I can hardly believe it! I have very little left to do in the basement with the completion of this room! The bathroom downstairs has next to nothing in it. The playroom is done (and staying clean, I might add!), my oldest son’s bedroom needs just a bit of work, and one of the two storage areas was recently gone through. So, really, that just leaves one little storage area near where the tubs reside and I will be done tearing the house apart!
Here’s the scoop on the Guest Room/Sewing Room…
My mom had been staying with me (in this room) while my husband and oldest son were away at the 2010 Scout Jamboree near Washington, D.C. As soon as my mom left, we would have houseguests moving in with us (in that room) for approximately 2 weeks.
It wasn’t that the room was horrible–after all, we’ve had people in and out of that room for months with it looking just the way it did, but it was cluttered and as sewing rooms tend to get, a little um…”thready.”
Once again, I forgot to take Before Pictures, so you’ll have to use your imagination about just how cluttered and thready it was.
When I go to clean out a room, I like to start on one side of the door and work my way around the room–usually clockwise (not sure if that’s because I’m right-handed or some other totally random reason). In this room, the scrapbooks are near the door, so I tidied those, straightened the bed, and then dug into my daughter’s sewing stash.
She has her own sewing machine and her own stash of fabric and other crafting things. Most of her things were already fairly well contained; however, they weren’t in any sort of order. So, I rearranged the drawers in the 3 drawer nightstand we use to hold her things and made it make more sense. My mom folded all her scrap fabric and neatly put it back in her tub. (Any fabric I get my goodie out of gets passed on to her. She likes to make doll clothes and pillows and sachets from the scraps.)
Now, my sewing stuff was a different story. I have a cutting table next to my serger and sewing machine, but I’d like to see you try to cut anything on it considering it is usually covered in projects! I also have a 3 drawer chest for my sewing things, so I made one of the drawers for unfinished projects and stashed all of the items cluttering up my cutting table into there. I figure if the drawer gets too full, it’s time to actually FINISH a project!
I also decided I needed to separate out my cloth diapering fabrics and supplies from my other fabric, so I bought another tote (neon green to boot!) and that’s where I put all my diapering fabrics. I also moved them to a different area of the room since their presence was also hindering me from cutting out anything on my cutting table (they were just too close behind me to really be able to move around).
I had a lot of ribbon from my “I’m-going-to-make-hairbows” days, so I decided to make another drawer in the 3 drawer chest a ribbon drawer. The last drawer was for serger thread and the instruction manuals for my serger and sewing machine.
I tidied my pattern box and put together a box for my shipping supplies. The final destination was the closet. All it really needed was a good tidy and the doors shut. The end!
(Note the lovely red carpet and the mirror over the bed? I live in a rental, folks. 😉 )
Have you missed any of the Half My Stuff Saturday posts? Check them out HERE.
Kathy says
Im umpressed that you do all those awesome crafty things and entertain houseguests! SO cool that your boys were able to go to Camporee!!
Amy says
I haven’t been all that crafty lately, but we do have houseguests quite often. No sure how entertaining I am, though! lol
Grace says
Amy! You’re almost done with your house!!! That will be SUCH a good feeling! You’ve inspired me (only took like 5 weeks-lol!) and I’m doing this around here too! We already have a huge pile of stuff that needs to go…the downstairs is done, so next is our loft upstairs (the boys room) plus our storage is upstairs.
I’ll be getting rid of lots of clothes–we have way too many and usually all stick with our favorite 5-6 outfits anyways!
It’ll be good to feel like we have some extra room!
Thanks for the inspiration! Keep up the good work! Don’t grow weary in doing good!
I’ll post my “half my stuff” in the next coming weeks! 🙂
Amy says
Great! Can’t wait to see the progress!
Celee says
How wonderful that you have a guest room! We have had my husband’s adult disabled nephew living with us. I’ve been teasing him that we’re moving the baby in with him if he stays through the birth. I think he’s ready to head back home now :). He’s been here all summer.
Amy says
This is the first house we’ve had a guest room in and now I wouldn’t have it any other way! It is so wonderful to be able to host other Christians and “one-another” others in that way.
Danielle Bradbury says
Great job!!!! I’m currently revamping our entire townhouse to get rid of the unnecessary clutter and find better organization for the things we must hold on to! I’ve been working at it since Friday, and have already sent off 5 bags (2 trashbags, 3 Wal-mart bags) to the local Goodwill!
I had convinced myself we were already pared down as far as possible b/c of months and months of decluttering before Emma’s arrival in February, but that was really just an excuse not to go through things again and actually set up organizational systems!!!
Now I have 3 little ones, 4 years, almost 3 (in sept.) and almost 6 months. I want to enjoy the upcoming fall and begin to start a “real” daily schedule, so we’ll be prepared for starting school next fall. There’s no way I can do this with all the current clutter and lack of organization!!!
Thanks for sharing your journey with me!! It’s helped me stay motivated over this past weekend when I thought I’d only need a 1/2 day to “do” the kitchen, and it ended up taking 2 days!
Dani
Amy says
Great! Life will be so much easier when everything has a place! It’s been great!
shannon says
Love those Gone with the Wind plates! 🙂 I’m enjoying this series. We have 3 kids under 5 and live in about 850 sq ft. I’m struggling to bring my house and clutter under control.