Update:

There's hope.



That's right. In my house there is a single clean room. Isn't it beautiful?

And I snapped this shot while I was at it:


Dowlan and I built that closet over Spring Break while I was pregnant with Charlie. Our stuff moved into that so that the walk-in closet could be our nursery. And now that the walk-in isn't a nursery any more, it is becoming my sewing/craft room. (I can't remember if I ever really explained that.)

Charlie's cake is baked, but not decorated. Dixie's cake materials are bought. Even after I get the house done, I have a lot of work to do.

It finally looks like something has been accomplished

Having my house covered in boxes of clutter for three days has made me think of those shows where they go in and clean out and organize a room. When the crew arrives, there is a room or an entire house with junk piled everywhere. It amazes me that people can live that way. Not that I think they're slobs or mental, just that having stuff piled up everywhere makes me nervous and antsy. I think I just don't like having so much obvious work to do staring me in the face all the time.

When I was pregnant with Charlie, I spent the last two months on bed rest. Melody was just shy of 2.5 and Dowlan worked his full time job, watched Melody, watched out for me and took care of everything. The housework, shall we say, was NOT a priority. It was so frustrating to me because there is no feeling worse than staring at your own dirty house and not being able to do a thing about it. Clutter and mess gnaw at me. They glare and nag and mock me until I get up and do something about it.

So here is how far we've gotten so far today. Our room is still a wreck, but at least 2/3 of the stuff is put away. And several of the boxes you see are empty:




Remember when it looked like this?





The closet has more stuff in it, including the upper shelves organized:






That last shelf is stuff I've bought ahead to grab for birthday parties and other gift-giving occasions. If you are a person I am likely to give a gift to, don't peek too closely. The drawers in the middle picture look so innocent stacked there. From 9-2:30 last night, I sorted PILES of papers from the last 16 years. It is organized by stages of my life.

I looked through all the cards from every baby and wedding and birthday gift from the time I turned 20. It was really neat to remember all those people. It was interesting to be reminded of some, to remember some who have passed and to think about how some people just keep coming into my life. I found the wedding cards from Dixie's Grandma Jane, Granny and Uncle Billy. Who knew then what they would be to me now?

And of course there was all the old boyfriend stuff. It is really weird to see pics of me snogging another dude.

Speaking of guys I snog, here is Dowlan folding laundry this afternoon:



The girls' closet has more stuff in it, like backpacks, sleeping bags and (naturally) vacuum cleaners:


And as I was adding a few more things in, Dowlan said those five little words that nearly ended our marriage: I found more gift bags.

Remember the cards from the aforementioned showers? I still have every single sheet of tissue paper, curl of ribbon and gift bag from every gift, with the exception of the ones that I have already re-used. I have evidently forgotten how much more blessed giving is, because I have been heavy on the receiving and I still have ALL of these, that I had already neatly tucked away:


And then Dowlan had to go and find more:


Gift bags are something I have a fondness for. They're handy. Quick. Easy. AND they are nearly infinitely recyclable. And they are sooooooo cute. Who could throw these away?


Just don't be surprised if the party favors this weekend are piles of gift bags.

Day 2

I didn't take many pics early in the day, because it seemed like I did a lot of work and had nothing to show for it.


I moved a lot of stuff into the new closet, but haven't really gotten things very settled.






I spent a great deal of today shopping for containers to hold the kids' clothes and to fit in the slots of the shelving over the sewing table. Not to mention all the time I spent having lunch with one friend and dinner with another, taking a bath and finally inviting people to the birthday parties my kids are having this weekend. (And P.S.--if I know you in real life and haven't called you yet, don't take it personally. I'm even more disorganized than ever. So call me and bum an invite. I won't mind.)



I did get a lot of the junk moved out of the girls' room and into the closet:







And I made quite a bit of progress towards emptying out the top of their closet:







Dowlan got this put together for the dining room:







And I might, someday, get stuff put in it.



