Sunday, May 23, 2010

Purging "Stuff" - Studio to Studio

It would appear that moving has flustered me more than I thought. I see on rearranging my blog that I have repeated myself……or do I do that a lot?  Please don't answer that!

But more of this adventure….While clearing out your old belongings can be very therapeutic in a 'life-laundry' sort of way, it can also be strange in a “letting go” sort of a way. Plus the stress of getting your husband (or in this case myself) to actually admit I’m never really going to use this precious bit of fabric, or this pattern, or even be able to find this little bit of wool when I get re-settled,  is truly difficult for me!  But moving to a new house – especially a smaller one - is a chance to start afresh, get rid of the clutter and NOT qualify as a candidate for “Hoarders” on TV! I tried, I really tried, and I thought I was successful.

I gave two trailer loads of “stuff” to the high school fundraising garage sale. Dishes, my reclining cycle, picture frames and vases. I sent loads of fabric to a representative of Doctors Without Borders. http://www.msf.ca/ Her group makes simple drawstring bags designed to hold the things needed after surgery for women in third world countries. A good home for the fabrics I had to admit I wasn’t going to use in the foreseeable future.

I sent a garbage bag of clothing to the thrift shop and boxes of magazines to the walk-in clinic. We even sold some furniture we knew would be excess in a smaller home. After all we were going from 2200 sq ft to 1100 sq ft!


My husband donated some of the things from his work shop to the local church youth group. They were grateful as it allows the kids to learn new things in their environment. See yucv.blogspot.com. This photo is copied from their site and I just love its design, the shapes of the negative spaces, the colors, and of course it’s message. But I digress.

And all this purging DID feel good. The current theory that de-cluttering your home helps de-clutter your mind is totally true! The old house looked empty…I felt downright saintly! Not only did I have the reward of gifting all these different groups, but I felt I had substantially downsized.


Here’s a picture of my studio as it looked when people viewed the home we had


And here’s some photos of what I am dealing with now. Suddenly I feel less successful! But I will persevere and re-do the exercise. Wish me luck!



The sewing table and wall storage by the patio door, exiting onto the deck.




The far end of the room showing more storage and my china cabinet holding wool and decorative yarns!  Design walls leaning to the right hand side.  Haven't decided for sure where they will be mounted when I get the surfaces cleared off.  Each day is a little more progress!

And this was the closet in the "master bedroom"  I took off the bifold doors and inserted my storage shelves from the previous laundry room.  The shelf unit on the right hand side in this picture is ENTIRELY filled with UFO's (UnFinished Objects).  I think there's a message in there somewhere!  I think this winter will be geared towards clearing off that shelf!
EXHAUSTION IS THE WORD OF THE DAY!