As mentioned in previous posts, we are planning to sell our home this summer and move to a bigger place. In order to get our current house ready, we need to go through and really clean out the rooms/closets and also do some small maintenance work. I have slacked lately but with spring approaching, it has reminded me that we need to get crackin’! Summer will be here before we know it!

So, I’ve decided to tackle one room/closet each weekend  until we’re done. I’m going to start at the back of the house and move my way up, which meant that this last weekend I knocked out Samson’s room.

Yes, Samson, our dog, has his own room. I thought all dogs got their own rooms, just like all chocolate is good for you. No? Huh.

Ok, so he only has his own room because his kennel is so massive, it practically takes up a whole room. When If he gets to the point that he can be trusted without a kennel and/or we have another child, he will lose his prime real estate. But for now, we let him live under the illusion that he’s high enough in the pack to earn a room of his own.

This was a good place to start because there is not that much in his room and so I knew it would be a quick job (and thus instant gratification). Saturday I tackled the visible surfaces (shelves, top of his kennel which we totally use as a giant table) and storage cabinet. Sunday I cleaned out the closet.

I started with the storage cabinet. It’s basically divided in half with the left side open from top to bottom, with a shelf on top and a rod for hanging stuff. The right side is split into a cabinet on top (with 3 shelves) and 2 drawers down below. The shelves I use to store all my cameras (I have 5), miscellaneous scrapbook stuff, and board games. The drawers contain candles and candle accessories and the left open side is for gift wrapping.  

(NOTE: I am totally OCD when it comes to how I organize my gift wrapping stuff. I have gift bags grouped from largest to smallest and split out between Christmas and all other occasions. I have a container for rolls of wrapping paper, boxes to house ribbons and bows, and then keep extra boxes on the top shelf for wrapping the gifts in. Finally, and this is the piece de resistance, I have all tissue paper neatly folded and hung on hangers, organized by color and pattern. What’s that noise? Was that the sound of my readers mouths hitting the floor in total awe of my mad organizational skills? Oh, wait, no, it was the sound of everyone laughing at my crazy nerdiness. Eh, same same.)

When cleaning out the cabinet, I pretty much just tossed extra boxes, bags and papers that aren’t needed anymore and then shuffled other things around to look neater. I also went through the candles and accessories, getting rid of a lot of them (do I really need 8 votive holders and 5 blue candles? I think not). This freed up one of the drawers completely and left the other one looking much better.

Here’s the result:

Nice, huh?

Next I tacked the top of Samson’s kennel. Most of this was just stuff that got thrown there at one time or other because we were too lazy busy to put it in the right spot. So it was just a matter of taking the items and putting them in their rightful home. Done and done.

From there I tackled the CDs. We have one whole bookcase full of CDs. We also have one full of DVDs but I culled through those last fall so I didn’t spend any time there. Some of the CDs were duplicates, some were just old or ones we didn’t want anymore. I put all those in a shoebox and plan to take them to Half Price Books or CD Warehouse and sell them. I don’t think I’ll get all that much money but hey, a couple bucks is better than nothing!

With that, I was done on Saturday.

Sunday came and it was time to dig in to the closet. Here’s the deal – this closet is CJ’s. He keeps all his clothes in here and I keep all mine in the 2 closets we have in the master bedroom. So what that he has one closet and I have 2? I mean, one of mine is only a half closet so really we’re practically equal. Anyway so most of this closet was going to be CJ’s job to go through. I was not about to decide which of his clothes to keep and which ones he should toss. .

However, in the back of the closet was a whole bunch of my old artwork that I totally forgot I had. It was stuff going all the way back to Jr. High and High School. I spent a lot of time just looking through the pieces and remembering when I created them. It really brought a lot of memories and emotions flooding back. But, I can’t keep it all so I set up 3 piles: Keep, Toss and Sell. I figure, while I may not want to keep them all, some are too good to throw away so I might as well try to sell them. If no one buys, fine, at least I tried.

To be honest, it was hard to decide. For any of you who are artists, you know how personal your work can be. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went in to making these. To throw them away seems heartless and to put them out there for sale really makes me feel vulnerable. But it was a step that was time to take. So I filled one bag with paper for recycling and my portfolio file got filled with items for the trash. Most of those were paintings I’d created during a really dark time about 10 years ago. They are VERY depressing images and it was actually kind of healing to throw those away. It was like closing a chapter on that part of my life.

Now I’m left with items to keep and items to sell. The keepers are few and they will tuck back in the closet nicely without taking up much room. The items to sell create a bit more work for me. Now I have to take pics of each one and post them on this blog (which will come when I have time!). Again, this really makes me nervous but in a good way. I just hope people like them and I can sell at least a couple.

The only other items in this closet were some extra pillows and comforters, which we put in space saver bags (you know, the ones that you use a vacuum to suck the air out of. It’s so fun to do that and watch them shrink down to a fraction of their size. Love it!). Now the 2 comforters and 3 pillows we had, which took up a massive amount of space, are flat and easily slide under the bed or on a top shelf. Woot!

That’s it for Samson’s room. It’s all done and organized (except for the stack of artwork I have to shoot). Feels good to cross one room off the list. Next weekend will be the master bedroom!

If you liked this, you might also like:

Resolutions Update 1

Resolutions Update 2

Op Dream Home Update