Hi...Anybody Still Out There?



The Dream

Wow

I can't believe how long it has been since I've visited this site. Sorry. My life has been so hectic that dealing with my home and/or reading shelter mags and websites has gone by the wayside. You will not believe what my apartment looks like now. No, not good. Not good at all. Every single surface has something on it, most likely something that should be stored somewhere else.

I have been sewing so a lot of that stuff is pattern pieces, fabric, and in-progress garments. My living space has become the messiest garment workshop ever!

Not only do I want to corral this stuff to its proper place but I also want to eliminate the other non-sewing related visual clutter. Years ago, I embarked on the Apartment Therapy Cure which was only successful in theory. Then, I moved onto the exceedingly hopeful Throw Out Fifty Things... program, however I failed that one too. I still believe in the author Gail Blankes' book and hopefully will get back to it one day. My goal is to simplify my life and get rid of about 50% of the stuff I own. I can't believe I once lived in an efficiency! Now my 550 square foot apartment is packed to the gills with stuff I use now, I once used, and stuff I'm holding onto for the life I'll one day have. Um, yeeeeaaah...right.

• You might like to read an earlier post on my problem here: Could I Stuff My Stuff In A Little House
• Oh and here are pictures of my home in much better days, after the Cure (2006-10).

I hope that I'll be able to keep you up-to-date on my progress but that's something I can only say I'll work on. I do know that if I find articles that I think might be helpful to others I will be posting links to them here.

Here's an example of somewhere cute that I just don't think I'm capable of, in this New York Times article and slide show about living in a small space. Check out that under mattress storage!

Image: Martha Stewart Living via Blueprint magazine, March/April 2007.

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Do You Have Clutter To Clear?

In 2008, I wrote about a article in the 2007 April issue of Real Simple magazine*. I just found out that the article's author, Gail Blanke, has now released an entire book on the subject, Throw out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find your Life.

Even though I was greatly influenced by the article and definitely believe in the benefits she described, I still have quite a way to go in clearing out my clutter. There is definitely a reason that I can't seem to let it go. So I can't wait until the library gets their copy in so I can read this. For those of you with healthier paychecks, please go and buy a copy.

* For some reason, they've removed it from their website.

Wisdom From Dr. Wende

Check out this comment from my last post about clutter, that just blew me away. This is even better than the Buddhist quote.

"If you're going to find out who you'll become, you need space in your life for who you are, rather than storing reminders of who you thought you were going to be."

Dr. Wende

Wow, Wende, just wow...

Is It Time For A Purge?

Note: I actually wrote this a month ago and forgot to post it. However, the feelings are still exactly the same.


One thing I've been thinking about is giving away or donating so much of the "stuff" in my life. I know I've talked about this before when mentioning the Apartment Therapy Cure, but I don't think I was really taking it seriously. I have a lot of stuff waiting for a different life than the one I am currently living. I feel I can't get rid of this stuff because what will happen when I do have an opportunity to use that thingamajig or that deeley-bopper?

Yes, I could force myself to use these things now; I could force my life to fit the stuff OR I could get rid of the stuff and the seemingly accusatory feeling I get when I see these things. Truly simplify my life so that I can just live my life without placing anticipatory pressure on it. You know all the One day...I will need this crap CRAP.

If I haven't needed it for the eight years I've owned it then why is it still taking up space on my shelves?

The thought of a brand new apartment with loads of empty spaces to fill with souvenirs of future trips and tchotchkes picked up along the way does excite me but it is far from what I live with on a daily basis. I think a lot of the stuff I have now gives either the feeling of a life unlived or of temporary place-holders for the "real" stuff rather than me being prepared for whatever might come. Of course I will still hold onto some things like my satin BCBG cocktail gown (I WILL wear that again) and my Maleficent Mardi Gras costume (you never know when you'll be invited to a Disney character theme party, right?) But the little things you just happen to accumulate along the way but wouldn't take with you if your dream home suddenly appeared, well I think I can get rid of them a little ahead of schedule. Maybe it can speed up the process.

Or hey, maybe without the baggage my journey will be easier and less hampered?

Does It Ever End?

Due to some last minute signatures needed from the VA State government, I had to stay home today from work. So, yes even more money I won't get paid this week.

So I am taking the time to get rid of some clutter and stuff around the house. There are so many surfaces, boxes, and closets that need to be dug through and pared down. For the longest time, just the thought of doing this could paralyze me. I've decided to work slow, moving from one area to another, and taking small breaks (like this one!) as I go. Wish me luck.

The favorite dress has been found!

It was piled up in my Out Box with all the stuff I'm getting rid of! Uh oh!

