More house organization

 Again, not strictly an SCA post but a reflection of what I can call "my process". I find that a low stimulation, "self-running" environment makes the difference in my life between having mental/emotional capacity for my arts or not.

Service oriented tasks are one thing, like processing heraldic submissions, answering emails, doing little administrative projects for people... these are all easy enough to accomplish, have timelines, and don't require that rested, uncluttered brain. For me at least. Others' experience may vary. I find that a quiet environment promotes my ability to settle into something that might require more problem solving or creativity on a cozy weekend, or an evening after work.

In the pursuit of a calm home, here's some of the tasks we've accomplished since January.

First is the recycle closet. This isn't really a showstopper in design or anything but has meant that our cupboard is functional as a recycling spot, pantry, and storage area. It has a lot of function for a small space. There's a before and after...

It has also meant that we could finally clear off the tops of the kitchen cupboards, reducing the visual clutter there as well. At first it felt a little bit strange and empty, like we were moving out, which was a curious feeling. Not one that I welcomed. I spoke the feeling aloud to Neil, he agreed, and we moved on. Before too long we were accustomed to how the kitchen looked.

Next we put some attention on the entryway of the house, which really just needed a bit of "post child" decluttering of old scarves, shoes, frisbees etc. No dramatic change here, other than it becoming a functional space. Eventually the whole downstairs will get a paint job. Again, the before and after. There's still work to do on the entry, most notably moving the hat hooks much lower, and a good paint job (and fix of the wall where I too enthusiastically removed some chair rail).

This left a bit of an overflow in the living room, which became the transfer station. As before there were bags of garbage and donations and a little pile of things that we weren't ready to release yet, and therefore needed homes. As we move the overflow out of the house, this is naturally leading the long awaited start of the living room update. We haven't hit the big changes yet, and (as with everything so far in the house) this will start with quite a vigorous decluttering of a hutch.

The hardest part, and something that really needs to happen before we really reorganize, is getting rid of furniture. Turns out no one cares about how lovely your stuff is, or whether it is "worth something". I approached an estate reseller and they were able to help with one of the larger pieces, a washstand. I'm hoping that they can also take the teak couch and chair. In the end I was emotionally unable to let go of the roll-top desk (this time) but it will have a new home upstairs where we swap it out for the keyboard. I don't love the location but I love the piece enough to give it one more chance for success. Once the excess furniture is removed (most of it) we will paint the entire downstairs. This will be an off-white, much to the dismay of some of the people in my life. But since they don't live here, off-white it is!

Meanwhile in the kitchen we have an electrician lined up to move one of the light fixtures so that it centered over the table. We will be replacing all the lights with LEDs, and then the kitchen will get painted along with the living room and entry. It's going to look so good!

And so we progress...