January Cure #Bonus The Loft

I agree with other people doing the January Cure that an office day/task could definitely be beneficial. We have a loft room above the bedroom that houses a guest bed, desk, storage and all my craft supplies. During the cure I have been constantly adding things to this area whose fate was yet to be determined. This room is one that definitely needs som TLC, but I keep putting it off, since it isnt an official task on the cure! 

I knew the bedroom task this weekend would be easy, so I added the loft as extra work foro this and the next weekend. By Saturday night I still hadn't touched it, and had to tell Mik very firmly that I would work on it for 1 hour on Sunday. Here are some wonderful before-pictures. I did not stage this at all, and you can just guess what is hiding behind that curtain and under the bed. Thats right, lots of stuff. The wire basket organizer is new. We bought one for hats/scarves and shoes for the hallway closet, and one for this room, hoping it will help keeping things more organized. 

I worked for just about an hour, in which I decided to keep all our luggage, made use of the wire baskets, threw away some stuff and added another bag to the outbox. It is already looking a lot better, but I would really like to go through my craft supplies (paper, fabric, ribbon etc) and clean up inside of those vintage suitcases and boxes hanging out under the bed. There are piles of cards as well that I can't bear to part with, but I am thinking I could at least store them away from things I actually use. The hope is to make it more inviting and easier to work on projects here, as well as using the desk when I study. I only did it a couple of times last year, but with most of my material online, I think it is alright with this small desk.

Tomorrow's task is a media fast, so no blogging until Tuesday. This Cure really has me blogging again! I've almost blogged more in January than all of 2015 combined... 

January Cure #8/9 Clear a closet

Task #8 was to work on clearing out a closet for 30 minutes, and #9 to work on your main project. We skipped a day and waited with the closet task till today since that is our main goal. My husband and I worked together for 1,5 hours on the hallway closet, including finally sorting through tools, adding new storage and getting rid of 5 bags of coats and shoes! We arent quite done yet, but a lot of progress has been made.

As a result, the hallway has been rearranged. The dresser is now a TV-stand in the living room, and this shelf/bench used to sit inside the closet. Here is what the hallway looked like before:

Not much different, but there was a shoe issue that isn't visible in the picture above. We would always leave 2-5 pairs of shoes on the floor, and it annoyed me a lot! With a shelf out in the open it might look messier than the dresser, but I am very pleased with getting the shoes off of the floor. 

And then the inside of the closet. These pictures aren't very glamorous, and since we are in the middle of the project it looks way too crammed, especially this "cleaning-area". Still, it is a lot better than it used to be. The blue and green bag to the right is our outbox, not counting the 5 bags of clothes and shoes donations from today's assignment. Emptying it will free up a lot of space. The top shelf of the closet also has potential for holding more, but we have to get back to that later. 

Even though I continue to add stuff to the outbox/trash almost everyday, I still feel like there is way too much stuff everywhere. Does that feel familiar to anyone else? Maybe I need to be even more ruthless about parting with things...

Curing my home: February update

I wrote about the January Cure in February, and here is an update on where I am at. The list is still not completed, but I am working on it. Lately I have tried to focus on my studies as well, which means less time for home projects (and blogging).


What I did in February: 

- Hanging a Peruvian blanket.  
This project has the most visual impact of all this cure. It was quite easy actually, but it took me a while to just get it on the wall.... Here is how to do it, and here are some more pictures of the hallway.

- Deep clean the bathroom. 
This was so nice to get done! I had already cleaned and cleared out of the cabinets earlier in the cure, but it still took me 4-5 hours to clean everything else, including the ceiling and walls, and even under the washer. It was hard work, but so worth it to have a squeaky clean bathroom.

- Get a lamp for the balcony.
We kind of did this. Its a temporary fix, and not a pretty lamp either, but now that the days are getting longer and brighter it might not happen until fall.


Still to be done: 

- Finish deleting digital files.
This is a very large task, but I am happy to have gotten rid of about 60 GB of duplicate pictures, music I don´t really like, unused programs and more. It was a great help to download DiskInventoryX, which showed me what was hiding on my computer. There are still a few thousand pictures to go through, so I am not quite done, but my computer seems a lot happier, and faster! I have also cleaned up a lot of my email folders, and also been better at deleting emails as I go, so that is an improvement.

