Week 2

For the back story on my decluttering project see the first, second and third posts. Another hit and miss week for me, I finished off the hallway (Tom is yet to go through his music stuff) and started on the dining room which is pretty straightforward as there actually isn't a lot in there. I did miss a few days but to be honest could do the whole dining area in under 20 minutes so I wasn't too worried about catching up and doing a few areas together. 

The list so far is:

1. Hallway – Books
2.  Hallway – Cupboard
3. Hallway – Small ottomans
4. Hallway – Music equipment
5. Hallway – Shoes
6. Hallway – Surfaces
7. Hallway – Misc
8. Dining – Table
9. Dining – Boxes on tank
10. Dining – Pet supplies
11. Dining – Misc
12. Bedroom – Chest of drawer
13. Bedroom – Kate’s wardrobe (today)

The hallway needed a bit of a tidy and I did get rid of some things but it was mainly just stuff for the bin, like junk mail on the table and a load of post for the previous tenants that I needed to return to sender that I finally got round to doing (If you recognise this flat and used to live here, hey here's an idea, CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS!). 

We had the computer set up there to get all the photos and files off it, it's now in the to go pile! We had that old desktop (storing our photos and used to be our main computer but so outdated), an old laptop (nearly dead only keeping it as the desktop doesn't do itunes) and my netbook (solely for internet browsing). So 3 computers that all do and don't do different things! Now we've amalgamated them into one laptop and one netbook, so much easier! 

I also chucked out a few litter tray liner packets that had accumulated in the cupboard. 2 of the blue boxes on the shelves don't even have anything in them so not much I can declutter there, although it's still great to look over it and get rid of a few bits. The bonus of going through these means that I did look through our envelopes of vouchers and we discovered we have over £100 of Debenhams vouchers as well as smaller amounts for other places like WHSmith, so we went into town on Sunday and bought a folder and some stationery for making a wedding folder as there were also little piles of brochures, business cards etc around  :) 

I also started the bedroom yesterday with my chest of drawers. I did a quite large clothes cull back here, but did find a few bits I could get rid of like some underwear that has gotten a bit tatty (not going to share photos!) and I'm going to do the wardrobe this evening, I think I do have a few dresses I could get rid of as even though I've gotten rid of some the wardrobe is still overflowing. 

I think it's going well, any clutter out is a good thing, there will be some areas with more than others so this week being a bit slower than last week isn't a bad thing. 

Have you been taking part or has this inspired you to declutter any of your stuff? How are you getting on?

Before the big declutter

I'll post our list for the big declutter on Wednesday, so if you're playing along at home get ready to get rid! See last weeks post here on the method.

I thought I'd share some before photos today because A.the whole flat is clean after a bank holiday housework blitz and B. I'm hoping it will look a bit different in a few weeks!

The Kitchen - Problem areas:
Top of the microwave
Countertops
Food cupboard

The thing on top of the hob is the oven shelves soaking in the overnight oven cleaner

The Living Room - Problem Areas:
Box under coffee table
Corners by the bookshelves

The dining room/hallway (not really sure what to call his room now it's no longer the 'office') - Problem Areas:
Shelves under the turtle tank

The Bathroom - Problem Areas:
Cosmetics
Built in cupboard

The Hallway - Problem Areas
Bookshelves
Cupboard
Music Equipment
Shoes
Computer Equipment
Chairs (we have 4 dining chairs and an armchair in here and never sit on any of them!)

This box is also still here, Tom needs to sort it out or it will just be labelled 'Sell' and become the start of the car boot pile...

The Bedroom - Problem Areas:
Under the bed
Ottomans

The bag on the bed is full of clothes that were on ebay and ended yesterday and I'm either sending off or if they didn't sell getting rid of elsewhere

So that's our flat as of yesterday, pretty clean and tidy but cluttered in some areas. I can't wait to get rid of some things and make some room!

Storage Upgrades

In this post where I rearranged the office into a dining room I mentioned I wanted to get some better looking storage boxes for the shelves under the turtle tank as these ones weren't looking so good

I've been keeping an eye out for some new matching ones and spotted these in the pound shop

The bottom 2 have the turtle food and stuff in one and the leftover office stuff that I thought we might still want easy access to like batteries, envelopes etc in the other. The other 2 are actually still empty but I got 4 because it looked more balanced and it's always good to have spare storage space!

This room's getting there now and looking a bit more finished, they also had a few different table runners in the pound shop so I might change the red out for a white or blue to match the rest of the room a bit better.

Not the look I was going for...

I posted my first post on my wedding blog today on how we chose what venues to go and look around, you can click here to get to it or there's a link to the blog at the top of the toolbar on the right...

When I changed the office into a 'dining room' a while back in this post I had hoped we would use the table to eat at, which we did for a few weeks but then it started to accumulate stuff on it.

Oh dear. I think because it's near the front door we started putting stuff down on it as we came in, and as it was always covered with stuff we stopped eating at it.

I find the best way to stop a space accumulating stuff is to make it into a space with a purpose, if it's just a blank space that you don't regularly use or isn't attractive it will get used as a dumping ground.

I still had my table runner from our old dining table at our last house and wanted to add some nice table decorations and a centrepiece to make it into more of a 'proper' dining space.

I started by clearing everything off, then just played around with a few different configurations.

 I thought the 3 canvasses were a bit much, so landed on this set up as the one for now

 The candles are from all around the house, mainly the living room, bathroom and hallway

This hurricane lamp was just on the floor in the bathroom as it didn't have a home but it looks much better on the table

 The star votives and canvas were on the bookshelves in the hallway

Much better! Hopefully it'll discourage us from dumping stuff here and keep it clear to eat at.