Better?

I love to throw things away.  I know my in-laws think I'm rather crazy, but I have to compensate against Rob's natural tendencies.  He does not enjoy purging as much as I do.  Our house is older (built in 1955) and not huge, but we do have adequate closets and storage.  Our garage is enormous, we have a full attic, and we have four full-sized closets, a half-closet, a large linen closet, and a broom closet.  We don't store much in our attic, due to the fact that Rob installed insulation over the large majority of "floor space".  So, that leaves our garage and laundry room as our "catch-alls".  I'm not going to lie, it can get ugly - and it often does - as you were witness to in the earlier post.

I promised "after" pictures -

Well, this was kind of the best I could do.  Thank goodness this is a large space.  In addition to being a bit of a pack rat, Rob also enjoys many hobbies.  In our laundry room we store: hunting and winter gear, material for our bedroom at the cabin, skis and ski tuning equipment, paint, and our actual washing machine and dryer.  Shocking that there's room for it! 

 We also have all of the components to make stereo speakers.  Rob and his friend were really into making speakers, oh, about ten years ago.  I just asked him again this morning if I could pitch it all.  The answer: no. 


 So, do you think it looks a little better?  At least I can walk in the room again and our drawers are filled with clean clothing.  Progress, in my book.

So, do you love to keep things or to purge them?  I filled two garbage cans with unwanted items [of my own - don't worry, Rob].  In my book, if I haven't used it in 6 months, I don't need it.   Do you have a "catch-all" area?  What do you store there?  I'd like to not feel too alone or dejected, can you help me out?

Also, I wanted to share pics of my progress from this weekend: the kids playroom.  Rob tiled our basement rec room last winter and the kids really enjoy using the space, especially in the winter or when they have friends to visit.  We have a wii down there that they enjoy, lots of floor space, books and games.  We bought a very, very cushiony rug that fits in perfectly.  We haven't done much decorating, but maybe this winter I'll feel a little more inspired.  When we originally purchased the house, there was a mahogany bar (with black and white canopy) that occupied about half of the space.  Once we removed that, retiled and laid the carpet, it became usable space.  I spent some time cleaning and re-organizing this weekend, just in time for friends to visit and cooler weather to keep us indoors!

I'm also in the process of scraping and re-painting our outside window trim.  I'm not sure when it was done last, but we had some bare wood that was visible and after a few coats of paint, it really freshened up the outside of the house! 

So, what projects are you planning to tackle before the weather changes?  Rob is really working hard on our master bathroom - I hope to show you some finished pictures soon!!  I probably didn't tell you, but our house was very 50's when we purchased it.  Our master bathroom was pink - everywhere.  We had pink tile floor, a pink sink, a pink toilet, pink wall tiles, and a pink tiled shower.  Nice, huh?  The hallway bathroom was a very obnoxious aquamarine color.  Thankfully, we were able to save the marble floor - the green in the floor was more of a sage.  The rest was very bright - and same story: walls, shower surround, toilet, sink, etc - all aquamarine.  Rob has worked very hard on our house - that's why I let him keep the speaker making equipment! :)