Christmas at the White House

 

Magic is in the air at Christmas time, and the decorations have much to do with setting that mood.  A friend of mine and her husband were among the fortunate ones who were selected to travel to Washington D.C. this year and help decorate the White House for Christmas!  She said it was one of the most marvelous experiences of her life.  These photos are from HGTV's website -- there are many more there, if you want to take a look!

 

 

The secret of decorating effectively is in the details!  

As you know, I've been on a kick to clear out the clutter, having read "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up."  Once I complete the rounds of getting rid of my excess stuff, I will be doing what is called "The Realtor Walk-Through." My goal is to go through my home room by room, repairing anything that needs repaired, touching up paint, and so forth.  Of course, the 4'x4' hole in my family room ceiling is a good place to start!  Hopefully that work will be done next week.  In the meantime, one of my medium sized trees in the side yard keeled over in the wind, roots and all, Christmas Day.  Not exactly the Christmas tree we were looking for! My gardener is coming today to finish removing that. 

I don't have any big redecorating or remodeling projects in mind, but do plan to freshen things up and create little vignettes to honor the collections, flowers, and objects that bring me joy.  Here is a nice beginner's article about creating vignettes from Home and Garden TV:  Tips for Making Beautiful Vignettes.

Are you inspired, too?  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!  I certainly did.  My girls were home, we attended the church Candlelight Service, moved by the beauty of singing "Silent Night" as we held candles aloft.  Then it was home to cook favorite foods and open gifts.

Don't you love this large, beautiful Christmas box?  

My sister Chris sent it to me, and look what is inside:

 

Steel blue Egyptian Cotton sheets!  It's hard to capture the true color here, but they match the leaf color in my bedroom's vintage wallpaper perfectly.  Now I'm really eager to get started!

The Magic of Decluttering

 

I came across a book called The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo and since I had all of Thanksgiving week off work, I decided it was a good time to try her techniques.  She is definitely more minimalist than I am, but her ruthlessness in getting rid of things that really aren't serving you any longer or bringing you joy is freeing.  She recommends you start with clothes, and one of the things she suggests that I had never done before was collect ALL your clothes from around your house and put them all in one place as you begin sorting. Typically I had approached clothes-culling by clearing out one drawer or closet at a time, but this time I gave myself an entire day and heaved all the clothes from the front coat closet to two different chests and the closet onto the bed, and looked at each piece with a critical eye.  Four bags to the Goodwill and one bag to the trash later, the clothes I truly wear and love are neatly folded or hung, receiving the proper care they deserve.  (And it only took a morning to do, not an entire day.)

After clothes, she recommends tackling books.  Again you are supposed to put all of your books in your entire house in one place.  That wasn't going to happen for me.  I live in a multi-level house with bookcases in every room.  So I first weeded out all the books in each bookcase to make the book collections more manageable.  Next I'm going to take a photo of each bookshelf so I can study what's left and decide if I need two books on the same topic when one will do nicely.  To my surprise, I had two copies of some books as it was -- one I purchased for myself and then another was gifted to me.  I had planned to pass on the extra copy but never did, so those extra copies have now found a new home.

After finishing with books, we tackle papers, then miscellaneous (gadgets, kitchen tools, etc., etc. -- this category sounds much too broad to me, and one that will need to be tackled room by room!), and lastly sentimental objects.  So this weekend, once I finish with photographing the bookcases and getting rid of the extra books, I hope to start in with papers.  However, I have a busy weekend coming up -- a special Christmas luncheon tomorrow, gifts to finish making, gifts to wrap and prepare for long distance mailing, and cards to address.  I love Christmas and all these busy little tasks that go with it!

Although it may seem like a crazy time for me to start the decluttering projects, in the midst of the holiday season, it is also a time when I have a extra time off work and I'm very home-focused so it makes sense to me. Let me know if you have tried Kondo's techniques.

Ash and Lys were home for a few days over Thanksgiving.  We put up the Christmas tree and decorated the tree and most of the house.  I still need to decorate my family room mantle this weekend and then it will be all set!  Merry Christmas!  

Why I Need to Put My Laundry Away Right Away

It was just too tempting on a cold morning -- warm, folded towels, washcloths and cleaning rags, sitting in a chair, waiting to be put away.  Scarlett didn't appreciate being awoken from her nap for the picture taking as you can see from her one eye open, one eye half shut pose. 

I've been on a cleaning jag lately.  My daughters begin arriving this Thursday for in and out days up to and including Christmas, so this morning I'm sprucing up their rooms -- washing sheets and blankets, dusting and vaccuming.  Then this afternoon you'll find me back in the bonus room.

Ahh, the bonus room has been my project room way too long!  Through the years it has been a combination of the girls' play room/TV room, a home office, exercise room, scrapbooking room, and always storage room.  It has some fantastic features!  It's a room that was added on to the house, above the garage, by the previous homeowners.  You approach it via a nice stairway from the family room downstairs.  It's open, with large windows on three sides so I feel like I'm in a tree house.  It has a large walk-in closet and floor to ceiling cupboards along one wall (the fact the storage boxes still spill over into the main room is a sign I need to get rid of more stuff).  My husband's huge desk, credenza, the desk top computer and printer are the main features of one front corner.  The treadmill is in another corner. The rest of the room is up for grabs in terms of purposing.

But I have ideas!  Organizing the office area into sections for my nonprofit, volunteer projects, hobbies, and personal files is a given.  Then a hobby section where I can spread out my paper craft supplies, photos and albums, and genealogy records.  The treadmill stays and maybe that exercise corner needs enhanced with things that will inspire and make it more 'spa' like.  Do I need music there?  The entire room needs better lighting and a fresh color scheme.  There will be trips to the recycle center and Goodwill in my future.  And the room needs a new name.  I hate the name "bonus room" -- it needs to be my studio, my office, or my hobby room.  Something more definitive.

Time to get busy!

Getting to the Bottom of Things

This weekend I'm tackling the cleaning of my "studio". It's actually been called a sundry of names including the bonus room, storage area, home office and upstairs family room, but treated as indignantly as "the catch all room." My goal is to completely empty the room and its adjoining storage closet of all boxes, bags and extra-items-in-case-we-might-need-them items. Then rearrange the furniture and create a studio for myself. My crafts include writing and photography and all associated tasks -- journals, cards, scrapbooks, colorful pens and papers....

Yes, the small TV will stay so I can catch up on news or become inspired by watching some shows. The office desk and computer will stay where I can look out the front window while I work, watching the tree boughs gently bend in the evening breeze. The bookcases with their family albums and videos will continue to stand guard over our family history.

But I can do without the boxes of clothes and toys and various other odds and ends that still need sorted through. I started this project awhile back, but you know how it goes. Armed with a bucket of Murphy's Wood Soap suds and a couple of trash bags, I've been able to condense 3-4 more boxes today and completely clear out the bookcases so they look and smell fresh and clean again.

My big find of the day helped my daughter -- it was her old backpack from Cambridge, England days with a wallet containing $90! She was thrilled with that find! And, no, I was nice and didn't play "finder's keepers, loser's weepers."