anyway, so I think it all worked out for the best.

I guess I did everything on the list, except I'm still working on the last item- finding homes for the clutter. That's kind of never ending. I do have a small stack of old cassette and vhs tapes in the dining room. Not sure what to do with them yet. I loathe to stick anything else in the back bedroom because that is going to soon need clearing too.

I'll take some more pictures of the whole living room now that it is finished. Quick! before it gets dirty again.

My 34 Point Plan

I have a lot of furniture I want to move around. I've been itching to move things for a while now.

The shuffling part comes in because there is no empty spot at the moment. Currently there is a piece of furniture in every place that I want a different piece of furniture. Make senses? If it does, don't worry, I'm sure I'll loose you soon.

So here it is, my grand plan, in 34 steps:

1. Organize embroidery supplies.

2. Empty shelving unit that holds art books, stack books in dining room.

3. Dis-assemble art book shelving unit, set pieces aside, in dining room.

4. Clean empty spot.

5. Move crescent table and green chair to entry, temporarily.

6. Empty embroidery cabinet.

7. Carefully move embroidery cabinet to empty spot.

8. Re-fill embroidery cabinet.

9. Clean second empty spot.

10. Move Oliver's toys and chair aside.

11. Empty shelving unit in Oli's room.

12. Move dining room furniture aside, clearing path.

13. Get big guys to move big shelving unit to second empty spot.

14. Secure big shelving unit to wall using L-brackets.

15. Load genealogy materials and art books onto lower shelves.

16. Clean empty spot in Oliver's room.

17. Re-assemble first shelving unit in third empty spot.

18. Empty shelving unit in dining room.

19. Dis-assemble wide shelving unit.

20. Re-assemble wide shelving unit in third empty spot.

21. Reload wide shelving unit with stuff recently removed.

22. Carry all record albums from living room to Oli's room, re-loading first shelving unit.

23. Dis-assemble album shelving unit.

24. Re-assemble third shelving unit in Oliver's room.

25. Clean last empty spot.

26. Use baskets from Oliver's room to stow small stuff on large shelving unit in living room.

27. Move cookbooks to big shelving unit.

28. Stow large counter top appliances on new shelves in Oli's room.

29. Use baskets to stow extra non-perishables on new shelves.

30. Move green chair back.

31. Move crescent table to dining room, beside china closet.

32. Move peacock chair to dining room.

33. Vacuum everywhere.

34. Find homes for any clutter left behind.

It sounds like a lot, but I think I can knock it out in one solid day, if I stick with it. Of course that will depend on the availability of a guy to help move the giant bookcase. It doesn't have to go far, just straight out Oli's double doors, straight through the dining room, thought the double doors to the living room. Nothing to lift only 1/4 turn through the whole move. But it is mega heavy. I will also need someone who can install the L-brackets with minimal damage to the plaster.

Busy, Busy

Two weeks later and I have finally gotten the porch tidied and cleaned the kitchen windowsill.



I forgot to take a picture of the windowsill now that it is clean, and I wasn't brave enough to take befores of either the porch or the kitchen windowsill. Just take my word for it, this is a drastic and great improvement. Ghetto-porch-b-gone!

I've also weeded about 80% of my garden, and now it is much easier to keep after. I know this every year going in, but what can I say, I'm lazy. As you can see from the front crescent bed, I'm a lazy gardener. I'm going for the wild, naturalized look this year. Yeah, that's it, naturalized... This does look better now, thought, as compared to a few weeks back.

First, I weeded and pulled out several dozen volunteer tomato plants, leaving only the strongest so that hopefully they will be productive. I see a lot of fruit on the plants I left, so that's promising. The malva has gotten taller than I imagined and for a little while I was worried that my cucumber (tucked way back in the corner) wouldn't get enough sunlight, but it seems to be doing just fine. I started the seeds a little late, but I think it will be okay.

You may also notice some new plants. Some purple leafed thing whose name I've forgotten and some purple petunias. I'm hoping they'll fill out a bit more to hide the ugly black landscape fabric. See how lazy I am? I should just mulch. But I'm cheap as well as lazy.

Great Progress

Jessica came over on Sunday and we spend a solid 4 hours clearing out the clutter. I know, there is still a lot left there, but we are nearing the end. I could have worked longer, but we stirred up so much dust that both of us had headaches, so we called it quits. I took a nice benadryll at bedtime. That did the trick. Too bad it leaves me so groggy. I could have taken one and kept working after Jess left. Since then I have somewhat lost momentum. Actually, I haven't done anything at all in there.

Can you see any improvement at all? I know there is still a lot there, but check out that carpet. So much more visible than when I began this decluttering a few weeks ago.So, there is a bin on top of the tall dresser that has all my favourite stuffed animals from childhood. I want to find a better storage solution for them, but I'm not sure what would be best.