Here is the second Goodwill pile, so far:




And if anyone nearby is having a boy soon, here are the clothes from the first two years of Charlie's life that I'm not sure who to give to:





The pile of girl clothes to give away is substantially smaller, and I know where it's going:





Charlie's closet before and after emptying:









The main thing I did today was sorted clothes. I buy clothes ahead of time for the kids. I never buy anything not on clearance and my limit is $2-3 per item of clothing. The downside is that I have clothes in shopping bags in three different closets. We also have gotten several bags of clothing from other people. And then there's the winter clothes from last year that will be needed again this year. And all the clothes that I simply can't part with, even though no one here can wear them anymore.



So here are the buckets of clothes to put away for the kids for the future:





Notice that Melody's next size overflows while Charlie's is sparse:





And all the shoes:






So all that is now in the closets:












And our room is looking better, even though my Ursula costume appears to be attacking my napping husband:

Hours 4 and 5

(If you haven't read the posts The Closet and The Other Closet, scroll down and get those first. The order might help this make more sense.)

Hour 4: Went to Goodwill with a LARGE load of stuff and then to Home Depot for wood.

Hour 5: Started to put things into the closet. The far wall is my sewing table with my two machines and piles of clutter on it. Notice above it are two shoe racks without all the cross pieces that I got out of the other closet.



The longer wall has storage underneath and a table top for cutting and piecing quilts, laying out scrapbook pages, etc. The storage pieces here also come from the other closet. The beauty of this plan is that I will be able to get stuff laid out and then leave it there without my kids getting into it.



A close-up:


Dowlan is outside cutting a pegboard to mount to the wall to put ribbon, scissors, tape, etc on. When we get it up, I'll slap another pic at the end of the post.

Okay, here you go.



And don't worry--Dixie won't be here until AFTER the scissors get put away.

About the sewing table: When I was a live-in nanny in college (seven years ago? eight?), I got a piece of 2'x4' birch veneered plywood, slapped some trim on it, mounted two legs to one side and a set of Container Store Elfa baskets to the other side. Instant desk. It has moved with me many times and has had many functions.

In order to fit it where the changing table used to be, we had to cut off a few inches (that I'm hoping to turn into a shelf before we're done with this). To make my cutting and piecing surface, we went and bought the same birch veneer plywood and the same trim. Here is Dowlan adding the trim:



Can you see the pretty trim? You can definitely tell a difference between the old and new wood:



And another shot of the whole thing. You can see where I've started to move in:

The Other Closet

About five years ago, I hyper-organized a craft closet. Everything was clearly labeled and easily accessible.





It was the closet in my sewing/guest/dump room. But the room is now the girls' room, and it was time to clear out.





The stuff is still up top:



However, I can now move all that shelving and organizational stuff into the new craft closet, then move everything over.

The girls' room now looks like this:

The Closet

I knew when I embarked upon doing the kids' rooms at the beginning of February, that it would be the eternal project. After all, I wasn't just emptying a room out, redecorating/remodeling it, then putting the same stuff back in. I was re-purposing 2 rooms and a closet that is used as a room and the closets that are a part of the two rooms. That's over a third of the house.

We emptied the guest room/sewing and craft room/dump into the dining room. Then made that room into a little girl paradise. Then cleaned out their old room and made it into baby boy land. Then moved the stuff from the dining room into the previous nursery-closet and shut the door.

Before:








After:




So that is what the closet looked like when we started this morning.

Let it also be noted that the kids' closets never got moved around, either. The girls' room's closet is full of my craft stuff. Charlie's closet is full of girls' stuff. Charlie's stuff is piled by his closet door.

After hour one:



s



This, of course, comes with a cost:





After hour two:




And the dark-side of that accomplishment:


Hour three begins in 47 minutes.

The kids are visiting grandparents. By the end of this week, I hope to have a sewing/craft closet instead of a pile of trash. And maybe, just maybe, the kids' closets moved around, too.