Over the weekend I tackled a little "January Cure" Apartment Therapy project- to focus on the bedroom. The to do list included a deep clean of the bedroom- including washing all bedding (mattress pad etc), flipping your mattress, dusting and vacuuming all surfaces, including the closet... And if you really felt inspired- to purge clothes etc. Thankfully the Husband and I did a major clean, including flipping the mattress etc, last week once we had recovered from being under the weather (a great thing to make our room feel fresh once again after being cooped up and in bed!). SO, after doing just a light cleaning, I was free to tackle my very obnoxious dresser.
My dresser had become a catch all for everything known to man. And I wanted my dresser to be my little haven. Let me digress- since baby number 2 is on the way, I want to stream line and organize my life to the point where efficiency will allow me to still hold on to my goals and identity- in little ways- like putting earrings on and accessorizing in the morning will take me less than a minute. (this is already the case, but I'll admit it's a little daunting to think of the addition of a third family member and all the stuff that comes with them! Thus purging my own stuff will create a nice balance.)
Ways to accomplish Accessorizing Efficiency: Have less stuff to sort through, and even less space to collect stuff. Also- just because I have the space doesn't mean I have to fill it! (Hence my bigger goal to have a smaller jewelry box.)
The dreaded before.
A hot mess of everything under the sun... I took 15 minutes on Saturday and went through the large jewelry box I have and weeded out a lot of jewelry I no longer wear. There was A LOT! I did this to the jewelry that accumulated on top of the dresser as well. And I could even do this again and again and get my jewelry down to a tiny box... but the amount I cleaned out was slightly staggering, so I'll wait another 6 months to repeat the process.
The beautiful AFTER shot.
Then On Sunday, I tackled the entire surface of the dresser.
My method for forcing myself to be really picky about what stayed was- I removed EVERYTHING from the top of the dresser, giving myself a blank canvas and only allowing myself to put back the essentials. I kept in mind what I mentioned earlier- less storage options = less stuff will accumulate. I think the biggest addition was the little lamp. This lamp is right by our bedroom door and allows us to turn on a light quickly in our bedroom instead of having to cross the room in the dark. (Since the overhead light situation is not ideal, and the outlets don't sink up to the switch.) ALSO the lamp adds more of a purposeful element to the space- like a lamp on a desk. It helps to dictate the tone I want to maintain with my dresser. Plus having a spotlight on this space will hopefully keep me in check and tidy, only allowing what belongs to reside on my dresser.
side note: it's funny to look at the before and after and see how I unknowingly put the little dishes back in the same place on my dresser. When rearranging and organizing the dresser, I tried all different arrangements, but clearly this is the best fit!
Now all that is out on my dresser, are a few bottles of perfume that I actually wear, the two bowls in the back house bigger pieces like bracelets that don't fit into the drawers of my jewelry box. I also added more hooks to my canvas to hold more necklaces, as well as tacked up a few favorite pictures. Ideally one has a mirror above their dresser, but we have a very large mirror to the left of my dresser that has hooks on it for scarves, etc. (see below)
So there you have it, another January Cure post/ Before and After!
My new-found efficiency can be attributed to another post from Apartment Therapy: The New Year's Resolution to Rule Them All. The resolution being, "Do It Now". If the idea occurs to you to do something, do it then and there, don't put it off. This has made my life so much more efficient and less stressful. I suggest reading the entire article to have your own dose of inspiration!
Looking forward to the day when I can show you a completed studio/ office in the basement! Won't be long now!
No comments:
Post a Comment