Home Improvement!
Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 6:03PM 
This is the "before" picture...I know I've been away a while, and I've been hearing from my number one fan that I this hiatus just cannot go on any longer. Yes, yes, I know, but I have been busy! The past two weeks have been filled with lots of errand-running, meeting friends, and execution of the grand, great, massive project known as the re-org. I also had to buy a new computer, set it up, transfer files, transfer iTunes, and other techie what-not which always takes longer than it should.
But, I'm here, I have a computer (hurrah! Thank you Craigslist!), and I have a list of post topics to write for you. Up first, I thought I'd show you a bit of what I've been doing around the house. Reorganizing is great, cathartic, theraputic, and fun. I've found any number of random things (to be discussed later), cleaned up, cleared out, and settled back in. Honestly, it feels like I've moved into a new apartment!
My place is not that big - a one-bedroom that's probably about 650 square feet or so. It flows really well, but there's not a tremendous amount of storage space. Between what's here and my few furniture pieces I realized that it's not how much storage you have, but how well you use it.
;)
In the kitchen I moved everything around - pantry, dishes, glasses, pots, etc. I moved commonly-used things to easy-to-access cupboards, which is simple enough, but I wasn't set up that way before. It's made a world of difference! I moved entertaining & serveware to higher cabinets, and was even able to consoliate all of my china in one place! (Before, it was shoved in here & there with no rhyme or reason.)
In the main room I really worked on my armoire and desk to get them all cleaned up and efficient. My armoire is an art deco piece from the early 1930s and it's utterly massive. I love it, it's my most favorite thing ever. It also holds an insane amount of stuff. The cool thing about this piece is that it's divided down the center so effectively it's two cabinets in one. I assume that at one time it was used in a master bedroom to store clothes - his and hers... Today, I use one side to hold my TV, movies, and some fashion books, while the other side holds all of my sewing stuff.
On top, I kept my vintage Louis Vuitton hardsides (which store fabric) and added two posters - my "Annie" poster from the original Broadway production in the 1980s, and my "Keep Calm & Carry On" poster from the fabulous Victoria Smith at SFGirlByBay. I thought the sentiment was certainly appropriate for the current circumstances!
;)
Inside, everything got cleaned out and re-done. The sewing side was a true disaster before. I had storage bins always, but lately they've been overwhelmed by entropy and sloppy shoving. I got the stack of plastic drawers (which could have wheels added to be a cart,) which now holds my Prismacolor markers, pattern drafting stuff, notions, ribbons, clippings, craft supplies, etc - I cannot believe I didn't have this gadget before!
;)
My desk just got cleared out of all the random crap that seems to gather inside of desks and never seen again. It's a beautiful piece that once belonged to my Dad. It has a really cool cantilevered-sort of frame, where the tapered legs are on the outside and the drawers and cubbies are sort of suspended on the inside. The legend goes that my father purchased this desk in Copenhagen in the mid-1960s when he was living in Europe in the Air Force. When he left, he stealthily flew it home to the States on his C-130 Hercules... I would now like to thank the US Air Force for contributing Danish mid-century modern design to my apartment.
;)
My bookshelf is in the hallway, and while I'd love to build shelves that go the full width of the hallway - about 65 inches - this is San Francisco, and old lath-and-plaster walls just don't like to be weight-bearing! So, I purged a few titles to take to Green Apple Books, but mostly re-arranged things. My big fashion monographs are on top, while my other art books are placed on the top & bottom shelves. Literature and reference are in the middle - it doesn't make much sense, but it looks good and it works for me!
;)
Two big things happened in my bedroom, well three...okay four. The first is the addition of a West Elm Parsons Console in white. I know what you're thinking: console in a bedroom? Yes. I pulled my bed in a bit and put the console behind as a nightstand/headboard. I cannot tell you how awesome this is. I can put my palm back there (Remember the palm? It looks good no?), and have a broad shelf for a nightstand. This opened up the space in the corner so I could move Frank Sinatra, my fiddle leaf fig tree, to a corner where he'll be undisturbed. (Fiddle leaf figs are finicky creatures and they don't like to be in high-traffic areas, so this is a good spot for Frank.) Overall, the look is far less cluttered and cramped.
;)
I moved my chair near the window and put my former nightstand next to it, making a nice reading spot which I'd never had before. This was the second big thing; the third thing was some fantastic art I made for the corner where Frank lives, but I'm going to talk about that in another post...
The fourth big thing to happen in the bedroom...the piece de resistance...is the very simple addition of a shelf in my closet. I have always wanted this second shelf from the moment I moved in here, but never wanted to deal with having to empty the closet to deal with it. Well, I was a fool.
;)
The second shelf is now holding my special fancy shoes that may not get a lot of wear, but which definitely need a lot of care and attention. Hey - some are museum-worthy, so I think they deserve it. So now, instead of fumbling over them to get to other things, they can sit patiently on their own ivory tower until I want them. Now I have more room for boots, cycling, and running shoes, which used to sit on the floor. Ohmigosh. This one shelf makes me so happy that I just open my closet to look at the glory sometimes.
Two brackets from Ikea: $8, shelf from Ikea: $7, extra space for beautiful shoes: priceless.
And there you have it! Le Grand Re-Org is complete and I'm ready to focus on my list of projects... It's amazing how cleaning things up and purging what you don't need really helps you to prioritize and re-asess. If you haven't done a re-org like this before, believe me, it's time!
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