Thursday, July 8, 2010

Goals #22 & #23 - Clearing the Clutter

Goal #22 - Clean/organize the guestroom closet 
Goal #23 - Clean/organize the bedroom closet

These two goals took waaaaaay too long to complete. I got into a cleaning frenzy around the beginning of April and drastically cleaned and organized every square foot of our apartment (including our closets). It felt so good and I was so proud at how much stuff I excavated. However, the pride-fest ended there because it wasn't until about three months later that I actually got rid of all of the items I removed. Piles and bags of stuff sat in our living room that entire time. Yuck. Needless to say, we didn't invite over much company during that time. To add to our lengthy clean out, it took us an addition three weeks to get the bed out of the office/guestroom and replace it with a storage bench (which my handy hubby found at Goodwill and modernize for us).

But now, I can finally say that the closets, dressers, bookcase, and all the storage bins under the beds have been purged and organized. I can not post "before & after" photos for you, because even after removing bags and bags of stuff - it still appears (to the unknowing eye) almost the same. But to prove that I did get rid of things, here is all the stuff we donated (not including the three garbage bags of junk that got tossed).


Below is the step-by-step transformation of the creepy Goodwill toy box that Devin transformed into a stylish storage bench for our office. Can I just brag on my husband and say how AWESOME it is that he is so handy and artistic? What a dreamy combination!

There were random, wooden cut-outs covering this box on all sides. I mean, have you ever seen a donkey, a clown, a sailor, sailboat and a guy in a sombrero all together on one object? Um. No thank you.


Weird objects removed, sanded and primed.


My sweet husband (shirtless due to 100+ degree temperatures) hand-drawing the design onto the box. It was painstaking (it took him over six hours to draw and paint the design). It definitely warranted a back rub from his very grateful wife.


Finished project - beautiful!



Q4U-  What is the longest it has ever taken you to complete a home improvement project?

3 comments:

  1. Um, I LOVE that room! Is that all fabric?

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  2. @Christy - Yes, what you're seeing to the left are curtains that I made and behind the bench is a "bed board" that I made. It is made up of eight 18" squares of wood covered in 1" foam core and wrapped with fabric. It was the headboard for the bed that was in there, but is now just a cool design element.

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  3. Devin Nice job on the box.

    DAD

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