For the past 3 days I have worked non-stop to organize, rearrange and reduce the amount of clutter in my house. And by clutter I mean furniture, toys, clothes, kitchen items and Knick-Knacks. Who knew that we had so much STUFF that we hardly/never use!! Having two grown children and 2 Grands live in the home with me, it makes for a tight living space. So, I looked around my house to see what I could do about making our lives a bit easier and less crowded. I took a LONG look at my dining room. It's a rather formal room, and one we only used on Thanksgiving and sometimes Christmas Eve. The rest of the year it was just a pass-thru or catch-all room. That was living space just being wasted.
My first task was to clean off the back porch so that everything I was getting rid of had a place to go until the local thrift store could come out and pick up all of our donations. Cleaning that area proved to be an ALL DAY task as there was an already growing pile of clothing, shoes and toys that needed to go. Having a new puppy that chose to use it as his potty area meant also having to remove everything, grab the hose and Dawn dish soap and do a thorough scrubbing before anything could be placed on the back porch. At the end of the day I literally fell in bed and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
The next day's task was to start moving furniture and items out of the dining room and place on the back porch. For the most part, it was an easy task. Lots of old paperwork to sort through...most of it going to the burn pile. Out went the chest freezer and the open china hutch. With just those two pieces gone, I had nearly an entire free wall. It was a nice start. I then took a long look at my kitchen chairs. One was falling apart, another was being used for Rowan's portable highchair and the remaining two should've been retired years ago. So I moved them out, replaced them with the chairs from the dining room and LOVE the arrangement. 4 chairs at the table, the captain's chair holding the portable highchair and the extra chair put in storage as an extra. With that came the end of day two...and the second day of me falling into bed and asleep before my head hit my pillow.
The third day found me clearing out the long 9 drawer dresser that I had converted into a buffet. It was great storage for both kitchen and dining items, but knew if I truly wanted to turn the dining room into a dedicated playroom, then it had to go. Cleaning it out was easy enough...it was moving the monstrosity that was nearly my undoing! It's heavy. VERY HEAVY. But I was bound and determined to get it moved out on my own. I pushed, I pulled and after half an hour, I made it to the back porch with minor damage inflicted upon myself. (In the back of my mind I KNEW I should have waited for help and that I would be paying for it later, but it was a risk I was willing to take.) All kitchen and dining items were moved to the kitchen to be sorted later. With a second wall free of space, it was time to start moving in the toys. EEGADS...where did all of these toys come from and HOW did it all fit in my den?!?!?! An hour later and the majority of the toys and a loveseat had been moved from the den to the playroom. Took a quick break to take daughter and the Grands to work (LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact she has a job where she is able to take the babes to work with her on certain nights!!) That gave me a full 4 hours of peace and quiet to finish moving out the dining room table, organize all of the toys, put the toy chest in front of the loveseat as a coffee table, add side tables and lamps, put stuffed animals on shelves, set up the ball pit, and place all of the riding toys. Then it was off to the den to rearrange some furniture, the large dog kennel, the Grands small table and chairs, then finally dust and vacuum both rooms. As soon as everyone arrived back at home, I led the Grands to their playroom and knew it was worth it when the oldest entered and said in a very excited voice, "Woooowwwww"!! Well worth it, but it all started catching up with me...I could hardly move by the end of the day. No quick bath for me...I was due for a long, hot soak to ease my joints and muscles.
It's now the 4th day. The Grands are enjoying their playroom and I've slowly started to organize the kitchen to conceal all of the items that are now homeless with the loss of the open china hutch and the dresser/buffet. (For now, I've chosen to leave the piano in the playroom until I can find another place for it.) I say slowly because my body is now trying to recover from all I've accomplished over the past 3 days. For a normal, healthy person they would be able to bounce back with no problem, but with my health issues it's not so quick for me. So today isn't as rushed, I'm taking my time, and making plans for the next area of the house to be cleaned out. (My storage room is on the top of that list.)
That's all folks...my time is up.
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