Spring Cleaning

At the risk of alienating some of my more design-weary readers with a continued theme of home improvement, allow me to share with you the results of my latest project. (no, it is not coverlet related...but that update is coming!)


I'm sure you remember the tear inducing catastrophe, lurking just off our living room. I give you....

Before

In all honesty, this picture hardly does the mess justice. Behind the desk is a mountain of (more) stuff, and I didn't even dare take a photo facing the other direction! Our "3 seasons room" had been serving about 33 purposes. It was known as the office/craft room/exercise area/catch-all. (it also serves as a hiding space for our booze when the YL kids come over. So responsible I know!) Recently though, it had shed most of its many purposes and was turning in to a junk den. If I didn't want to deal with something, I threw it in there. And once the organization started to fail, I saw no sense in fighting a losing battle. I surrendered to the piles and let things fall where they may. (things, in this case includes such superfluous items as my passport, social security card, and car registration. Is it any wonder that I drove with expired plates for a year?)

I hated having a space that we never used but I couldn't seem to do much about it. My initial attempt at organization left me with a tidy office, but a dining room full of the displaced contents. It wasn't simply a matter of rearranging. We needed some Storage Solutions! I think we know where this is going...Ikea to the rescue! So we made the trek to the big blue box, and picked up an Expedit shelf (I would link to the product, but it tends to shut our laptop down. Practical shelf, painful website). Eighteen allen wrench scews later, we had more storage than we knew what to do with. Witness the results....

After

Ahhhhhh, now doesn't that feel better? Now in the interest of full disclosure, I did roll the eliptical out of the room temporarily, but it does still fit, and you can even walk around it now! And look- I am now brave enough to show you another angle....

Isn't order beautiful? It's crazy how much one piece of furniture can do! I'm actually wondering what to put on the bookshelf now, because I've cleared out so much space. Something tells me I'll find something......

And the best part is, a few weeks later- the room still looks like this. I may not be the tidiest person in the world (ok, I'm definitely not. I have met that titleholder and she is my mother.) but I can definitely get into the whole idea of "a place for everything, and everything in its place". The more systems I set up, the easier it gets.

Now please, just don't peek in my closet....Baby steps.