I found it thanks to the fact that I'm participating in a group yard sale this weekend. I really only looked through that pile because of the sale and it was the third thing I picked up. I had first looked through my clothes closet this morning; up on the top shelf, where I found stuff I thought I had given away long ago (!), along the bottom, and even in all my suitcases, just in case. Then this evening I went through the mega-packed front closet (8-feet wide, 9-feet tall and stuffed to the max) where the future thrift store or consignment shop items are hanging out. I checked in garment bags and under all the jackets and coats. I now know what I have (still) and what I don't need.

So hopefully, through this yard sale, I can shift a lot of stuff out of here tomorrow (mostly clothes!) and this won't happen again. Well...at least not anytime soon!

The Need to Purge

I remember years ago when I first started reading about the Apartment Therapy Cure. It sounded exactly like what I needed; a systemized way to get rid of my apartment clutter. The cure has occurred umpteen times now and always with a very helpful and supportive group of fellow Cure-ees. However, time and again, I find I "don't have the time" to do it. However, there has always been stuff to get rid of in my "outbox" area since the day I moved in.

This is a girl that loves empty space around her furniture and along her walls, but you wouldn't know that from looking around my apartment. There are piles of picture frames, stacks of boxes holding old clothes, empty product boxes, a stack of obsolete college textbooks I can't even sell back, and magazines that no longer fit on their designated shelf. These things annoy me, get in my way, look messy, and above all, accumulate dust bunnies like nobody's business!

The detritus of my life includes items I need to either give away to friends, donate, throw away, sell for whatever I can, or re-use with a different purpose. This occurs in my clothing, shoes, apartment decorative items, furniture, and kitchen items. There is so much in this little 520 sq ft apartment that I could live without, it is amazing.

I have two Bundt cake pans and the last time I made a Bundt cake it was the 90's. Should one or both go? I have items bought specifically for certain events in my life that are now laying dormant, clothes I need a reason to wear that I just don't have right now. How do I handle all of this?

Watch this space to see how I handle this all.

Slowly losing a friend...

My blogging life started at the same time as my discovery of Apartment Therapy. My first few posts were about either the first Small Cool Contest or the first AT Cure. So, it is very sad that AT and I are growing farther and farther apart. We are just going in different directions. It's not them...it's me.

1) I now dread reading the comments for House Tours or any of the contests. It is not that the negativity or snarkiness has gotten worse, it is just that as time goes by I can handle less and less of it. In the beginning, I would read every one of the comments only stopping when I reached the end. Now I read a few and if I hit a snarky or downright nasty comment that's it for me, off I go.

2) I check the site maybe once a week now, so even with the addition of AT: Boston and AT: DC, this probably will not change. I now use the main page to go through the four city sites.

3) Even though I signed up for this round, I haven't followed the Cure posts at all. I am still a fan of the idea and I will keep taking care of the Apartment Therapy Cure (Unofficial) Flickr group I started, however, I just can't keep up on a daily basis.

4) I have only seen five of this year Smallest Coolest contestants so I am not voting this time. In the past I used to keep refreshing the page all day long to keep up. Now, I'm only looking at the ones that catch my eye with their first picture. In the earlier years, regular readers mentioned the discrepancy in incomes and expertise among the contestants. This year, I noticed two more problems that need mentioning:

• They increased the size limit to 850 square feet. It's not naive to say that someone with a 850 square foot apartment does not have the same storage and clutter challenges as people in living spaces under 500 sq feet, let alone ones under 350 sq feet. There are family homes with yards that have the same square footage all over the country. That is not small. Here is one from the March issue of Cottage Living.

• People are not submitting pictures of their whole spaces but shots of fireplace mantels and candlesticks or lamps on end tables. The contest is about where they live, not just what looks cute through the camera lens. We want to see their storage solutions, which I think was the main reason for this contest on small spaces in the first place, right? If we're lucky, we might see a picture of the main couch or bed wall in the living room or bedroom. There are barely any kitchen pictures seen, unless the kitchen has just been remodeled and almost no bathroom photos. I first started not voting for an entry if it was mostly art photos, which then turned into me not voting for any.

AT, I will always support you; however, you have to become a much smaller part of my life now.
Take care.

The Inkling for the Table

I am so happy that I finally finished painting that blue dining/sewing table. That project had been on my list for over a year. I kept putting it off because it would put a delay in my sewing. You know, like I didn't have my own procrastination-fueled delays. Well, it's done.

Here is the inspiration for this project.

1) This color scheme has been on my mind ever since I saw this picture on Yvestown's website:

2) Until I saw this picture on Apartment Therapy:SF as part of Emily and Damon's House Tour, I didn't know exactly where I was going to use that color scheme.

A nice simple utilitarian table in baby blue. Yum!

Then today I noticed all the other blue painted table inspiration that was in my archives. I guess I REALLY like the idea of a blue table.

