And other tales of motivation at our house right now! On the FIAR forum there's been a group of us dedicated to "de-cluttering" our homes. How fun to post daily on any projects and progress we have made!
I've really been tearing up the thread with gobs of energy devoted to making some real change at our little house. It all started with getting rid of the piles of dusty junk on my husband's dresser. I went in there to hoe out and vacuum the dust off (yes, it was THAT bad and for a house full of people allergic to dust I should know better). I ended up moving his dresser to a new spot (and if you could see my bedroom you would know that this is really a bold move with little to work with!) and what a difference it made! We were all excited and even the man whose belongings had been moved was happy. His dresser is tall enough that it had become toy purgatory so he's glad to see his dresser top and have his things on it again.
Well! With such success I began to make BIG plans for more decluttering. I've been sweeping through the house like a whirlwind only my presence has brought calm and peace where there once was chaos. I got rid of 5 large trash bags from our basement along with tons of recycling (the trash guys must have loved us last week seeing as that was in addition to the normal trash six people produce in a week). I also consigned quite a few items to a local shop and dropped off the leftovers at "the army". Don't worry- I did save the keepsake type stuff, but it is limited to what our space can handle and no more.
I'm on hold in there until Dan puts up the project counter. This is a piece of industrial grade counter top from his old lab. When they tore it apart to make the new one, they gave away a lot of stuff. This surface will withstand anything so he thought it would make a great crafting table. I've cleared the spot, now the engineer must decide how to build a frame to hold it up. I'll update on that when it's time.
Not wanting the fire to go out I've been working in the school room too. I'll share more on that in another post.
The big project in the kids' rooms has been the gutter shelves. I rearranged in there and Dan finally agreed to help me out by putting the shelves up. Floor space is prime real estate at my house so getting the book boxes off the floor was necessary at this point. Four kids in about 1500 sq ft and three bedrooms means being creative with our space and I'm finally learning, that it's about discerning what really needs to be here and what doesn't. ~ "Yes! Finally!", says Dan!! We took one dresser out of the boys' room and moved the changing dresser into their room. This meant I5 sharing dresser space with J2 and closet space with E8, but it worked out! The extra dresser is in the basement awaiting its prominent spot next to the project counter. Taking the dresser out of the littlest bedroom meant we could return the dollhouse to its former glory in R7's room. That in turn left available wall space in the playroom and shelf space too as we moved up the barbies and only hearts club dolls and pollys to the room in which their residence is now located once again.
So, you see, our house is a lot like one of those puzzles you get where you have to make the picture but only one square is loose so you have to be careful and methodical. I'm happy to say that I've probably opened up a few more squares making it easier to move things around!
Enjoy some of the results of a bee in one's bonnet- more to come as projects are completed!
E8 and I5 share a room and are delighted about their new gutter shelves!
