Welcome to From Crap to Clean before Christmas, a Monday challenge to encourage you to clean up your spaces before the tree goes up!
All instalments to date are HERE.
So.. I didn’t plan this very bright and white project. At all.
My intent for this Monday’s Crap to Clean project was to tackle all the wood on the driveway. With nowhere to put it (eep…) I gave the workshop the stink eye, and decided I had to gut it so I could build shelving.
And then the Heavens opened up and rained me out.
Inside I go…
I stared at a few things needing cleaning, and even took a few before shots. But what quite simply fatiqued me on a CONSTANT basis was my blog office in the kitchen.
Here’s the office on a (rare) good day.
And how it was today… ugh. See the Christmas cokes still on display from last Dec?!
We have an open floor plan, so this is something you see all the live long day. And I was just done with the chaos.
So everything came off the shelves, and landed on the floor. Where else?
A reader requested that I go through my purging process a little more thoroughly, so I’ll try and do that here…
How I edit my junk
1. Sort with piles
There is no easy way to do this other than, gut your shelves and just make those piles.
But the key? Sort while you purge. Big time.
Imagine all that junk in one pile. It would be completely overwhelming to go through.
First, all the paperwork and stuff I require all the time went in one area so I didn’t have to hunt for it.
Everything else got its own pile. Garbage, recycling, things to go downstairs, to the workshop, etc. This makes giving this stuff a new home MUCH easier.
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2. Leave things operational where possible.
I also left my computer plugged in while I moved the desk away from the wall. Everything still works! It really reduces the panic factor when you can live in between chaos.
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3. Deep clean
Once everything was cleaned and sorted, I hit the ceiling with a broom brushing away cobwebs, then washed down everything else with soapy water.
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4. Paint… if you dare?
Then I stared at the empty canvas and felt deflated.
It still felt old. And tired. And I knew I’d never be inspired as is. Should I? Shouldn’t I?
Honestly, I probably shouldn’t have. I mean, if you can’t find the painting supplies, it may mean you should still be cleaning… ya think?!
So while I pondered the thought on how crazy this idea was, I cracked open a white paint, threw a black garbage bag down inside a paint tray for the paint liner, (sheesh) and mulled over yet again how crazy this move was while I painted.
Paint, think, paint, think, paint…
By the time my thinking was complete, I was done.
Sure beats thinking while sitting on the couch, no? 🙂
And… I’m in LOVE!
I’ve wanted to paint this area white forever. I live in a cave this time of year, and now the woodsy woods are popping against that great, crisp white! It’s fresh, clean, bright, inviting, and will be so fun to decorate!
Especially for Christmas!
Best of all, I’m inspired. That is HUGE.
And then I ran out of paint. Oops. So this will have to suffice for today. Sorry, guys. Had hoped for something prettier by Monday.
So! You know what all this means now, right?
Sing it with me…
“The office is connected to the… living–room.
The livingroom’s connected to the… kit–chen.
The kit–chen’s connected to the… stair–way.”
Oh brother.
Kinda glad I didn’t think about all this first. 🙂
So, whatever! I am well on my way to an entire upstairs FRESHLY PAINTED before Christmas! And I love the sound of that!
Just as soon as I finish up the office first, so I have something pretty to show you in between all the ruckus…
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So… let’s chat!
How did you do with your own cleaning this past week?
Do you procrastinate with decisions, or go full speed ahead?
Do decisions slow you right down to the point of you not doing something at all?
Think I’m crazy or smart?!
Oh… and does pure white scare you? 🙂
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How to play today or next Monday…
Clean anything you wish.
Take a before picture. (or more)
Take an after picture. (or more)
Be ready to share your success today or next Monday with us!
And if desired…
Bloggers, please link up below!
Non bloggers,
feel free to share your efforts on my Facebook page HERE, or in the Crap To Clean private Facebook group HERE.
By the way, anyone is welcome to join the private Facebook group, for week long encouragement! Ask to join by clicking HERE.
I can’t wait to hear about your progress! How’d you make out?
And please… if this topic is boring, lemme know. I’m happy to clean on the quiet, too. 🙂
Love this and last week I decided to do yet another clean out. Paint was tempting but I have to many other things going on right now. Sigh it’s really tempting…. I’ve been doing this downsize for sometime as we’re prepping to sell sometime in the next year and begin our empty nest lifestyle. I keep asking myself where doe all this stuff come from. A clean out begins from one room to the next and picking through everything. Getting things down to the basics was hard at first but also very freeing.
You are becoming very kamaina with your reference to “stink eye!” I love it!
I had to search kamaina…
Kamaʻāina (pronounced ka-ma-EYE-na) is the Hawaiian language word for a long-term resident of the Hawaiian Islands.
SOLD! Guess I’d better purge more since I’m now an official resident! #iwish
We’re on the same wavelength – I’m in the process of going from crap to clean to live….Christmas is a nice goal, though! I feel like I’m sinking in STUFF and I can’t take it anymore so I’ve been going on a purging frenzy and loving it and am planning to paint the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway and bathroom….that may be too much but that’s my plan and I’m sticking to it! Thanks for the added inspiration.
Oh goodness… my front entry is filled with black garbage bags filled with thrift store treasures. I’m going to have to stack them outside for the neighbours to see soon if I don’t drive them over. LOL
It’s hard to make a dent when there’s no room to dent to, isn’t it?
Love the new white walls! I’m all about white. So clean and timeless. Can’t wait to see the rest of your transformation.