I have an old set of rabbit ears tv antennae there. I guess there is no need for them any longer, so I should just throw them out. The box it the corner is the new bedding. The rack in front of the window is clothes I'm wearing again. The green laundry basket next to that is more old clothes I need to go through.

The rest of that pile along the back wall is office supplies and other things that have homes. I just need put that stuff where it belongs. There is a big stack of empty bins, an old metal doll's high chair I need to find a box for, then stow it in the cubby. The pile of boxes in the middle are things I want to keep, but don't really have homes for yet. The bath chair needs a new home, maybe in the basement? I still have one box of papers to go through, then there are several shoe boxes that are sorted by year. Not the best filing system, I know, but better than the stacks Jessica and I went through on Sunday. There are two boxes of lotions and potions that I either found in the linen closet or cleared off the dresser of doom, which still doesn't look any better: I have two boxes of stuff to give away to specific people, and two boxes for donation. There were three until Jessica went through them. She found more stuff she could use, or knew someone who could. Fantastic!

Hopefully I'll have more progress to report really soon. I'm getting really close to my self-imposed deadline of the 18th. I know there is no way we will get the room painted, and we have decided to wait on the mattress because I just can't spend that kind of money right now. But at least we would have a clean, empty room for Kelly and James to stay in. As long as Lewis can find the air mattress, that is...

Leaps and Bounds, But Not Where You'd Expect

I tried to combat the post-turkey fatigue on Sunday by attacking the back bedroom again. But I got sidetracked.On the bright side, the side bedroom hasn't looked this good in ages.
Here's the problem I was running into: many of the remaining boxes in the back bedroom have office supplies in them. Tons of little stuff with no home. So, I started to get the side bedroom organized to make homes for all the office supplies I will be running into. This way I don't just move the debris from one room to the other. Ultimately, I mean. 'Cause that's actually what ended up happening to some of the junk from the side bedroom.

But it is stuff I need to go through also, and I can probably get rid of 75% of it. I saw a box with dried flowers (yuck!) and a box of cards. I'm so sentimental, it is hard for me to throw cards out. But I've spied tons of trinkets that I've never liked, and they've been out of sight for so long now, I don't even remember who gave them to me. They can go with minimal guilt. There has been surprisingly little actual trash. I mean, I am throwing some things out, and I haven't gotten to the paperwork yet. Geeze, there's another whole post.

I've begun to re-think my books, too. I mean, I'm never going to re-read these novels. My friends don't read the chic lit that I do, so I may as well donate them. Art books I keep. I consider them reference books. I really need to get them out of boxes and onto the shelves my mom bought for me last August, but I haven't loaded them up yet because I need Bill to anchor the big bookcase to the wall first, and right now I can't afford Bill. Ah, the home improvement domino effect strikes again.

Slow Progress

I worked on the back bedroom a bit more this weekend. Several days passed when I didn't even want to look at it. Friday I thought I'd motivate myself a bit by ordering the curtains and comforter. It helped a bit. Saturday my dear friend Jessica came over and we went through my give away pile. She happily took several things. That was the kick in the pants I needed to keep going after she left. Several hours later, I had this: Wide open space through the middle of the room.

The dreaded dresser surface, the give away pile and the empty boxes pile:

I can even get to one window now:

But I still have this big pile to deal with:

And the crowded hall, filling fast with things unearthed from the back bedroom that live elsewhere:

More happened on Sunday, hopefully pictures tomorrow.

Small Progress

I worked on the messy bedroom for a few minutes on Friday night and was able to sort and store four bins of clothes I probably should get rid of, but am not ready to part with just yet. That didn't make much of a dent in the pile.

Sunday I spent several hours in there, made a big mess in the hall, and it still doesn't look much different. I filled a trash bag, found several empty boxes to recycle, packed up two boxes and two bags to donate, added a bit to the laundry, uncovered an empty laundry basked that had been swallowed by the mess, found a couple of trinkets and other things I can find homes for, and a shoebox of coal.

Yup. Coal. How did it get there? I have no idea. Why did I have a shoebox of coal? Your guess is as good as any. But there it was. A box of coal. At least now I think I've identified the strange odor we would smell from time to time, mostly in the summer. Time will tell.

Here's the thing I'm most afraid of:

The dreaded dresser surface, full of lotions, potion, trinkets and baubbles.

More on the Bedroom

So, here are my two dressers in the back bedroom. Please excuse the mess. Actually, since this may be my next big project, maybe you'd just better get used to seeing this mess!What do you think? Could I make it work with yesterday's idea?

I also gave the sheets some more thought. I could always embroider some seashells, starfish and sand dollars on the hems of two or three sets of pillowcases. A bit of work, yes, but we rarely use the top sheet anyway, so I could just buy the pieces I want in a solid color, save a few dollars, and I can match embroidery thread exactly to my color choice.