House and Home

We cleaned and organized our Christmas items in the basement and packed up 3 boxes of discard items this past Sunday, finishing up in an hour or so. I’m still on a high from that effort – we sorted outdoor decorations from tree decorations from other decor and labeled all the boxes so it’s easy to find what we want to pull out and use. I packed up all the discards and ran it to Goodwill on Tuesday at lunch. We have a much tidier section of the basement as a result. Still lots of tools and other storage items to go through and organize downstairs, but I’ll take that in sections over the winter and spring, I think. Some of my tools will make their way to my mom since we have a lot of duplicate items and she needs some basics. we’re making inroads in simplifying. Lots to do still, but lots more breathing space around the house, too.

With the extra breathing space, it feels like the whole house has a little more light in it—both literally and figuratively. There’s something about decluttering that makes a space feel brighter, as if the air itself has been refreshed. We even replaced an old, dim lamp in the basement with something a bit more functional, which makes sorting and organizing that much easier. Good lighting makes all the difference, whether it’s for finding the right tool or just making a space feel inviting instead of like a storage dungeon.

Upstairs, I’ve been eyeing a few upgrades, especially for the dining area. A well-placed light fixture can transform a room, and I’d love something that balances elegance with simplicity—maybe a kronleuchter modern style chandelier that doesn’t overwhelm the space but still adds a bit of personality. It’s funny how once you start making small improvements, it sparks ideas for more. For now, though, I’ll enjoy the cleared-out basement and the satisfaction of knowing that the next holiday season will be a little easier to manage.

Another thing we accomplished over the Labor Day long weekend was some furniture moving. I had originally thought we’d get rid of the bar in the dining room, but we realized that we could swap it out for a gray mid-century modern storage cabinet from our bedroom and have a much better use of space. You can read this article to learn more about storage solutions and plans. The gray cabinet is not as wide, so it would fit neatly in the dining room and contain tablecloths and larger serving trays, and we could set our pachinko machine on it so people can play it.

So we managed, between the two of us to bring the gray cabinet downstairs and the bar upstairs, where the bar now is the home for our upstairs stereo, and we can fold sheets and blankets and put them neatly on the shelves underneath. And in all of the furniture relocation, we decided we wanted the china cabinet on a different wall in the dining room so we weren’t rattling the dishes when we walked past. You can check this 12 Tips for Creating the Ideal Office Workstation if you wish to create an inspiring an creative work space.
So everything is neatly in place, many items are now stowed in new homes and much clutter has disappeared. We still have a long way to go, but it’s getting better. Our next step is going to be spending some time sorting through Christmas items. We both have Christmas decorations that we don’t care about that could find a new place to live, but because we only look at them once a year, at the busiest time of year, and because it’s usually ever-loving frickin’ cold by that point, we don’t sort through stuff and slog it to Goodwill. I thought if we can go through it now when it’s warm and we’re not running off our feet, we could make more space in the basement.

After that – organizing tools in the basement. Even thinking about it leaves me overwhelmed, because there’s a lot to do. We receive lots of tools from Stephanie’s dad as gifts, and I need to come up with a real storage plan, because right now stuff is kind of half-ass.