What Do You Wish You Had The Time To Do? (I Bet It Isn't Managing Your STUFF.....)

Can you picture it?? I have arrived this morning at your house for our first appointment. This is The Big Day. You called me a few weeks ago, the resolve audible in your voice... The time has come, you say, once and for all, to finally organize your house.

Oh dear. I can't wait to get there and get started, but  when you open the door to greet me, I know what I will see...

Your eyes are wide and starry, your gestures animated, and I bet if I could peer inside your head, I would see dreamy images like these:

or these....

Interesting how you envision the outcome...

I am also all too familiar with the disillusionment that sets in just after we roll up our sleeves and get to work.

You look at me, confused. I am guessing that your inner dialog goes something like this:

Why are we spending so much time going through things and getting rid of stuff? This is hard work, emotional, and I hate making all of these decisions. 

I thought you would be setting up a sophisticated system, so I could put everything in a perfect container, and would know where everything was...and it would look cool...and the house would be stylish and stuff...

I mean, like when do we get to go buy the pretty color-coordinated boxes that I will store everything in?? I thought that we would be spending more time doing that. Not THIS...I mean I can throw things out on my own...

You have fallen into the trap that all of us do from time to time. You have made the mistake of thinking that your frustrations with your home result from the lack of a proper organizational system...JUST GOTTA GET ME ONE OF THOSE.

Nope.

The truth is that your frustration stems from trying to manage and organize too many things, things that don't ultimately matter anyway...and it is a battle that you can't win. Well, unless you want to spend most of your spare time maintaining, straightening, and organizing, OR you have a butler and a staff of twenty to help you run the place...

Neither of those scenarios seem likely to me, so let's talk about how to lessen your frustration and increase your time for fun:

• Focus on what matters to you. I have yet to meet a person who wishes that they just had more time to spend with their kitchen pantry or their basement shelves. I know there are things you are longing to do with your most precious resource, your time. We are about to find you more time--read on.
• More Stuff=Less Time: You have too much stuff--we all do in varying degress. It is all that stuff that is clogging up the works of your life. Get rid of the clutter, have less to fuss with, find more time.
• "I just need a better system"--BUT WAIT, you say, that STUFF is important! I just want to store it in a better way! When you look at the stuff as a whole, it may feel important, but when you look at it carefully, individually, there is a whole mess of things that you don't love, don't  use, and don't need. Simply taking all of that excess STUFF and putting in attractive containers is like putting a fresh coat of paint on a house with a failing foundation. It is unsound and off-balance, it won't feel satisfying, and your results WON'T LAST.
• "ONCE AND FOR ALL!"~ You said it, but you can't mean it: Life and its sticky little problems are never "once and done," and creating a satisfying and comfortable home is not the exception to this rule. This process is about  putting systems in place that will need MAINTENANCE. The more complex and impressive your system for filing paperwork, the more onerous it will be to keep up. The more remnants of fabric you hold on to, the more effort it will take to keep them clean and accessible so they actually get used someday. SO, whatever you are going to store (I hope it isn't much), make sure it is done simply and that it is worth the time and energy it will cost you to do so.

I want you to note that I didn't use pictures of my own closets, my very own basement storage area, or my kitchen junk drawer (yes, I have one)  in this post. While they are in functional, workable form with little clutter, they aren't much to look at, and that is just how I like them. I don't feel the need to have  my closets and other storage areas camera ready, and I hope you don't either. Sure, all of those perfectly folded clothes and stacked toiletries are pretty, but I would rather spend my time doing things I enjoy with those I love ...wouldn't you?

Arriving Home

Each week I write about all kinds of things that have been rattling around in my head as I work with clients, from clutter to contractors to kitchen colors.

But no matter the topic, what I am always trying to say is this:

You deserve to live in a place that is beautiful to you, a space that speaks to your soul and makes you feel at home.

When you have such a place to go to at the end of the day-- a place that helps you relax and restore--you have more to give to the people you love, and more to give to the world at large.

This important place (your home) is created one little step at a time (not overnight), it is created through keeping things simple (not by being fussy and spending a lot of money), and it is created by being honest with yourself about what things really make you feel good and therefore have a place in your space.

My challenge to you: find 5 things in your home that you love and make you feel good, and 5 things that you know drag you down. Make sure the lovely things are somewhere prominent--where you can enjoy them. The other 5 things need to go -- their welcome is officially worn out.