• 
  

2007: The Year-long Cure

I pulled up a post I wrote this spring during the Apartment Therapy Cure about what I wanted to accomplish then. Well, that list was barely touched in that 8 week span. However, if I turn it into a 2007 year plan, then I'm doing pretty good. So, I'm going with that option. Duh.
Goals:

• Test Himalayan Mist pale blue sample from Behr and paint bedroom
  Completed April 2007
  
• Assemble white IKEA Vika Amon/Vika Artur desk
  Completed May 2007
  
• Mount empty brightly colored picture frames from to emulate this image from Wary Meyers
  Completed July 2007
  
• Hang Inside a Black Apples' Mysterious Genevieve print
  Completed July 2007
  
• Paint and patinate (yes, I looked it up) my gold mirror using pale yellow and blue paint
  Completed March 2007
  
• Paint dining/craft table a very pale blue to contrast with the red chairs (probably use the leftover samples from Behr or extra Benjamin Moore sample pots)
  Completed October 2007

• Special order a quart of the American Accents Leafy Green paint from Lowe's or Home Depot for the armoire (**Could only find in oil base spray paint, have to find a new color.) in Benjamin Moore Clover Green in satin.
  Completed June 2021!

• Take another try at tailoring the loveseat slip cover
  Completed June 2007
  
• Make the bolster pillows for the loveseat
  Completed May 2007
  
• Mount artwork on the walls, including my heavy Swingers poster and my Leia Bell prints
  Completed May 2007 and October 2007
  
• Hang curtain dividing the kitchen from the living/dining area.
  Awaiting completion

I also want to mount a series of shelves next to the French doors in my living room. However, because I did not add them to this list they do not need to be finished this year. So hurray for that!

October Home Improvement

I'm sanding my sewing/dining table right now so I can finally paint it. One of the legs lost a good chunk out of it during the move three years ago. I patched it with wood filler yesterday. After sanding it level with the rest, I'll prime the whole thing.

I will be working on at least one of my walls this month, filling the spaces above with some of the images below. I took a panoramic photo to give you an idea of what amount of area I will be covering. Note the ceiling track lights, these are at 12 feet 7 inches high. I will only be able to mount pictures up to the middle of the Swingers poster with my 4-foot stepladder.

What I'm looking at today:

Another Shade of Grey's great adaption of a transfer technique in creation of an easy-to-follow pattern you can use to nailhead trim a piece of furniture.

Elloh's pop culture inspired paintings on Etsy. (seen first at Clemantine.) Check out his grouping inspired by the Office cast.

Abby's take on BHG's instructions on how to mock up a picture wall. These are instructions that I need to study for this Apartment Therapy Cure session as my main goal is to get my art up off all horizontal surfaces in my apartment and up on my walls.

I'm inspired by this decor8 post. I like the lamp shades decorated with what looks like children's art. I know one little artist (The Julia*) that could decorate her future baby sister's nursery in a really cool way (or maybe I'll just get a lampshade for me!) Ha! I had originally thought her drawings could be used to make pillows, but...

Can You Help Me?

Here are two things that I have moved with me from one apartment to another. Neither of them has ever been displayed or used properly. Things like these are the true source of my clutter so please help me figure out what to do with them.

• One 4-lb bag of beach glass*.

• One $1 bill with director John Waters' autograph.
  (Obtained when he came to speak on campus during my Sophomore year of college in the late 80's.)
  

Do you know anyone that would want to make jewelry out of this glass?

What is the best way that I should frame this dollar? This is a valuable autograph that luckily has not been exposed to the sun over the years.

* Interesting fact: Beach glass is one of a few objects made valuable by actions of the environment on man-made litter.

First and second choices are out

The white frame blends with the mat and the whole thing disappears into the very pale blue walls.

Black, the second choice, is also not right even though it does match her mask and the temporary bedspread.

Weird, but doesn't this look like I drew a frame on the picture with a Sharpie?

I think I need to find a frame that goes with the headboard, perhaps orange. Maybe I also need to change the off-white mat to a truer white?

The Bedroom Redone

Finally, I can show you my updated bedroom, which began with the new paint job.





My take on the Wary Meyer idea I originally was going to emulate. The print is wrapping paper I received with a holiday gift that I couldn't throw it away because it was so lovely.



My new office setup, complete with new IKEA desk, computer cozy, covered bulletin boards, cork tiles, and my painted mirror.

Home Upside Down

Well, I am in the process of rearranging my living room. Because I will be moving furniture, it means I will have to confront all the picture frames, mirrors, vases, and misc. objects that have been either stored behind or under my furniture. It also means that the resulting dust bunnies will need to be dealt with too.

In order to move the furniture to its new location, I also have to empty out the drawers and shelves. While doing that, it's inevitable that I will go through those papers, books, and supplies trying to see if I can eliminate any more of that stuff.

