More of Less

You might remember the painting from my post about it in March or you might remember the More or Less post I did back in April about the contents of the top drawer of this cabinet.

 

However,  I forgot neglected  did not want to show you what is behind the doors of the cabinet.  Here we go.

 

It could be worse, but it could be a lot better.  So, I pulled everything out to survey the situation.  This is always the point that I want to quit and run away. Far away.

Sheets and duvets that I will never use again, old pillows, a curtain from our apartment (love the fabric), gift wrap supplies and a small stash of children's gifts.  It might seem over the top to have a gift stash (and I had been beginning to think so), but I have actually gone into the stash twice in the last 4 weeks. So, for now it is a keeper.

I dropped off the extra linens, along with 6 bags of clothes, purses, and miscellaneous accessories at an Oxfam store this morning.  After this Christmas I should be down to one roll of gift wrap (brown packing paper) and then all of the gift related stuff can fit on one shelf.  Who knows maybe I will get all crazy and keep one shelf (hold on to your seat belts) empty.  Sometime down the line I need to oil the cabinet and do something about the old and dingy contact paper.  I am just going to simmer down for now though.

After all, this is much better.

More of Less

I have been obsessed with interested in organizing for a long time. Especially if other people are doing the organizing and I am watching the process on TV or on my computer screen.  Oh, I have dabbled in the process in the past (see my very neglected More of Less column).  In fact,  I am pretty sure that one of my very first purchases ever at IKEA included storage boxes.  I got rid of those boxes in January and wrote about it in my first post titled  More of Less.  Over the course of my "column" I lost sight of the title or maybe I just wasn't ready for what it really meant or not fully committed.  Who knows.

I am still not there, but I am closer.  For the longest time I thought being organized only involved putting things in pretty boxes or containers. It does not, that is merely a quick fix.  A few weeks ago I read this.

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.
–William Morris.

Now this is the house that I want to live in and those should be the words repeated before something is organized into a box. Jules at Pancakes & French Fries is on her best way with her October series titled "31 Days of William Morris" and her blog is where I first read the quote.  It is also the place I have found countless hours of blog reading excellence.  Really.  Go have a look.

So what does this mean?  It means that I am taking no prisoners and  have ordered a special trash pick-up for large bulky items (called Sperrmüll in Germany).  Everything has to be out on the curb on the morning of October 25th.   I mean business.

I am also back in my shelves, containers and cabinets. Here is a photo of the after of a bathroom drawer,  unfortunately there is no before picture.

It was one of those organizing projects that came about spontaneously.  As in, I opened the drawer and went into a fit.  It was a productive fit.  I threw out a lot of stuff (mainly lipgloss).  You know the half used, can't remember when I bought it kind.  Most importantly I found a use for the dividers that  came with the pullout drawers from the IKEA PAX closet.  I hope they will help keep mayhem at bay. This post is all about purging, but sometimes it pays to keep (see the useful part of the quote).  I even had to partake in some saw action so that the slats would fit. Yes, I am talking real big time blogger stuff and I only have this picture to show for it.

I am One

3@12, that is. This is not really how I envisioned my post to be for today.  Over two weeks since my last post, a photo I have previously used, and no real plan on what to write.  Still, I did not want my one year blog birthday to go by without mention and most importantly thank everyone who reads it. A real big thanks to you! 

Not sure what year two will bring, but I am hoping a painted stool, an organized house, better photography and better follow through (see the first three items) will be a part of it.