The quaint & beautiful cottage paintings seen above can be found here and here.

Hibernation

I had very little energy over the weekend.  I guess when I look at the pictures I took early Saturday morning, I am not surprised.

It was beautiful to look at, all that ice and snow, and I really enjoyed peering out the windows and taking it all in, hot coffee in hand, fuzzy slippers on my feet.

Everyone else in the house was energized by the snow, and all went out bright and early to go sledding. And I didn't mind....

nothing like a quiet house in which to hibernate.

Rented!

Today the papers were signed and it is official! Our project house that has been sitting so pretty for so long will have someone new to love her. We are so excited!

I was there today going over the paperwork and working out some details....had to snap a few pictures.

I am so proud of the work I did on this house. If you missed it before, you can see a lot of it here and here.

It seems strange that I won't be able just to pop over just to say "hi" and enjoy all of the pretty sun-filled rooms..... but what a happy ending for what was once a forlorn little cape cod so down on her luck.

A Good Old Fashioned Church Hall Revival

This past summer, I was asked to consult on the overhaul of our church hall, St. Joseph's Hall, a room that holds many great memories and has always been charming to me. When I looked at it honestly, after taking off the sentimental sunglasses we all tend to wear from time to time, it indeed needed some real help.

I have been a member of Christ Church Episcopal since I was in third grade, nearly my entire life, and I had always wondered what was beneath that dropped ceiling. The lattice and tiles must have seemed a good option to conceal a collection of maintenance woes  sometime in the 1950's, but now its time had come, and I would finally get to see the bones of the room revealed, and its secrets told--so exciting. Could there be exposed beams up there? Beaded wood detailing? You never know....with all of the expense and attention to detail given the room when it was originally built (just note the gorgeous windows), it didn't seem out of the question to me.

Alas, it all came down, and there were no beams or beads, but just a lovely, simple plaster ceiling.  And, as suspected,  the reason that the drop ceiling had been installed in the first place--lots of peeling paint, cracks, exposed lath and evidence of old roof leaks that needed to be tended to--was there to be seen, too.

I had been away on our family vacation to Maine when the demolition had started, and was blissfully unaware that the original sconces and chandeliers were being removed and thrown away.  Still frustrates me.  If I had know this was being considered, I would have swiftly stepped in and asked all involved to reconsider. If the chandeliers had been salvaged, we could have possibly made the church close to $1000 or more in the resale of those cool old mid-century fixtures, and someone else would have had the opportunity to make use of them and love them for another 60 years or so....

A second great disappointment to me was that when the wall sconces had been removed, the wiring for them was also pulled--a change that, by the time I had learned of it, was impossible to reverse given the constraints of our budget. *Sigh* The lighting plan would have to go forward without the benefits and ambience that the wall sconces would have afforded such a large room.

As things progressed, a beautiful, smooth drywall ceiling was installed covering over the flaws that had been so evident before, new wainscoting was installed, other lovely trim work was meticulously put in place, and the old radiators were exposed and given a fresh coat of paint. I looked high and low for ceiling fixtures that would suit the scale and era of the room, as well as fit within the budget. I finally settled on Rejuvenation's timeless schoolhouse pendant with the 18" Opal Schoolhouse Shade- an understated but shapely fixture of excellent quality.

Next, a color palette that would bring the room to life & make the stunning windows shine needed to be selected.

The colors I chose (MAB) were tones that I hoped would be soft, muted,  sophisticated and able to pull the intense blues in the stained glass windows forward. The wall color (SW 6239 Upward) is a grey blue with a hint of periwinkle to it to do just that. The complimentary colors (ceiling:SW 6232 Misty, trim: SW 7002 Downy) keep a tone on tone quality to the room, and add depth to the blue so that it doesn't feel like a baby boy's nursery room palette. ( I did get a call from the painter asking me about just that the day he bought the paint. "You sure about this color"....yes, I am, she said confidently....)

These images of the hall (ones I quickly snapped after church this past weekend) don't show the room as clearly as I would like....but I think they show the new life that has been brought into St. Joseph's Hall. The kids playing  (one of those hooligans is mine...:), the gleaming refinished floors, the overall character of a vintage space renewed .....there will be many years ahead of service to our community, many more friendships made and strengthened,  many more questions of faith pondered, and many more happy memories created in this space.