I was inspired because of the 28-Day Organizing Challenge to clean our bedroom during the month of February. I know it is pathetic to take an entire month to clean a room, but cleaning the bedroom is always at the bottom of my cleaning priority list. (OK, actually, the playroom is at the bottom, but that's because it's out of sight and I forget that it's even a part of our house.)
So I didn't even finish in the allotted 28 days, but I did finish! There are still lots of things I'd like to do, like paint the ugly dresser, paint a mirror and hang it, and make pillows, but I did get the room completely clean, dusted, and reorganized—and it's stayed that way for 4 whole days.
This post shows a small taste of what the room looked like a month ago. Piles of laundry to put away and shirts to be ironed, and just piles of papers. The bedroom has always been a catch-all. But I got really serious.
I spent most of the month throwing stuff away. I threw away about 2 full bags of trash and filled two entire recycling bins with papers. I filled an entire box with mementos (and soon that box will make it out of the hallway and into storage, really).
Those shelves by the ugly wicker chair (which has been "temporary" for the past two years) were completely stuffed with junk. They still look full, I know, but they are actually completely organized. I'm working on getting a few more canvas totes to put in them.I got a new comforter cover for our old but very comfortable down comforter and got these really cute birdies for my necklaces, which used to lay tangled on my dresser.
I dusted the bookshelf by Randy's side of the bed for the first time in serious six months. It was hideous. Since I started taming this disaster area, I've been really good about putting laundry away soon after it's folded, and I've also been ironing for an hour each week. I'm keeping up with the ironing, but I still have a lot of stuff that's waiting its turn from the past few months. Life was so much easier back when we were in graduate school and Dr. H. wore t-shirts every day. (Well, except for the part about having no money and living in an itty-bitty apartment in Iowa.)I'm not completely done, and I didn't finish the challenge in time, but it feels really, really good to have a clean and organized bedroom. Next up: the bedroom at our guest apartment…
Check out other clean spaces at the 28 Day Challenge and other happy things at Finer Things Friday.
Congrats! I SO need to tackle the same project. I keep putting it off but if I don't get to it soon, I may find myself unable to GET in my bedroom. LOL
ReplyDeleteYou make me feel so much better! I'm thankful that our bedroom is not the only one that is the "catchall" of the house. I take spurts every Saturday to get done what I can on it, but dusting is so way down on the list I think it's near the earth's core! With both of us working, it catches all laundry and paper too.
ReplyDeleteThe bedroom looks good! I hate those rooms that turn into catchalls for everything.
ReplyDeleteI am SO IMPRESSED! (But, ironing- really? What's THAT?)
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed you posted after the challenge was over. Really impressed. And it looks great, organizationally and aesthetically. But I'm partial to red . ..
ReplyDeleteGood for you! Aren't you sleeping better in clean room? I know I always do. It looks beautiful,
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful job you've done - the room looks great!
ReplyDeleteYou've so inspired me - maybe I'll make April my month to clear out my bedroom - I get up, shower and get dressed and don't do anything in my bedroom until night - very neglected.
Great post - thank you :)
if it makes you feel better (and even if it doesn't), cleaning up and reorganizing my bedroom was my summer project last year... and it still isn't done. it doesn't help that, at a point when i had made really good progress, we swiped a newly-reorganized cabinet from the bedroom and repurposed it for the school room, leaving its contents in a pile in the bedroom... where they still sit. and then, with the project thusly sabotaged, everything else in the room sort of started reverting back to its previous state... *sigh* and every time i determine to work on it, i look around and remember something else i have to do that is more important.
ReplyDeleteit looks so good! i just did the same thing in our room. spring cleaning when it's not really spring makes me hopeful:)
ReplyDeletei'm thinking your kid needs to play at gratisfest?! that'd be really fun.
great job!
ReplyDeletewell, guess what? your post so inspired me that i actually got my bedroom cleaned up today! there is still a little organizing and a lot of beautifying to do, but at least it is NOT MESSY! i was only going to work in there for 20 minutes and make a little progress, and then i took care of one more group of things... and then another... and then...
ReplyDeleteso see, blogging is good. because you blog, some guy in michigan (my husband) is sleeping in a clean, neat bedroom tonight for the first time in i-don't-know-how-long. thanks for the inspiration! :-)
Great job! I'll bet you feel peaceful everytime you walk into your bedroom!
ReplyDeleteSamantha
Fantastic job! Our bedroom is definitely at the bottom of my priority list...
ReplyDeleteWhat a great job. I do the exact same thing--just stuff everything into my bedroom. And then I wonder why I can't sleep! I've been cleaning and purging with FlyLady, and you've really inspired me to keep going and even decorate. I can barely imagine and lovely, relaxing bedroom. But I am sure it's there somewhere!
ReplyDeleteI was reading your posts about your 21st anniversary and realized that was the same year I met my husband. Time did fly and yes he had a mullet, too. :)
ReplyDeleteI am on my minimizing/decluttering effort right now so I completely understand what you are saying about the bedroom being not the top of the cleaning list.
How does your room look now?