I have a backlogged list of house projects to get started on. I mean; have you seen this list? Furniture to buy. Rooms to paint. Wood to cut. The list goes on and on. I’m chomping at the bit to get started on another beautifying project, but I have discovered a new vital truth.
Sometimes you have to clean your room first.
I spent the weekend re-organizing and cleaning out storage spaces in our house. Several hours and dozens of trash boxes left, we had a freshly organized pantry, office closet, garage, home improvement closet, and laundry room. Phew!
Check out some of the progress. These before pictures are embarrassing!
Garage… (I just realized these are the first ever blog pictures of the garage. Check out some of our future plans for this place here.)
This is the closet where I store all of our tools, paints, and project supplies. I was having trouble finding anything before! How does this happen?
Laundry room…
I also worked on the pantry and the closet in the office, but I forgot to take “before” pictures (#badblogger). Also all of these pictures are terrible iphone quality. I need to stop apologizing.
The moral of the story is that not everything you work hard on has a beautiful and stylish reveal. Most people who come over will never even see our storage spaces, but it’s in the day-t0-day, the organization, the un-glamorous storage spaces, and the grunt work that a home is really made.
Do you have an organization overhaul in your future? My advice? Take the bull by the horns and get it done. You will feel better, and it will make room for all the prettier projects up ahead.
Thanks for being so candid with your “before” photos, Chandler! I’m sure there are many people out there, like me, breathing a secret sigh of relief, “You mean, I’m not the only one?!” My “can’t wait to get to” list has been building up for years, and since I’ve left my corporate job, you’d think I’d be tackling them with gusto. But instead, I’m bothered by the pent up mess that lies in every space between me and my projects. I totally agree that cleaning them all up and organizing myself better (how many storage areas can I possibly have for “office/craft/I-might-need-this-some-day” items?) will help me feel mentally clean and refreshed. Then, the joy of tackling all projects on my list will have the same feeling that I’ve been craving for so long! But I’m astonished at how much you accomplished in one weekend – I’ll give myself one day per space to complete (…of course I’m much older than you, so I’ve accumulated a lot more stuff…and I move a lot slower! 🙂 )
Thanks for your words of encouragement Jackie! It was a little scary posting my crazy messy storage rooms like that, but I want to be as real as possible 🙂 I agree that sometimes cleaning the mess (metaphorically and physically) inspires creativity again!
Thanks for being so candid with your “before” photos, Chandler! I’m sure there are many people out there, like me, breathing a secret sigh of relief, “You mean, I’m not the only one?!” My “can’t wait to get to” list has been building up for years, and since I’ve left my corporate job, you’d think I’d be tackling them with gusto. But instead, I’m bothered by the pent up mess that lies in every space between me and my projects. I totally agree that cleaning them all up and organizing myself better (how many storage areas can I possibly have for “office/craft/I-might-need-this-some-day” items?) will help me feel mentally clean and refreshed. Then, the joy of tackling all projects on my list will have the same feeling that I’ve been craving for so long! But I’m astonished at how much you accomplished in one weekend – I’ll give myself one day per space to complete (…of course I’m much older than you, so I’ve accumulated a lot more stuff…and I move a lot slower! 🙂 )
Thanks for your words of encouragement Jackie! It was a little scary posting my crazy messy storage rooms like that, but I want to be as real as possible 🙂 I agree that sometimes cleaning the mess (metaphorically and physically) inspires creativity again!
[…] let’s talk about plans for this room. We are currently renovating our garage and converting it into our new master suite. I’m SO excited about that! And there will be […]
[…] let’s talk about plans for this room. We are currently renovating our garage and converting it into our new master suite. I’m SO excited about that! And there will be […]