Tuesday 15 April 2014

Spring Cleaning - Sewing Room, Part One

Personally, I wanted to finish off the kitchen next. I didn't have time to clean out the fridge and freezer or under the sink when I did the rest of the kitchen. On top of that, two of the later projects are both in my kitchen (pantry and laundry room). So I wanted to get those things finished so that my whole kitchen would just be done, but hubby had other plans. He has been itching to clean out his office for awhile, so I  agreed to help him, on one condition: I wanted my "office" cleaned too. I should have just finished off my kitchen.

However, he got called in to work a couple extra shifts over the weekend (a week ago), so I just started on my office alone.

http://www.abowlfulloflemons.net/2013/06/home-organization-101-week-1-the-kitchen-season-3.html

It's really more of a sewing room, but because of it's prime location right off the dining room, it collects all of the clutter. I have a couple of clear organizing drawers, that I try to sort things in to, but that only works for so long. There's also a giant dresser in there, but it's only about half full. I keep my clothes drying rack there because the laundry is in the kitchen. So this is my catch-all room and I hate it. This is what it looked like when I started, Sunday morning (after making muffins):



Part of the problem is that one of my dining tables is blocking the doorway. I'll fix this soon, but my dining room can wait for now.


Aaaannnnddd... The clutter. Ironing board, drying rack, and cardboard boxes full of stuff that needed to be dealt with months ago.


The one side of the room looks relatively organized, see?


But the desk... Man. I haven't sewed anything in eons, and that's why this is such a disaster, but the disaster is also why I haven't sewed anything.


And more clutter! A box of cardboard recycling, just right there, in the middle of everything. Man.

So I gathered a couple of boxes to sort things into and started emptying out the room, one item at a time. It didn't take me long to get to this point:


Okay, so the desk is clear. Everything around it is still a disaster, but the desk is clear! (Also, I never noticed how much the top of the desk bowed in! Time to move that giant, heavy, ancient sewing machine from the top...)

And that's the point that I got stuck. I started studying the room, and decided I wanted everything changed. I wanted to put our big bookshelf in here with an arm chair in the corner. The whole wall of windows would make for an excellent reading corner. Hubby and I agreed to move all the sewing stuff upstairs to the guest room. I can easily sew in the guest room, and people can easily sleep with my sewing stuff. That'll keep the clutter away from the dining room, and open up the space. However, he was really busy this weekend, so he said he would work on moving stuff over the week. I had a few things I was going to do next, but that left me pretty stalled. I couldn't put much back or sort much more if things were going to slowly move like that.

Monday night, I sat down on the floor and sorted out my clear organizing drawers. I turned one set into just office supplies, one set into crafting supplies, and ended up with the smallest one empty!

Tuesday night, I decided to tackle the top of my dresser in the bedroom. Complete other end of the house from the sewing room, but with an empty set of drawers, I got most of the clutter under control. I'll save those photos for when I clean the rest of the bedroom, though.

Wednesday night, I had to work both jobs, but after I got home from the second job, I started going through the guest room. At this point, I felt like I had some serious cleaning-ADD, but I wanted to move the sewing stuff up there. I thought it would be perfect, because I had two under-the-bed storage containers, that would fit under the guest bed! Nope. I forgot that our landlords promised some minor renovations two years ago, and bought the stuff for it, and then left it in the house. So we shoved it under the guest bed. Well, the closet should hold all the sewing stuff, right? Wrong again. It's got the closet door that fell off before we moved in, and we were promised would be fixed. Lawdy. Okay. So I cleared off the desk that we shoved in there months ago, set it up to hold most of the sewing stuff, and went to bed.

Thursday night I had to work both jobs again, and I had to pack for another weekend away. Friday night and Saturday, I was away, and I got home late on Sunday. A solid week after I started on my sewing room, and it was still a disaster! Cue frustration.

Monday I was grumpy, tire and in a foul mood, so I didn't even empty the dishwasher. Now it's Tuesday, and I decided that posting about how messy my sewing room is would kick me into gear and make me finish.

Watch for that post next week, though... I work Wednesday/Thursday night, and Friday/Saturday, even though Friday is a holiday. I'll work on it Sunday, if I can, but life might have other plans.

Well, I guess this goes to show you I'm no cleaning super hero. I got my bathroom and kitchen done so quick, but something simple like a sewing room takes me weeks? Ugh.

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