Uncluttering

There was a series of articles out on various blogs last week about uncluttering. Now, I didn't pour over all of these articles, but merely skimmed them thinking, "I wish our house was more clutter-free....someone should really get on that..."

Past
My parents were pack rats. My mother, in particular, kept just about everything. We had stacks of old newspapers that she wanted to go through "one day" to clip out an article here and there....and yet, that day never came.

My dad, who stocked an extensive workshop in his garage, also kept just about everything, and had labels for it. Bins of random, old nuts and bolts. Various ratchet sets. Nails of all shapes and sizes.

Summary: I'm genetically engineered to keep stuff that has surpassed its useful life.

Not-so-distant Past
I like to think that we keep our house relatively clean and somewhat clutter-free. Yes, we have our random stacks of mail here, and bags there. Who doesn't? Occasionally, one or both of us will get into a cleaning frenzy, and tear through the house cleaning or organizing. Amar, in particular, is excellent with sorting through paper. I, on the other hand, have a tendency to just stack things and forget about them.

Until recently, our guest room served as a dumping ground for stuff that just didn't have any other place to go. Boxes of books. Boxes and boxes of paper. Old stuff that my dad brought over that had been living at his house. Dogs. Computers. Tools. You name it - it went in our study.

So our 1,400 square feet started feeling smaller and smaller. Something had to be done.

Summary: Something had to be done.

Present
Well, since I just about finished the table project, I was in need of something else to occupy my time. Our guest room had been bugging me, and after a recent trip to IKEA, I think I was just about fed up with the clutter in there. I was inspired by the various displays of organizational boxes, things nicely stacked and grouped, etc. I was also inspired by the blog articles that I skimmed, and so I went to work a few nights ago.

I started emptying out boxes. I stuffed already packed boxes into the closet. We threw away newly empty boxes. I moved the desk, file cabinet and drawers to another wall. I created a tool shelf and moved that to another wall. I went through old magazines and tore out only the pages I cared about, tossing the rest. I filed those pages in a cute file folder. I organized our end tables. I cleaned off our dresser.

Amar got into the groove as well, going through a box of papers that was years old. And voila - he found some old stocks! Goodness was abounding! I just wish I had taken before and after pictures. But for now, here are the after pictures. Note: I know they are bad. But I like the bad, because it means that light from the sun is now getting into the room, which I enjoy. So deal with it ;)

The soon-to-be reading corner:
I eventually want to hang some shelves over the windows, get some under-shelf lighting going, pop some pictures up on the shelf, and throw in a nice big chair. The dogs are also enjoying the space, I might add.




The new tool shelf:
Yes, there are still boxes, but there are WAY less than there were before. AND I know what's in these: pictures. I'm proud of the storage for the tools, since we frequently need tape, or a hammer, or a level and we used to have to dig to find them:




The new "office":
This desk and drawer unit used to be in front of the windows. I shuffled it over to this side wall, did some cord-management (under the desk) and various organizing. I would like to get some wall organizing stuff for the space over the desk, recover the chair, and potentially paint the file cabinet white. Ta da: