A Room of My Own - Declutter Challenge #1

These two photos show how the future "Room of my Own" used to look.  It was our office and functioned well as one for about a year. Then Michael purchased a new laptop and we took to using our laptops in the living room, thanks to having wireless internet and the "office" turned into a junk room/paper collection spot.

These two photos were taken the day that Michael organized the room as an office so it looks pretty organized - this DID NOT LAST!! (Look - you can see my Crofters Lane Jar on top of the bookcase!) I don't know what the heck I'm eating but look how tanned I am!

As I stated in my decluttering goals there are (were) a few areas I wanted to organize better so that I could a) access what I need more easily...and b) be more pleasing to the eye (that's important to me)...and c) be able to see all of the things that are important to me like photos, candles & small carvings that I made. There is much to tell you about what a "Room of my Own" means to me so today's post will just be about the decluttering and organizing for Carla's challenge. Periodically I will give you a more personal glimpse into my ROOM.

The photo above show my VERY cluttered and ugly bookcase. It had TOO much stuff on it and a lot of ugly stuff as well as too many photos and sculptures and decor items. Here's one of the shelves for a close up.

Just a wee bit busy wouldn't you say? And who wants to look at my bills holders and cheap Dollarama incense burner? You're right - nobody.  Here's what my bookcase looks like now:

Much less cluttered but still containing my most beloved objects.

 A picture of my mother and I on the wall. My most prized books: some have stories in them written by my mother, some were gifts to me from my mother and others were gifts to my mother from me! Also a collection of reference books I frequently use. And a new addition next to the big dictionary is a book of blank pages that I gave to my artist brother Kim with the inscription - "write some poems about nature"...and so he did! I have it back filled with his beautiful poetry! There is also a photo (bottom left) of my gramma as a little girl, a few other tiny photos and two of my sculptures made from carving and polishing fossils.

 MUCH less on this next shelf. The wedding photo of my mom and dad, my favorite picture of my nephew Paul kissing Kazi as a baby and one of my favorite pictures of my dad and I dancing around the dining room table. (My Crofters Lane Jar and my Sealed Pot in the back and two boxes containing smaller items.

A lot of the paper clutter were genealogy documents which are now housed neatly in the box. Fittingly there is a photo of an ancestor's thatched cottage in Dicklesburgh, photos of my two grandmothers and a china shoe in the background which I gave to one of my grammas. Another of my sculptures on top of the box.

 Photo albums, not pretty but very important.

The rest of my genealogy papers flanked by my sailor dad and my mom waving at me while riding her bike. See where I get it from?

Ok, next up - another ugly area of printer, papers, binders, paper and lots of wires.  Now it looks like this:

Pretty boxes house papers and binders and help to hide all the wires.

My gorgeous oak drop-leaf gate-leg table which was the first antique I ever purchased more than 30 years ago is weighted down by books, photos and a vase of PEI dirt and rocks from Crofters Lane.

And here it is now:

 Right this very second I am typing this post on my laptop while sitting at my table.  The blinds are closed now though as it is...6:51pm and very dark outside!

Starting from the left: a photo of my dad aged about 20, small photo is the whole family, then my mom, then the happy baby is ME, then my gramma and Kazi in one of her Gr. 12 grad photos. 

Here's a close up of my dad and I:

Here I am in my Gr. 1 photo, and yes I had a sailor dress on!

And finally:

Here is a picture of someone who really needed a "Room of her Own".

To be continued.....