Simplify -- Master Bedroom Closet, Part One

Simplify!

Our Goal

A simple and beautiful house

that the Lord can use as a peaceful haven

for my family and others.

Click here to find out why/how I started!

Today's focus is on our master bedroom closet.  Sometimes, simplifying means making a mess first, taking everything out, then putting back only those things you do want.  Everything else needs to go.  So make it leave!

Part One, 
In Which We Remove Everything in the Closet, Then Paint and Re-Floor It.

We received an incredibly generous gift of laminate flooring from my parents.  We held on to it until we knew we would get to keep our house (read all about that here).  Once our house issue was settled, this project--in the master bedroom closet, of all places--became a symbol of hope, that we would stay, that we had a future right here.  So we forged ahead.

Not only did we receive a gift of flooring, but a gift of funds for a closet organizing system.  The Lord is exceedingly generous, isn't He?  In order for this huge project to go forward, we first had to empty our closet.  Time to declutter, people!

Here's the before picture; I have decluttered this space in the past, so it doesn't look that bad.  Notice I'm focusing the camera on my side of the closet.  Fernando's side is a bit, um, messier.

You can play Guess What's Missing? with these next two images.  Before removing everything, I decided to declutter clothing that I knew I wouldn't be keeping.  May as well get that taken care of, instead of sorting through it later.  I removed only a handful of items, maybe seven or eight things.  What you see is the extent of my wardrobe, except for some tee shirts, shorts, underthings, and workout clothes.

After the quick once-through of my clothing, everything else came out, starting with the stuff on top of the shelves.  I donated a whole bunch of stuff, and set aside some other stuff to sell.

Fernando's side--the scary side.

I hung a lot of my clothing around my bedroom, and folded the rest, which fit inside a Rubbermaid 44-quart box (below).

We splurged on a quart of paint, a beautiful brown color named Armadillo.  Huh?!

Our bedroom looked like this:

Fernando ripped out the closet carpeting and tack strips, and then he was ready to install floating laminate flooring.

My hero!  *sigh*

That's the end of Part One.  Join me soon in Part Two, where I'll show you the final result, and what our closet looks like now--can't wait!


Back to life,
Christine

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Simplify -- My Project Desk

Simplify!

Our Goal

A simple and beautiful house

that the Lord can use as a peaceful haven

for my family and others.

Click here to find out why/how I started!

After decluttering our master bedroom, I found myself looking over at my project desk every time I was in my room.  It was time to tackle another project.  This desk was in a different part of our room several years ago, and here's what it looked like then, along the northwest wall  Now, the desk sits next to the bed along the southeast wall, and I use the edge on the right for my Bible and clock, sort of a "nightstand" section.

This desk very easily gets cluttered, and I rarely do projects any more.  I'm in the midst of selling all my scrapbooking supplies--punches, stickers, paper, scissors--because I'd like to convert my photos to digital format for online storage and for creating memory books.

Random family photos and scrapbooking supplies...

I bought this three-tier organizer at a garage sale for a buck, cleaned it up, and it now holds various crafting supplies.  It could stand a little decluttering, too.

I spotted a few buttons on my desk as well.  These belong to a number of articles of clothing that are missing buttons (or are extra buttons for them).  I'd have to pull out my sewing organizer to put the buttons away.

Below is my sewing organizer.  The little containers pull out, then snap back into place.  Each container has several compartments for organizing.  Over time, this piece became my sewing organizer, and guess what?  I don't sew.  I do save buttons from clothing, though--you know, the extra ones that come with sweaters, dresses, coats, etc.?  And every now and then, I need thread to fix a tear, or sew on a loose button.  I've amassed quite the sewing collection over the years.  This is where I started the day's decluttering.

One of the organizer's compartments.

I started pulling out thread, snaps, hooks, buttons, needles, ack!  Where did all this stuff come from??

I set these buttons in one compartment for saving, since they're for clothing items I still own.

