My room 2

Hey, how are you?

Today I'm showing you more photos of my room.

These are the transition photos.

There's one big piece of furniture missing. It's the hutch. It was downstairs drying when I took these photos because I got the brilliant idea to paint it.

Yep, paint it. And I hate painting. Andrew and I have done up a lot of furniture over the years and we are over it.

No more sanding!
No more painting!
No more waiting for paint to dry!

That's what we're saying around here. No more doing up of furniture, please!

We just did a kitchen dresser (what they used before built-in cupboards) that my mum had in her kitchen as a girl. We did seven coats on that thing, and it took ages. I did probably two of those coats. Andrew did the rest because he's such a legend. He also looked after the hardware because he's a legend. And he knew which screwdriver to use.

After doing up the dresser...
After not really enjoying the process...
After vowing never to paint another piece of furniture again...
And after leaving the car outside for weeks because the furniture was in the garage...

After all that, I said, "I think I'd like to paint the hutch."

And then he said, "Good idea. I'll help you."

We were committed. We knew it'd be worth it. Well, I did.

So the big heavy thing was taken downstairs ready for painting. But of course it needed sanding first.

The sanding began, and I'm pleased to report that I did all of it.

The painting began, and I'm pleased to report that I did half of it, and all of the fiddly bits.

But this is how the room was set up in the meantime. Andrew came up with the design. Because I couldn't move the furniture by myself, and because he was out, I sat on the couch and drew sketches of how I thought the furniture could be rearranged.

I drew six sketches, but they all got the flick.

I took Andrew in the room another time and said, "Can you help? I need a change in here and don't know what to do."

He said, "Let's move that here, and this there." We did. And it was just what I needed. He's amazing, that fella of mine.

It's a small change in that we only swapped two pieces of furniture, but it was enough to make the place feel different.

And yes, I have to walk around the pigeon holes to get to the computer. I did that before with the table, so it's okay.

So, the hutch is missing, and there's still a bazillion wires under the desk. They disappear somewhat when the hutch comes back in because the stereo lives on the hutch. It's higher, and the wires get puller up higher.

But still, wires!

It all looks very peaceful and tranquil in the photos, but the place was a mess for days.

All the stuff came out of my room and got sorted into piles on the lounge room floor.

Andrew got a fright when he saw it all. I did too. I knew I had to put it back.

The stress of the whole process surprised me because I've done this many times before. I usually like organising like I said, but this time was different for some reason. I think it was because I didn't want to spend all this time pulling stuff out, chucking things, organising them and then putting them back in, without having the whole thing work any better. I mean, what's the point if it doesn't work any better?

I learnt to just make a decision and put it somewhere. I could always move it later if it didn't work.

When organising, I've always used Julie Morgenstern's SPACE method.

S = Sort (your stuff into categories)

P = Purge (chuck out things as you go)

A = Assign (give each category of stuff a place in your space)

C = Containerise (find containers for your items. This is the time to buy them, not before you start!)

E = Equalise (keep it neat, put things away)

Like I said, I've organised craft rooms a few times (at least 5 times, not counting my own) and the system has always worked. It's a lot easier to do someone else's room when I'm just the motivator, and not the decision maker. This time I was both, and I wasn't feelin' it!

Thus, it took me days to complete.

Thus, I ignored it for a lot of the time on those days.

Thus, I ironed instead.

But then I got myself into gear and got it organised.

Sort of.

I put stuff back. I found homes for things. I didn't decorate per se. The shelf just had stuff put on it.

But that was okay. I was just glad everything was off the lounge room floor.

Hutch tomorrow.

:o)