How many of you have a catch all room? Yes, we do as well. Our house is small. About 1200 sq feet small. We have 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, one small living room, and ZERO walk in closets. JD made an attic for storage when we moved in. He put the hole in the ceiling and the pull down ladder and then decked it so we could FILL IT UP! I love being married to a handy man!
But the attic is not an easy thing to access, especially for quickly picking up when company is on the way over. It is much easier to throw things in the guest room/office and close the door. Do I hear an Amen?
JD's Mom was heading to town for a week long stay and that determined where the Great Purge would begin. You got it, the guestroom! Who wants to stay in a room that looks like this:
Or this?
There was no easy solution. The closet was overflowing, therefore nothing else could be crammed in. I recently decided (after hearing a Mom friend talk about everything having a proper place in your house) that I didn't want to "tidy" up the office, but I wanted to make sure everything went to it's newly found home. We took a Saturday to do the majority of the putting up, garage sale boxing (about 5 full boxes), and throwing away of all the trash.
I am excited to say that the floor is now clean (vacuumed for the first time in who knows how many months),
the bed is made,
the closet is functional (out of site, out of mind--I didn't think to take a before picture),
and the desk and bookshelf are a little lighter!
Our home office has recently been stationed on the kitchen table, with printer there too. Who wants to work in that crazy place we called an office? The next step, now that we can walk into the room, is to move the computer to the desk and put the printer inside a drawer! I love that it will be hidden!
You have seen two of the worst rooms in my house this month. Yikes! This room obviously needs some decorating help as well, but I have a little something up my sleeve. I love trains, and my grandfather was an engineer. I have lots of train paraphernalia and black and white pictures. Maybe cheesy, but there is family history there. But there are other rooms that are higher on my priority list.
But, here is where I need help: We have a laptop that recently died on us. Won't even turn on. I would love to donate it to someone who will restore it and give it to someone who needs a computer, but can't afford one. Anyone know of an organization who will do something like this?
It looks great! Can’t wait to visit and use the “new” guest room! Good luck when you have your garage sale. Our neighborhood has a garage sale once a year. It is always a success and it puts all the planning (permits, newspaper announcements, neighborhood map marking all the participating houses) on a central group, usually the neighborhood association. A good purge can be so satisfying!
ReplyDeleteI am on a purge mission as well. It feels good!
ReplyDeleteI am reading a great book called "The House That Cleans Itself," which has a lot of great ideas/tips for getting the clutter under control!
I need to post some pictures of my "catch-all" room too. It's slowly coming along!
Great job! Hey, I have an award for you at my blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm working on this very thing today... purging the kids' closets and our spare bedroom. The kids' clothes is going to a sale this weekend, and the other junk is headed to the curb or to Goodwill. There is just way too much STUFF in this house! Great job on your purging, by the way! :)
ReplyDeleteMy WFMW tip today is about keeping track of post ideas.
Wow, I wish my catch all room looked as good as your before pitctures, lol. However, with spring fever/cleaning here I'm determined to make some progress in that room.
ReplyDeletelove it! I really need to do this!
ReplyDeleteYou look like you did a great job. I didn't tackle anything near that big, but we just moved. Our huge "catch all" room is the garage! Yikes, it's ugly. Trains sounds awesome! My dad loves trains as well!
ReplyDeleteI have a laptop that recently died as well. It won't turn on and there is no telling what all I lost on there. So sad... I know that local schools will take stuff like that...at least in our area. The middle school I worked at would take them and somehow it was a fundraiser (toner and ink cart., cell phones, etc.). You might try e-mailing a local principal and asking. I should do that too, I just want to make sure that none of my information can be found when the computer is saved. :)
Looks fantastic! We're in the middle of a big purge, too. It's great to see the pictures for inspiration!
ReplyDeleteaghhhhhhh a girl after my own heart! I LOVE TO PURGE and get rid of CRAP--you heard me I said CRAP--the Caskeys love to save things it drives me crazy.....love them..but I don't have room for any more "things" in my house. I'm in need of purging the toy bins--wanna come over and help?
ReplyDeleteYour after looks so nice and peaceful! As for the laptop, I would think there must be organizations that would do that! I have been on a quest recently for just that sort of place. Our son has a disability and laptops work much better than desktops for many who have physical challenges. I will let you know if I come across any organizations as I am looking for my son...I know I heard of one a few years ago but I didn't pay enough attention because we weren't needing one at that time.
ReplyDeleteI recently had out-of-town overnight company as well, and cleared a similar-looking guest room. Unfortunately, I had another "junk" room to put it in -- but I vow that the guest room will get cleaned/organized before all that stuff migrates back!
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