This weekend, we had some business to take care of in Thibodaux, Louisiana. After fighting traffic to get home Friday night, we fought more traffic to get out of town and head down to the bayou. It was an adorable little town, home of a small university. Unfortunately, the hotel situation left a little to be desired. We had a "non-smoking" room with multiple ash trays, a hard as nails bed, a non-working phone, a bathroom ceiling with a loose tile. It just sucked. I could have spent $70 in a much better way. And this was supposedly one of the nicest in town.
Saturday, Brett had stuff to do and I had a wonderful walk on the university campus. The weather was gorgeous! Then I headed back to the hotel to clean up and check out. I still had a couple of hours before Brett was done, so I took advantage of the beautiful weather. I parked in what I assumed was the downtown area and walked around looking in shops. Unfortunately, a lot of the stores I had scoped out on Google were closed on Saturdays. I did find one open antique store. They had a lot of great stuff, but not a lot that's necessarily our style. And their prices were insane. I saw a Duncan Phyfe dining set for $1400. Maybe they could have convinced me that was reasonable if I hadn't seen the same exact table on Craigslist last week for $75. I don't think the six chairs are worth $1325, dude.
I did pick up (what else?) a plate. A platter actually. It's a teal-y green with some scalloping around the edges. The finish is rubbed off in places, and it has some light cracks in the finish that give it a great, used look. I hung it up today, but I'm waiting for pictures until the light is better.
Once I picked Brett up and we got back into town, I decided to go buy the tile for our backsplash. Well, our first choice store was closed for the day (at 2 pm ?) and our second choice mysteriously raised the price from $4.50/sq ft to $15/sq ft. Noooooo thanks. I'll wait until the first store opens back up Monday.
So it was looking like our weekend was pretty much a big fat decorating fail. Today was filled with laundry and grocery shopping and let's be honest, lazing. But when I took my afternoon walk and saw people washing cars, and cleaning windows, and cleaning gardens, I got inspired. It was time for some Spring cleaning! Brett had to go into work tonight, so I took advantage of the fact that I was bored out of my mind, and set to work on something long overdue.
The closet.
Unfortunately, no before pictures. I had one at one time, but I can't find it. And I was so into the fact that I needed to CLEAR IT OUT immediately, that I forgot in the frenzy.
I started with the hanging clothes. The main impetus was that while I was putting up laundry, we ran out of clothes hangers. As in, more clothes than hangers. And I realized that there were so many clothes taking up hangers that I never touch. Including some that have never even been worn.
I culled with a strict hand. If I hadn't worn it in a year, for the most part it was gone. I did keep some very much loved clothes that are too small. I'm slowly creeping down in size, and I don't want to have to go out and buy new clothes when I already have ones I love dearly. I found that I was hanging on to a lot of clothes I wore in college, that I really didn't have occasions for now. My style has gotten a little more formal and a lot more professional. With the weekends spent in easy dresses and painting clothes, I had no use for the million different tank tops in there.
In the end, I got rid of more clothes than I kept.
Clueless homeowners secret: we don't make our bed everyday! We've heard it's actually healthier not to in a humid climate like ours. Yeah, that's it.
Here's the after on the hanging clothes. If I compress, I can actually take up less than half the available space. This means more room for new clothes. Don't tell Brett!
Then I moved on to the drawers and the closet shelves. I tightened up my shoes (only got rid of three pairs. With the two pairs I bought today I'm pretty much dead even). Then I brought down all of the bins to get rid of a bunch of stuff.
And I did it. I got rid of the shirt.
It was time. I know. But it hurt. Along with another tie-dye shirt I've had since I was 12, it went into the trash pile. It just hit me that I now have no more tie dye shirts. WHAT WILL I DO?
The bins are no longer overflowing! And they're all organized! I use the bins for things that don't get used all the time or don't belong in drawers. Grubby t-shirts used for getting dirty, lingerie (no pictures of that thank you very much), shorts, hats and scarves, bathing suits, and purses. It's nice to take advantage of all the shelves with some extra storage.
My drawers weren't badly organized. Just overstuffed.
That is three dresser drawers and two drawers in the media stand. That doesn't even include my sock drawer in the dresser.
I reduced this by over half. My pajama drawer went from two pairs of pants, four pairs of shorts, and a few tees to a single pair of shorts. The pajamas I actually wear pretty much never hit the drawer, but they'll actually fit in there now!
The workout drawer is still full, but I can actually ft my sports bras in there! and my undie drawer is much less full, and much better organized.
The media stand drawers hold tees and undershirts. It's been reduced to one barely full drawer. The top drawer only has a few books in it now!
I also emptied my overly full jewelry box and put it in my sock drawer jewelry tray. My most often worn jewelry still sits in my capiz box on the nightstand, but the pieces I wear less often are much better organized, and in my face. Maybe I'll wear them more often now!
I also cleaned up the floor of the closet. The whole thing just makes me feel so good. Like I can breathe again!
Next up: that space above the refrigerator that seems to collect clutter.
