We're planning for some major minor renovations this week, and the house has been in a state of bordering-on-chaos for a few days now. Not chaos, just boardering on it. Juuuuust on the edge.
Our major minor renovations is just a little bit of insulation on the upper floor, but it necessitates getting rid of anything furniture-wise around the outside perimiter of the house. And everything in the living room.
One of the unfortuate things that lies around the outside edge of our house is our kitchen cabinets and our sink.
The same one that we tore out about a year ago and put back in. We will now repeat that action, with the ripping out (again) and the putting back in (again.)
It also involves some spray stuff in the basement, which necessitates moving everything away from the north, south, and west wall of our basement. East side gonna be crowwwwded...
Anyway, my point is this:
There is so much stress on simplifying these days. But when I moved my plants and my book shelves, and a few pieces of extra furniture out of the living room, it didn't feel simple.
It felt empty.
Our living room is one of the magical places in the house, where we have managed to narrow it down to just enough stuff to fit in the room. It's perfect - when everything is put in it's place, the room is a little haven of warmth and loveliness.
There are no other rooms like this in the house! (Except maybe the bathroom...almost.)
The kids rooms have too many toys, our room has too many clothes. There is too much fabric in my sewing room, too much crap-of-all-kinds in the basement (and way too many mason jars.) Oh, and I run a business down there.
There is too much useless junk in the kitchen, and too much recycling and garbage, and too much DAMN DOG FOOD ALL OVER THE FLOOR.
BUT. When it feels overwhelming, as it often does, I need to remember that I don't need to get rid of everything in site.
Nope. Just what doesn't fit.
Everything in the home needs to have a place. When you clean up the house, it should be easy to put everything away, because everything has a place to go to. (Its easier to get kids on board then too, because it's just about putting things in their spot.) If it doesn't have a place, maybe it's gotta go. Or maybe it needs a spot in storage. Or maybe if it's really that important, then something else needs to go so the important thing can have a place.
Simplifying can often feel so overwhelming. But we do have a decent amount of space in this house, and some pretty good storage solutions, and some good Virgo brains to go along with it.
I just need to do a little bit of letting go of things (something I'm not very good at) and a little bit of organizing and labeling (something I AM very good at) and we're not going to be too far off the wonderful little heavenly bliss of our living room.
Everything in it's place. That's it.
I am one of those anal neat freaks and everything in my house has a place (except the things in my husband's garage - I give him that space). We don't even have a junk drawer. However, since our home is always under construction, I know what it is like to have one room like your living room, that is perfect and makes you feel like all is right in the world for just a couple of moments when you are there (and actually have the time to sit and enjoy it). We redid our bathroom a couple years ago and installed tile floor, wood walls, and an old clawfoot tub. Taking a shower is my massage, stiff drink, large hot chocolate with whipped cream, all rolled into one 15 minute escape. Every room in the house has at least one unfinished wall in it, but when I'm standing in the shower, I can forget all that.
ReplyDeleteHi Jenn, so seeing your give-away on Lisa's blog has reminded me that I really did want to comment on this post as it so clearly articulates how I feel about our home. I even left it open for Robin to read to try and help him understand better where I'm coming from much of the time. Things need their places! And that's why, after 4 years of being in this house now that the kids are finally old enough to both go to their grandparents for a weekend I made the request that they take them for 4 weekends (2 each) this winter so that we could tackle the major problem areas in our home: our bookshelves, the kitchen, the workroom & the office.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a major purge, although it is great to get rid of a few things, but it's getting the last of the things out of boxes from moving and our wedding, and sorting and organizing and finding homes for things that work now that we know our space better.
We are currently 2/3 of the way through our second weekend and man does it ever feel good to be getting this place sorted out as we do, we love our cozy little home here in Kitchener and it will be even that much more enjoyable when everything has it's place. :)
Here's hoping you're feeling even cozier in your home with all your new insulation!!