-  Make a family picture gallery wall!
I have started by framing an old picture of my parents from when they were about 20. I know what I want, but need to choose pictures, get them printed and framed, so it certainly is a work in progress.

- Purge, clean and tidy the loft bedroom/craft space. Mike has done his part, but I have barely started. It sure is a daunting task.


- Organize the hallway closet. Hmmm... I will get to this one day, maybe when I pack away the winter coats and boots?

January/February Cure

Apartment Therapy has a yearly tradition of a "Cure" for your home. This event happens in January, and the aim is to help you get a more functional and clean home. I have done it 1,5 times before, and thought it was time to try it again this year. There are two main points to the cure: cleaning and organizing.

Cleaning
There are areas that are easy and quick to clean in a small apartment, and others that are easy to forget, or simply ignore. This cure has helped get to those dreaded areas like inside the bathroom cabinet, the dusty bookshelf, and the top of the greasy ceiling fan. It feels great to know that everything is clean, not just the floor and surfaces.

Organizing
Now that I am not living alone any longer, there is even less space for what we own. It is crucial to take inventory quite often and get rid of what we don´t need any longer. The best cure is of course to not let much new into the house, but it still happens. Especially with all the wonderful wedding gifts we have received (and love), I try to let them replace something instead of add it to our collections. "One item out for every item in" is a good rule I try to follow.

Improvements
Cleaning and organizing can prove to be incredible improvement in themselves, but sometimes it takes a little extra for a space to go from blaah to great. I have not taken on projects like that this time around, though I would love to get a new color and handles on our kitchen cabinets. Hanging some new pictures might be the thing instead.


Accomplishments so far: 
- Deep cleaning the kitchen. Including getting new filters for the kitchen fan and installing them.
- Deep cleaning the living room. There was cobweb on the ceiling! With 5 meters from floor to ceiling it is not an easy feat to clean this room. Now I have vacuumed those exposed beams, and the dust on them is no longer exposed. For the first time, I also washed my curtains. Maybe I shouldnt have, because they are now almost 10 cm shorter!
- Deep cleaning the bedroom. Moved a lamp in here as well. We redid our bedroom this fall, so there was not much work that needed to be done. I go through my clothes twice a year when I switch seasonal items, so my closet is under control.
- Got rid of some things we don´t use, including kitchen items, books and more. These were given to friends or a second hand store, unless they were too worn out and thrown away.
- Digital decluttering. I have thousands and thousands of pictures and emails that I have never gone through. I started on this huge job, and have deleted hundreds of blurry and bad pictures already, but there is still a long way to go. Same with my inbox. It needs a serious detox.

I was sick for a few days in January, so I fell behind with some of the tasks, and have decided to spend February finishing up most of what is left.

To do in February: 
- Organize the hallway closet. This is the only real storage space we have, and it houses all our coats and shoes, plus tools, cleaning supplies and all kinds of odds and ends. It needs to be more functional for sure!
- Purge, clean and tidy the loft bedroom/craft space. Craft supplies, need I say more?
- Finish my project of hanging a Peruvian blanket. 
- Deep clean the bathroom. It should have been done a while ago, so no more delays now!
- Get a lamp for the balcony. So we can see the front door on dark winter nights.
- Start on a family picture gallery wall!
- Continue deleting digital files.

Anyone else doing this cure? Or interested in improving their home?
Here is the link to all the posts - it is never too late to start!

The January Cure

Moving chaos in 2011. 

I decided to join Apartment Therapy´s January Cure rather late, but now I am deep into it, and loving it. The cure is a month devoted to cleaning, organizing and improving your home, with a project or task for each day. What I needed some encouragement with, was mostly deep cleaning some areas (especially those kitchen cabinets) and organizing my spare room. Don´t worry, my apartment is not in the state of the picture above, or even near that, but who does not need a good cleaning once in a while?

So far I am quite inspired. I have made lists for things that needs to be done around the house (not all will happen in a month, and thats okay), organized and decluttered my books, rearranged my living room, and started cleaning in all those crafting supplies. While cleaning, I have found some clothes that I will donate, and some vintage, fun items I will try to sell online. Check it out if you´d like.

For books and media I will host a book swap/book sale next week where people can bring their own books and we can benefit from what others have previously owned.

As you can imagine, there is lots of house stuff going on! I think my plans for living simply this year is affecting more and more areas, and it is fun.