So that is what I will be doing for a while. I'll let you know how it goes.

Made a little difference

I made some progress.

I went through all of the clippings that had been accumulating on top of the files that they belonged in. I was able to sort those away and also throw away the ones that were no longer relevant. Would you believe it took me over four hours?!



It doesn't look like it, but that was SEVEN POUNDS (!) of paper that I threw away.

I also recorded all the serial numbers of my electronic items on the back of their photos and stored them in my fire-proof safe.

Arranged my two inspiration boards. (photos later)

I will be doing some sewing tomorrow...just not sure what yet.

Here it is...My Clutter

1. Buffet clutter, 2. Kitchen island clutter, 3. General clutter,
4. More dining table clutter, 5. Coffee table clutter, 6. Armoire top clutter,
7. Vanity chair clutter, 8. Landing strip clutter, 9. Dining clutter

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

I took these pictures two nights ago so you could see the clutter that I woke up to on Tuesday.

Yes, I guess I could have cleaned up last night instead of photographing and blogging this but I wanted you to see how my house really looks like the majority of the time.

Hey, you asked where it was...

Things to get done during or after the Cure

Goals:

• Test Glacial Tint and Himalayan Mist! pale blue samples from Behr and paint bedroom with the chosen color (Done 4/07)
• Assemble white IKEA Vika Amon/Vika Artur desk (Done 5/07)
• Mount empty brightly colored picture frames from to emulate this image from Wary Meyers (Done 7/07)
• Hang Inside a Black Apples' Mysterious Genevieve print (Done 7/07)
• Paint and patinate (yes, I looked it up) my gold mirror using pale yellow and blue paint (Done 3/07)
• Paint dining/craft table a very pale blue to contrast with the red chairs (probably use the leftover samples from Behr or extra Benjamin Moore sample pots) (Done 10/07)
• Special order a quart of the American Accents Leafy Green paint from Lowe's or Home Depot for the armoire (**I found out that Rust-Oleum no longer makes this color available in a brush-on latex paint, I would have to use the oil-based spray, which I don't want to use. Hmmm...)
• Take another try at tailoring the loveseat slip cover (still too loose) (Done 6/07)
• Make the bolster pillows (came up with new idea for the shape) (Done 5/07)
• Mount artwork on the walls, including my heavy Swingers poster and my Leia Bell prints (Done 5/07 & 10/07)
• Hang curtain dividing the kitchen from the living/dining area. The fabric I wanted was discontinued so I had to start again and I am now thinking about one of these below. They are from the same collection as the one I originally wanted.

Update: I bought over four yards of the green, yellow, and blue print.*
Bolded = Done
* = In progress

Pre-Cure Spring 2007

Ever since I started this blog, I have been thinking my ideal home will be small. However, I now have a 520 sq ft apartment [How do you figure this out?] and I feel it is stuffed to the brim. Will it be possible for me to have an 1,040-1,600 sq ft home and not do the same to it?

When I look at my files of apartments and homes that I want to emulate, I see space around each piece of the furniture; bookcases with books and tchotchkes arranged with a lot of white space; all objects up off the floor with skirt-less chairs and sofas, and all the tables without stacks of magazines, papers, and bills strewn all over them.

However, I am a researcher at heart, so I have many hanging files on design ideas, DIY projects, future recipes, insurance info, and all of my tax returns since the very beginning (almost twenty years). Therefore, even if I pare down stuff there still has to be a lot of storage space for these items. I also a have a few garments that my late mother made me when I was in high school, and some of my first (and more advanced) garments that I made in college that no longer fit. Yes, I Am a Pack Rat.

So how do I reconcile these two sides of me?

This will be the third time I participate in the Apartment Therapy Cure. I thought I did a very good job both times getting rid of stuff. My Out Box was always packed and most of the stuff actually did leave and stay gone. However, I still feel claustrophobic in this space. What am I missing, or what SHOULD I be missing? I hope someone out there will be able to help.

I know people who can get rid of furniture because they know that in their next place they will be trading up. My life has been so dramatically changed in the last three years that I can’t depend on that. Four years ago, I was less than $300 from being 100% debt-free, school and car loans were long paid off, making a decent salary, and possibly would have been buying property before that year was over. Instead I ended up out of a job and returning to college to finish a long unfinished degree. Two months ago, after attending classes part-time and working full-time for two years, I decided to put more of the emphasis on school and am now taking classes full-time. So for me “trading up” will take awhile as I first need the degree and to get another well-paying job so I can start paying off these new loans.

In the meantime, what do I do? I really don’t own that much furniture but it suddenly seems like too much in my living room. Is it the way I have it arranged? Could the “flow” be better? Can someone help me?