Day 6: A Little Less Construction Zone - Foyer

Welcome to Our Home:

Lovely, isn't it? And that's after I removed the 3x3ft box of trash right in the middle of the floor and swept up most of the drywall dust and bits and nails and screws, cleared some of the steps and wound up some extension cords.

And this is AFTER:

Everything left in the corner is give-away, or donate items.

Day 5: This Week, A Little Less Construction Zone

Yes, the house is under renovation. But I've decided that is no reason there can't still be some order. So, since the DH is not actively renovating this week, it is the perfect time to "put things to right" before the next bout of progress =D

I've got a few otherwise busy days, so I've done a flurry of decrapifying (especially the trash to go in the Bagster before pickup on Tuesday) but I'll be posting daily bites of progress this week.

The new bedroom is mostly done, except for replacing the baseboard. But it has become the dumping ground for tools, supplies, paint cans, trash, you name it. Here is a partial before picture:

The plastic draped bed was still in the middle of the room, covered in dust and debris, and surrounded by a sea of new materials, old materials, trash and tools. Not pictured at the other end of the room is the line up of new and old paint cans and painting supplies, and the growing piles of new cookware, bathware, etc. that Mom has started buying in advance of moving in.

And AFTER:

I left the plastic cover for the bed in case we have any more messy projects. Stacked all of the new purchases on the far side of the bed, along with the line of in progress and/or future paint cans/supplies, and lined up the baseboard pieces along the left wall

Day 4: Off to the airport, so today is a quick one ;-)

The long promised desk...


BEFORE:


















And AFTER:
Package ready to mail and contents straightened.

Off to DC to pick Arnaud up from the airport.

Day 3: The Boy's Room- Take One {{Shudder}}

Okay, to be honest, his room here in Maryland isn't that bad. But we are picking up a French exchange student tomorrow who will be with us for 3 months, since this house is under construction already, it would be nice if the room he's sharing with the Boy while here was a bit more welcoming.

I forgot to take many before pictures, so here is the only one I have:

The side table was between the windows and the Boy's headboard partially blocked the bottom of the window. the trundle bed for our student didn't have a headboard and was on wheels so rolled away from under the other window if you tried to sit at the head of the bed. (Not to mention the trash and clutter on all surfaces.)


The solution was to totally flip the room around. Beds needed to shift 1 wall clockwise, which meant that the cupboard/counter (not yet installed) then moved 2 walls clockwise. A few furniture feet under the wheels helped the sliding problem. (Cardio workout, CHECK!)

 
















Also added the hanging hook for the guitar to get it off the floor/in the closet.

And just for fun, we added the purple Christmas lights around the windows.

Day 2: Why Do I Even Bother to Plan?

So, again today, I figured that I would do the Dining room table and desktop, but clearing the rechargeable batteries from the desk led me to Doug's side table, which is usually a disaster zone.

BEFORE:

It's one of those tables with storage inside (I deemed it nightmare inducing and opted for no before picture.) 

Then too, behind the table are the stacks of miscellaneous quotes, brochures, old utility bills (2012), and the stray Christmas card (also 2012) all tucked in next to the new printer box which never got broken down for recycling.

AFTER:

Day 1: Did I say Dining room? I meant construction Zone ;-)

So, Mom was worried that the extremely long box with moulding supplies for her new kitchen was angled and bent, and might warp. So she requested my help in laying it flat on the hearth... Which meant clearing space on the hearth, cleaning up the ash dust, clearing a path to the hearth (shifting huge box with new oven), which led to gathering all of the trash and recyclable cardboard, and generally organizing supplies.

Since this was not my planned project, I didn't think to take a before picture. Let's just say that there was no clear path to the hearth and only the dirty, ashy portion directly in front of the fireplace wasn't piled with stuff. Here is the after, with its trash bag and recycling.

Ready, Set, GO!

Ahhh, the wonders of personal development to be found on Facebook. Thanks to the posting of a friend, I've learned about 40 Bags in 40 Days with 46 minutes to spare before it kicks off on Wednesday, March 5, 2014. So, what do I need to get started? Trash bags, check. Clutter, CHECK! Okay, I'm ready to go.

I won't waste your time trying to explain it, here's the 40 Bags in 40 Days link to check out its history, read about her "decrapifying" story, and get some great printable resources to get started.

I've printed out 2 planning/progress sheets... DUM, DUM, DUM! Yep, I'm making Conner play along too. We are both going to take "Before" & "After" shots of our daily project. Since our alias names are Pack Rat & Clutter Bug, (You can decide who's who ;-) we sure could use some encouragement along the way. So check back and let us know how we're doing.

Starting easy tomorrow...
Jennifer tackles the MD dining table & top of desk.
Conner tackles his bedside table and drawers.