I started at the most neglected drawer in the house, the bathroom drawer – because it was really of no concern to anyone else but me. But in an effort to spend 20 minutes cleaning that ONE DRAWER, I discovered my desire to do more. In small bites. A little bit at a time.
My bathroom is really small. The house was built in the 1970s, and when we moved here, I had given up a large and spacious master bath, to this little one that reminded me of a cheap hotel bathroom. Never mind. It’s not like we sleep in there or anything. It has what it needs to have. A shower, a toilet, a vanity with one sink --- two drawers, one for DH and one for me, and the under-the-cabinet space that was a big open hole.
When we moved in I bought two of these 3-drawer thingies, one for under his drawer in the cabinet, and one for mine.
Mine have been in disarray for quite a long while….as a girl with long hair, there is a collective mess of barrettes, bows, scrunchies, elastics, bobbie pins, combs, brushes, and other bathroom type items…and they’ve gotten REALLY MESSY over time.
This was my job for today. It isn’t going to make the biggest impact in my life to have this cleaned out ---but it was underneath the NOW clean drawer from yesterday, and letting ANYTHING go is good for the soul – so I tackled it.
Boy! Did I tackle it! How many combs do I need? How many hair thingies? I’m “NOT” a girl anymore. Do I really even wear hair bows anymore? Time to rethink this. It’s the year 2012. Not 1990.
Just a wee bit better! About 1/2 of the contents are gone and now things are not all mixed together, they are sorted. And I feel better about it.
I know it has “NOTHING” to do with quilting, but having things a bit better in my “Upstairs” life will have an impact on how I deal with things in my “Downstairs” quilt room life too!
My organizing spree yesterday also lead to cleaning up the area on the “other side” of the basement where I have my yardage cabinets and the table where I use the accuquilt studio. Yes, there are 6 sewing machines on the top of those cabinets, but to me it doesn’t look cluttery, nor does it take up any valuable space.
I’m hoping that this winter we can change the flooring down here. The side where the yardage cabinets are is the “unfinished” side of the basement. The mudroom side. That door goes out to the lawn mower garage. It’s not very well insulated and it gets dang cold on that side of the basement in the winter time.
It has a concrete floor, which doesn’t help matters. Someone painted the floor WHITE in an effort to make it look like a brighter wide open space, but you can’t scrub it without the paint coming up off the floor making it look worse. I’m thinking of industrial carpet tiles for the whole basement. To warm it up a bit, make it softer under foot, make it vacuum-able ---and even replacing the white berber carpet that I’ve been living with on the studio side of the basement. Come on. WHITE CARPET? in a walk out basement? It’s definitely reached the end of its days and hasn’t been worth even the thought to do more than vacuum it. It needs to go.
It has a concrete floor, which doesn’t help matters. Someone painted the floor WHITE in an effort to make it look like a brighter wide open space, but you can’t scrub it without the paint coming up off the floor making it look worse. I’m thinking of industrial carpet tiles for the whole basement. To warm it up a bit, make it softer under foot, make it vacuum-able ---and even replacing the white berber carpet that I’ve been living with on the studio side of the basement. Come on. WHITE CARPET? in a walk out basement? It’s definitely reached the end of its days and hasn’t been worth even the thought to do more than vacuum it. It needs to go.
It’s just going to be a lot of moving stuff OUT, so we can get the carpet out and get the new carpet in.
Karen put the kind of carpet tiles I would like in HER basement studio after a flood forced a re-do on her. They look great, and if you have a problem with one area, you just pull the tile and replace it.
Yep --- I’ve got big dreams for my space! I'd like to paint that wood paneling on the "other" side of the basement to brighten things up in there and bring it into this century as well.
And the organizing continues!
Look for me around 9pm Eastern time tonight – I’m going to fire up the QuiltCam since the DH is still out of town. Come keep me company and let’s sew a while!
26 comments:
My husband laid laminate wood flooring in my "lover level studio". Translation basement with a concrete floor. It keeps me nice and warm on the feet, and the best part is what a breeze it is to clean.
Sorry I just posted about my laminate floor.
Chris Jensen
Austin, MN
I, too, have been doing some quilt organization - as I say this though, there is a load of fabric in the washer from an estate sale - lol. We moved everything out of a hobby room and into the family room - the carpet is drying and hopefully stuff will start to go back in on Saturday (my husband has the weekend off). His stuff goes in first, then mine ... I set aside a xerox paper box to put my throw-aways into and they will go to the next sewing day so my quilting buddies can dig through it - I took a blade sharpener in a couple of weeks ago and someone took it - along with all the old blades that needed sharpening - not sure where it went but it is no longer sitting unused on my table! It does feel good to go through things and give the stuff we no longer want/use to others - the saying goes that someone's trash is another's treasure ... I sure hope so!
