It feels good to declutter
My husband and I live in a little two bedroom ranch. Until now, the second bedroom has been my sewing room/throw anything in there that doesn’t have a permanent home. More often than not, it was a disaster.
But now that we’re preparing for the arrival of our first child, all that has to change. So I’ve been in the process of purging and relocating all of my fabric and sewing notions to start the process of transforming the sewing room into a nursery.
First on the list was finding a new home for the quilting fabric and supplies I use on a regular basis. I emptied one linen closet, also filled with junk we didn’t really use, and filled it back up with my neatly organized stash. If it didn’t fit, or it fell in the “What was I thinking when I bought this fabric?” category, it was purged. That means my Guild charity committee is going to get an influx of chicken placemat kits, and the like at our next meeting. Really, what was I thinking?
But even after I pulled out all my essentials, you really couldn’t tell I’d done anything to the room. So the rest went into the basement when the real decluttering began.
Much like my sewing room, the basement has become a place for all the stuff that doesn’t have a permanent home and much of it we don’t really need. My husband and I have spent a few Sunday afternoons combing through it all with contractor trash bags in hand. It’s not just a matter of reorganizing plastic bins, we’re literally going through every item and deciding if it is really worth the space it takes to store.
Hand-me-down Christmas decorations from the 70s, every monkey stuffed animal I got as a child, my old prom and bridesmaid dresses, they all were put in a donate pile. There was so much stuff we had to take all the seats out of the minivan in order to get it all in.
But the sad thing is we’re not done yet. There’s still plenty more to purge and storage shelves to buy. But when we’re done, the mess of a basement will give way to a lounge room complete with a TV, couch and end tables, neatly organized storage and all my sewing notions in an easy to access space to I can keep on quilting without climbing through a mess of junk to get to it.
Of course I still miss my sewing room, but I’m glad we can finally see the floor in there.
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I share my sewing room with my young grandson when he visits. He has a bookcase and tote bins for his toys. I have a bureau, cutting cart, and file cabinet for mine, plus sewing machine desk. But I sure have to clean up when he comes to visit! The his bed is my project area. He was heard to tell his Mom that Nana’s quilting is out of control! It does take a balance between organized and creativity.