Most of the thread I had amassed was in the red or blue palette.

I bagged up most of the buttons in little jewelry bags I already had, and collected all the spools of thread together.

Below are the spools of color I saved, since they're basic colors I know I'll be able to use in the future.

And since at this point, that jewelry organizer was empty, I used this other empty storage container to store my sewing items, as you can see below.

What are these keys doing in this post?  I found them in the single desk drawer.  I cut out tags and attached them to the keys, labeling the ones I knew.  I hung all the keys in our key box in the back hallway by the kitchen.  Hopefully we can figure out what the keys are used for!  If not, after a while I'll just drop them in the trash.

Well, my project desk project turned into a sewing organizer project!  I donated the thread, buttons, and other sewing items to two ladies at church, and sold the sewing organizer to a lady whose son loved to organize his Legos.  Bingo!

I will share more on this desk in a future post.  For now, I'm happy that I got rid of so many little items.


Back to life,
Christine

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Simplify -- Bedroom Dresser

Simplify!

Our Goal

A simple and beautiful house

that the Lord can use as a peaceful haven

for my family and others.

Click here to find out why/how I started!

Part of having a simple house is that it works for you.  What I mean by that is this:  your stuff doesn't own you, and you are in control of your stuff.  You're able to live your life, and your "stuff" helps you do that.  It does take a few minutes' extra effort, but it saves so much in the long run!  Let me show you in pictures.

We're back in my master bedroom again, looking at the entry door and the dresser sitting just inside the room.  My long-term goal is to get rid of the dresser (Gasp!  Yes!) once we get some kind of closet organizer in our master closet.  Then a simple table (like an open sideboard) will sit here, to display my doily from Italy, my jewelry box from Korea, the candle holders, and the lamp.

Inside the dresser, I've organized the clothing so that everything can be found immediately, without sifting through stacks of things--these are shorts, workout sweats, long underwear, and t-shirts.  See what I mean about making your stuff work for you?

I'll share the method for folding (sometimes called the sushi method) in a future post (have to take pictures, haha!), but you can also look for a YouTube video, I think by the same name.  You'll find the same method there.

I decluttered this drawer, and now I own seven t-shirts, two pairs of sweats, two pairs of long underwear, and three pairs of shorts.  Seven tees seem like a lot to me, but a couple are grubby ones for gardening and sweaty chores, one is specifically a workout shirt, and the other four are for "general use."  I think that's okay, and I might just pare them down a little more once everything moves to the closet.

Yeah, I'm being brave to show you my bra drawer!  I nestle them together; they're underwire, so this seems to help them keep their shape best.  That bright teal item is my swimsuit, and behind it is my beach towel.  Next to the beach towel are sports bras and two specialty bras (with built-in lace panels for modesty) because hey--I need those.  Really.

Eight regular bras (seven in the drawer, one on me!)--yeah, that's a lot, I think.  I just purchased four of them, and am keeping the four old ones as long as they do their job.  If they still hold up well (they're Soma; they are amazing and last), I may donate them (Soma has a bra donation event the beginning of each year).  For now they stay, and trust me, I wear every one of them.

Using the same method of folding as with my t-shirts, I figured I'd try it on my underwear, trouser socks, and stockings.  I was able to combine two drawers into one with this method, and still have a bit of room left over.  Yeah, too much underwear.  I'll have to evaluate that soon.

Below is the top center drawer--pretty empty now!

Here's a now-empty drawer!  I'm on my way to saying bye-bye to this dresser!  And yes, even though I love this dresser, its style, the cedar-lined bottom drawers, it really is time to let go of it.  It's hard to keep it dusted, and more empty drawers means I have to fight to not purchase more stuff.

On to my beautiful inlaid pearl jewelry box, a gift from Fernando on his travels to Korea.  Right now, here's what's in it.  Burglars beware--the two pairs of pearl earrings are gone now, as are the rings.  There's really only $100 or so of minimal items in here, so no use trying to find my house.  Plus we're gun owners.  'Nuff said, okay?

