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Sometimes I wonder if my parents lied to me and I was actually secretly raised by wolves.
Because when I go to clean my pit of a room, I keep asking questions that just have more questions behind them.
Why do I have all this stuff? Is it too much stuff? How much stuff is too much? What do most people keep in their rooms? Does it make any sense to try to limit my possessions, other than "fire or other health hazard", since I did buy this house to keep things in?
And I've come back around to the goals I have, which if I can manage to live by them will keep me in a reasonably clutter-free environment:
a) I will buy as much storage furniture as I can comfortably and neatly fit in my house. I won't cram in extra furniture but I also won't try to live without a chest of drawers or bookcases.
b) I will organize my possessions and put them into the storage. I will make sure everything is stored like with like, and in appropriate containers (it's no good having a "junk drawer" of knitting needles, crochet hooks, pencils, pens, and rubber bands).
c) I will discard, donate, sell, or give away everything I own that I cannot store in my house in an appropriate place. This is not because those items aren't neat, or because they don't have any value themselves, but because something that has no permanent place is a permanent mess, and a permanent mess makes me more unhappy than possessing the items makes me happy.
So, what I've got planned for furniture:
I have a plain bed headboard, which I plan to keep, because bookcase headboards tend to collect clutter for me (and also if you move around too much, things on the headboard tend to fall on your head). The bed is on the south wall against the curtains.
I have one dresser next to the bed, as a nightstand, and it has several drawers which I'm not using yet. There is room next to the bed for the dresser, but there isn't any more room on the south part of the east wall.
I have a bigger dresser which I've been keeping craft stuff in; eventually I'm going to put it on the west wall between the closet door and the room door, with one of my lamps next to it. There's no more room on the west wall there, except if I want to put up something like a Shaker peg board along the long part of the wall. I think I do; I could hang things on it AND if I picked a particularly wide board, I could rest smaller picture frames on the top.
I have two tall bookcases, which are the cheapy ones, but they'll let me get organized enough to decide what I really want for storage and have time to find good ones on sale.
I need a work table or desk-- preferably a taller table-- to go between the two bookshelves on the east wall, and a comfy chair. I'd actually also like an upholstered chair just to sit around in when I feel like it, and not have to sit on the bed.
I might want to put up shelves on the east wall, over the desk/table. I'll at least want a cork board, or a whiteboard.
I want one of those little shelf charging stations, but I suspect I'll be building my own. I want one for my phone and iPod and... well, those are the only two things I have that charge, I think. (The netbook sits next to my bed playing white noise all night.)
Once I can get my possessions in order, then I can actually work on making things that I want. I am SO ready for this.
Because when I go to clean my pit of a room, I keep asking questions that just have more questions behind them.
Why do I have all this stuff? Is it too much stuff? How much stuff is too much? What do most people keep in their rooms? Does it make any sense to try to limit my possessions, other than "fire or other health hazard", since I did buy this house to keep things in?
And I've come back around to the goals I have, which if I can manage to live by them will keep me in a reasonably clutter-free environment:
a) I will buy as much storage furniture as I can comfortably and neatly fit in my house. I won't cram in extra furniture but I also won't try to live without a chest of drawers or bookcases.
b) I will organize my possessions and put them into the storage. I will make sure everything is stored like with like, and in appropriate containers (it's no good having a "junk drawer" of knitting needles, crochet hooks, pencils, pens, and rubber bands).
c) I will discard, donate, sell, or give away everything I own that I cannot store in my house in an appropriate place. This is not because those items aren't neat, or because they don't have any value themselves, but because something that has no permanent place is a permanent mess, and a permanent mess makes me more unhappy than possessing the items makes me happy.
So, what I've got planned for furniture:
I have a plain bed headboard, which I plan to keep, because bookcase headboards tend to collect clutter for me (and also if you move around too much, things on the headboard tend to fall on your head). The bed is on the south wall against the curtains.
I have one dresser next to the bed, as a nightstand, and it has several drawers which I'm not using yet. There is room next to the bed for the dresser, but there isn't any more room on the south part of the east wall.
I have a bigger dresser which I've been keeping craft stuff in; eventually I'm going to put it on the west wall between the closet door and the room door, with one of my lamps next to it. There's no more room on the west wall there, except if I want to put up something like a Shaker peg board along the long part of the wall. I think I do; I could hang things on it AND if I picked a particularly wide board, I could rest smaller picture frames on the top.
I have two tall bookcases, which are the cheapy ones, but they'll let me get organized enough to decide what I really want for storage and have time to find good ones on sale.
I need a work table or desk-- preferably a taller table-- to go between the two bookshelves on the east wall, and a comfy chair. I'd actually also like an upholstered chair just to sit around in when I feel like it, and not have to sit on the bed.
I might want to put up shelves on the east wall, over the desk/table. I'll at least want a cork board, or a whiteboard.
I want one of those little shelf charging stations, but I suspect I'll be building my own. I want one for my phone and iPod and... well, those are the only two things I have that charge, I think. (The netbook sits next to my bed playing white noise all night.)
Once I can get my possessions in order, then I can actually work on making things that I want. I am SO ready for this.