That looks wonderful!!! I LOVE the metal bucket with the hydrangeas!!!! It’s the decisions that are messing me up!! I want to have my main rooms done by Christmas too!! I get started and it seems I keep running into “snowballs”! You know…. This leads to that…. Mostly stuff like if I steal this from there, what will I do in that spot? Or just the “what can I possibly do to fix this, cheaply? “So I turn to Pinterest, and you know, there goes the rest of my day!!! Lol!!!
Oh Jennifer, I so know the feeling!
I now have an online deadline, then I must get off and do something… for the online world. LOL
But that self inflicted deadline is a good heads up. Nice to get inspired, but then gotta run with it!
Honestly? Just like the post says, ya just gotta do it. Get up, and start cleaning one area. You WILL figure it out! But if not, at the very least, you have a cleaner area.
I expect big things from you by next Monday! haha
Love the all white and I’m glad Mickey found a new home…..somewhere.
Ha! He’s been there an entire year too! Good grief.
He’s currently still laying on the floor with the other piles, but he’ll no doubt have a place of honour in my son’s room… somewhere!
I love it painted white! I did that in my kitchen last year & have so loved how much brighter & cleaner it looks.
Oh please be careful about painting over all of your wood though, you have such beautiful old wood in your house – I especially love your stairs. I hope you’ll leave some of it unpainted as accents. The stress of choosing what to paint, I do not envy you of that!
I’m hading to Facebook to post my pics. I did get some things done but not finished so mine will be progress pics. I’m Jenny Young on FB & have really enjoyed the motivation the new page has given me.
Ohhhh my stairs will never be painted over! 🙂 I’m actually just painting my walls. I love my woodsy warm accents too much to let that patina go. #never 😀
So glad the FB group is helping!
So glad to hear that! You will love how much brighter & cleaner it all looks/feels with just painted walls.
I cleaned Saturday. This is my paintingsewingscrapingworkout room.
From the left: a linen closet/ pie safe, a recumbent bike ( for the knee), a treadmill ( for my butt), turning the corner : a tiny, cute as can be pinkish chippy dresser. Turning the corner, a heap of photos, in frames waiting for the hallway to be painted, the sewing machine, the dressing table ( stinkinin cute, but useless) , turning the corner :an over sized, too tall for the room very heavy solid oak bookcase, (6 1/2 feet tall), the scrap table, other corner: another six and a half foot bookcase, painted white to look ‘smaller’, then back to the doorway.
In front of the sewing machine: a large drafting table piled high with ‘projects’. In front of the scrap table, an ironing board piled high with more projects, clothes to mend, hem, etc.
Sheesh.
Switched the too big book case with the pie safe, ( tucked into a recess where the chimney abuts the room). Instantly, the room felt, ‘lighter!’
Took the dressing table out to the garage.
Put all the projects ‘away’ in bags, in a box, underneath the sewing machine.
Took a huge apple basket and artfully arranged the photo frames and put them next to the pink chippy dresser.
Dusted the bike and treadmill. (It’s summer!! I’m outside exercising!)
Put all the scrapbook projects ( 7 scrapbooks that need to be completely re done due to a recent fountain event in the basement) in separate containers, while I can still remember which scrapbook they came out of!
Dusted off the drafting table and put the current scrapping project there.
Put the current sewing project under the needle in the sewing machine for a running start.
Put the current painting project and its paint underneath the scrapping table.
Took the chair at the scrapping table out to the garage. I can only sit in one chair at a time and the one at the sewing table is far more comfy. ( see earlier ‘butt’ comment.)
Took a tiny 4 shelf 18 x 12 table ( that I totally forgot to mention was next to the useless dressing table) out to the garage and painted it an interesting mixture of leftover grey, leftover ivory and leftover beige. Gorgeous!!
Vacuumed.
Cut out the curtains for the bedroom.
Took a nap.
Thanks for all the inspiration!!
Sue
Don’t think I could ever do white as a “choice”. Too many years renting apartments with the mandatory white everything.
Did you paint the walls the same white as your trim? Semi-gloss or flat? Looks great!
I’ve have tried to just put things away where they belong and like with like. Sometimes, too many helpers and the drawers were filled with items to sort and home.
Hi Judy! The trim is a semi gloss, and the walls, an eggshell.
I’m still deciding how far to go with the white though. It felt too much so I tried a colour, and now I want white again. LOL
This is taking longer than anticipated… haha
I am a big fan of white.
Just painted my back entry all white and am lovin it! Plan to do kitchen next.
Is Facebook the only way to see what people are cleaning? I don’t have a blog and I am not on Facebook….weird but happy 😉
Hi Ann!
The majority are on FB, so that seemed like the easiest choice. If you have any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them!
Go get paint and finish this room first. 😉 ha!!
Too late! I’m now painting in the living room and living in major mayhem… because there’s no space for the junk. Weeeeeee!
Love the white shelving. Was wondering if you made that bc I’m thinking of stripping my craft room down to the bones and rebuilding, possibly with shelves like you have here. Right now, I have a little goat path to get to my computer, but if I had some floor to ceiling shelving, my heart be still!….
Hi Marie! The shelving is Ikea workshop storage that you can buy in pieces. It actually came out of my mom’s garage and I just painted it before reinstalling it. 🙂 So easy! Go for it!
I’m glad to see there is someone out there with a space(s)just like me. I have been working on my office/sewing room for ages and have completely stalled thanks to problems making decisions. I want to make it look great as well as be workable and have collected bits and bobs and pictures/quotes to display but need physical help with mounting some things like pegboards etc. Time to round up the grandchildren as I don’t like to keep asking the son to help.
I am now motivated after seeing your work and think just a week should solve my problems if I just make some decisions. One is to visit IKEA this week for some shelving.
Wish me luck!