To show you I haven't reached perfection, here's Fernando's junk drawer.  I told you I don't mess with other people's stuff.  He's very ready to go through this drawer now, so it won't look like this for long!

I just can't end this post with a nasty picture.  Here are a few prettier ones of candle holders on my dresser.  I love these!

There, that's better.


Back to life,
Christine

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Simplify -- The Master Bedroom

Simplify!

Our Goal

A simple and beautiful house

that the Lord can use as a peaceful haven

for my family and others.

Click here to find out why/how I started!

One day, I just started.  That's how I do many projects:  I sit and think about them for a long time.  Then, one day, almost on the spur of the moment, I begin.  Well, on this particular November day, I walked into our master bedroom closet, and stared at the boxes of stuff on the shelves.  I had  decided to pursue a path in my photography that did not specialize in photographing newborns exclusively; however, I had kept boxes of baby blankets, caps, bows...  I stared at those boxes, realizing I would probably never, maybe once, use those items.  And faced with the possibility of moving to a much smaller place, I knew they just had to go.  So I started making a pile piles.

I usually declutter when Fernando is out of town.  I'm not sure why, but I know that he is not a throw-er-away-er (my new word), and if I'm going to get rid of stuff, it has to be when he's not around.  Sometimes he doesn't even notice when I've cleaned out an area, unless it's particularly bad.  Plus, I work much better in quiet solitude.  So there you have it.  I was in declutter mode.

I don't have pictures of the closet, although I did declutter it a few years back.  But I had accumulated more stuff since then, and it needed decluttering.  So I did.  Since it was well organized, it was a relatively easy chore, and I was able to bring several boxes/bags of stuff to Goodwill that same day.

Feeling the freedom from that job gave me the courage to face our master bedroom.  It took me most of a month, but I got the major part done.  I also keep in mind that Fernando lives here too, and I can't touch his stuff.  There are places his stuff hides, and so it must stay hidden.  Oh--he just told me today he's ready to get rid of some of his stuff!  He's really good with ignoring it, and then all of a sudden it bugs him so he takes care of it.

Here's the view from just inside the main door to our bedroom.  Just ignore those sagging curtains on the window; if we ever do get the money, new curtains are definitely in order!

Above, standing there facing into the bedroom, I never thought I'd get to the point of being able to share pictures with you of the room where everything else ends up, the catch-all room for stuff around the house that has no place to go.

Standing directly in the room, here's our master bed--a Sleep Number bed, too!  My sweet friend Becky (and her hubby Tim) gave us the comforter and throw pillow.  The set came with shams, but we don't use them, and a bed skirt, which won't fit since the Sleep Number support piece is squeezed tightly into our existing bed frame.

In the above picture, you can also see, from left, a hanging shelf, empty since I don't collect anything but it was made by my grandfather so I'm holding off taking it down for now.  Then, there's the wall unit with the TV--yuck, but Fernando wants the TV there, so there it stays.  Then a tri-fold picture stand with photos of our boys, and the corner tall bookshelf with next to nothing on it, and a lamp on top which isn't even plugged in, lol.

This room, as you can tell, is long and narrow, and maybe one day we'll have just a TV hanging on the wall opposite the bed--I think I'd be okay with that.  For the below, I'm standing with my back to the west window in our room.  In the front corner, way back there in the center of the image, is my project desk.  I can see getting rid of it someday, since I rarely do "projects" such as scrapbooking or paper crafting.  It still needs to be decluttered, and lots of the craft supplies are ready to be sold or given away.  That's another project for the future.  My room is now peaceful, and a quiet place to lay my head at the end of a long day.

It's not done.  And a simple life is never a place you arrive at.  It is a place you maintain, and I'm not there yet.  I'm realistic enough to know I won't reach perfection, but it's a journey I'm happy to be on because I know that simple is best.  More on the bedroom soon!


Back to life,
Christine

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