I'll never be able to stay awake, it will be around 2am my time or I'd love to joint you! Back to sewing the 'window' sections for my 'moth in the window' now. Thank you for the pattern xx
You and I have the same thing going, me the office, still after two days and 3 large shredded bags of paper. But it is staring to lok a little less cluttered. When bordem sets in off to the sewing room for some r&r. Hope to see you tonight. Lynda from Chicago
Your inspiring me Bonnie! I love your carpet tile idea. It sure would help with having to move stuff to use carpet on a roll. Carpet tiles would be so much easier. Right now I'm sorting out magazines. I'm going to rip articles I may want, and the rest gets recycled.
I didn't take before/after pictures, but I organized my bathroom drawer yesterday too! I guess it was that kind of day. LOL!
I'll try to join you on quilt cam tonight, but DH is coming home after a week on the road... and he may need the computer to catch up on stuff :P
Bonnie, I have those same cabinets I believe ,(also behind my cutter!) and thought about putting my old machines up there. But I was afraid they would be too heavy for the top. Is it sagging?
By the way...your table is too neat! I know you haven't been cutting recently!! lol
Deb
Thank you Bonnie! You have enspired me. :)If I get the quilting things organized, it gets me moving on other parts of the house.
You are a treasure :)
I have heard a lot about cork flooring. They say it is warm and flexible like carpet and it can be swept instead of using the vacuum. My sewing room is the original garage to our house that was already made into a room when we purchased the house and has carpet over concrete. It is the last room that will be remodeled in our house but think I may go with cork.
If I was going to declutter,I was always of the mind that it had to be finished in one sitting; therefore, nothing was ever done. I learned from one of the Hoarder shows to work a little at a time, like your one drawer. Last week I cleaned a walkway in my bedroom. Boy, did that make a difference. Now I may not have to move, LOL.
P.S. Hoarders by definition do not USE there stuff they just keep it. So if you are quilting, you are not hoarding your stash!!!
Yikes Bonnie...as my dear mum would say..."It must be the weather" - I'm on a cleaning jag too with a brief pause now and then to rehydrate and check out the blogs. I'm such a better quilter than I am a 'cleaner' - I'd rather be going thru a root canal right now...but alas, the cleaning fairies never showed up - we have less than 15hrs to finish the job...and then...oh yes, and THEN...we are OUTTA HERE! 12 Days of R&R...sandy beaches...lots of "Gulf" floating..some handwork (it's packed...whether it gets done remains to be seen..lol)....would love to join you tonight on the Cam...but I have a feeling while ya'll are playing...I'll still be hip high in dust rags...and still have to pack!:))
LOL! I thought I was the only one who went on a cleaning jag before I left on a trip. I like to know I can relax in a clean place when I get home and am doing all the vacation laundry!
on a roll!!
Look at it this way - that wall of fabric in cabinets IS insulation in that part of the basement. :)
I bought those interlocking foam rubber flooring tiles at SAMS. I have them by my cutting table. Its great to stand on while cutting and is quite warm.
I may sew w you, I may do the mtstery quilt.... I am not cleaning drawers w you. Not that they don't need it.... I'm just not! but you keep it up and enjoy it... I think I'll have to hire someone to come in and do that! LOL
Congratulations of your organization! It is addicting, isn't it? When I clean something, it makes it even more obvious that something else is dirty so then I have to clean that too. ;)
I put the interlocking foam rubber tiles in my garage quilt studio, and I love them, especially when longarming.
One of the best things about getting some order out of chaos is FINDING lost things lol. I have found several pieces ( 3+ yds) I lost in my mire. Somehow, if you really do QUILT, it is messy. If I take time to put each little thing in it's place etc 'like a good Do-Bee' - the steam for quilting fizzles.
Isn't it wonderul though to HAVE a space to call your own. For many years I sewed etc in a Bi-fold door closet IN A HALLWAY!!! I mean I upholstered cars, furniture, made costumes for the kids and quilt pieced, etc. SPACE = FREEDOM!!! BTW, The iron and board were in another room, I had to take it up and down each time I worked.
SO SMILE WHILE YOU CLEAN!!!! lolol
JulieinTN
I put the interlocking foam rubber tiles in my garage quilt studio, and I love them, especially when longarming.
....same cleaning going on here is dreary Cape Cod....waiting for the rain, and getting things organized inside...I LOVE have things organized, and when things are in disarray, my focus is just not there....I agree, such a great feeling to have little things organized!
Be careful to check that a rolling chair won't gouge the cork with repeated uses! I had thought of it for my bathroom but finally decided porous was not a good idea for that!
A trip to the southern states has really beautiful foliage. Tomorrow we are heading to Gatlinburg and the Smokey Mountains. What quilt shops should I visit and after that we will travel back west a cross Tennesse
how do you keep your foot pedal from traveling out of range
OMG.. I have 2 drawers and 2 huge emtpy spaces beneath, in my vanity too! Thanks for the inspiration to purchase some organizer cubes so stuff doesn't just roll around in there. We moved in 5 years ago,things got tossed in there haphazardly as I unpacked from the move. You know.. it belonged in the bathroom area, but never made it out of the bags. Then again, if I can go 5 years without it, maybe I don't even NEED it! Thanks Bonnie.. I WAS blissfullly ignorant of my messy vanity space, until NOW! LOL
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