The History of a Home Project. Part One: Living Room

Yes, I'm finally ready for the big REVEAL. I thought it might be interesting to review the history of this project, beginning when I moved in here in December 2008/January 2009.

My parents had lived in this apartment since May 1991. They were settled in here quite thoroughly, and their things, rightfully, took all the space in the apartment. I got rid of nearly all my furniture and much of my other stuff as well, but still had quite a bit to shoehorn into an already full apartment.

I'm going to take you through this project one room at a time, beginning with the living room. This is how it appeared shortly after I moved in (and just looking at that picture gives me pangs of grief and remembrance -- when Mum fell, she missed hitting her head on the metal leg of that keyboard by about an inch. The pole lamp is damaged because the paramedics were trying so hard to get more light to be able to see how she was responding.):

 

I moved here because the intention was that Mum would come home after the fall that landed her in a nursing home for what we thought would be a temporary stay. I needed to make the place safer for her, with less furniture to get in the way of her walker and her safe progression through the rooms, so the living room began to change. I got rid of the loveseat, moved the keyboard, made space for a walker to maneuver. And then came the realization that Mum would not be coming home, that nursing home life was how life was going to be for both my parents. And so my things began to fill the space.

 

The corner by the air conditioner became my study, with Dad's desk moved out of their bedroom, and various other makeshift ways of using furniture providing the rest of a basic office area.

It was cold by that large patio door and the wind whistled through the gaps in the air conditioner, but I worked there until early 2011 when the desk was moved back into what had been my parents' bedroom, and is now my Writing Room.

It was nice to reclaim that corner for the small armchair, and when I got rid of the TV, I set up my grandfather's 100 or so year old barrister-style bookcase as a china cabinet.

 

The living room was workable, for a while, but there was still extraneous stuff in the room, and it wasn't quite the serene space I dreamed of.

 

I decided to send my grandfather's bookcase, and my grandmother's rocking chair to live with one of my cousins. I moved Mum's recliner/rocker into my bedroom, and gave Dad's recliner/rocker and the other armchair away, and bought new furniture -- which turned out to be too large for the space (If I had put my coffee table between the couch and chair, there'd have been only a narrow walkway on either side to move through the room.) So both pieces were taken to a friend's garage, and subsequently sold (the furniture had been clearance price, so could not be returned).

 

For several months, I made do with just the dining chairs (which had been Mum and Dad's, purchased shortly after they moved here). It wasn't great, but it worked... until the wood in the chairs reached its "best before" date, and began cracking, and breaking. I could no longer allow people to sit on the chairs.

 

For a while longer, I got by with just two folding chairs, like card-table chairs. Then my friend Catherine told me about Julie Morgenstern's book SHED Your Stuff: Change Your Life, which was the catalyst for a final big push to get my home in order.

After the Great Furniture Shift mentioned a couple of blogposts ago, the living room looked like this:

 

Now with furniture in place, and books on the shelves, I am well on my way to the serene space I longed for. Some day I will recover the chair, and some day I will have an ottoman that isn't a bath bench with a bed pillow on top, covered by a tablecloth, but in the meantime, this space makes me happy. (Note: the sign on the music stand reads "Invisible Comfy Armchair" -- some day there will be a visible one in its place.)

 

Still to come -- bedroom, writing room, and storage room. Stay tuned! (I apologize for the length of this post, but I've found it quite a good exercise to go through the whole process. Thank you for bearing with me.)

Emma Walton Hamilton interview on my Writer Blog!

I am delighted to be interviewing author, editor, educator, my writing coach and mentor, Emma Walton Hamilton on my Writer Blog "By Word of Beth" today.

Please stop by and read the interview!

Emma Walton Hamilton -- Wednesday Worthy

(and yes, pictures of my home will be posted here soon!)

Getting there...

Two wonderful friends came over late this afternoon, and in just over an hour they moved furniture around, put up a small metal shelving unit, et cetera, et cetera, and so forth.

I am so very happy that what I envisioned worked out even better than I had expected it to.

Now the fun of putting things away where they will belong begins. After a bit of a rest.

Pictures will be forthcoming.


(I took them out to dinner to say thank you. It was worth so much more to me, though, than one dinner could express.)

In Which Before becomes After before becoming Before...

The book Catherine recommended seems to have lit a fire under me. Knowing my "theme" for the upcoming chapter of my life, and thinking about what will propel that theme forward, and what is treasure and what isn't at this stage of my life, has been empowering.


And I have the pictures to prove it.


I have been allowing myself to be defeated by the task of sorting through the papers that overwhelmed the storage room. I started working on them after reading the chapters in Clear Your Stuff, Change Your Life about theme, treasures and trash, and the momentum built until I was in that wonderful zone where one can't seem to stop working.


Here is a before picture of the storage room, north end. It was somewhat better than this by the time I tackled it, but I didn't take a before picture before this most recent attempt at clearing.

Not the most inspiring sight to encounter every time I went into the room. As I say, some progress had been made. It wasn't this bad when I started working on it after my April 28 blogpost. The picture below is what it looks like now. What you can't see is that the drawers in both the dresser and the little chest of drawers (as well as the other little chest of drawers not pictured) are all EMPTY. They have been emptied in preparation for Phase Two of this project, a furniture shift that turns these pictures from being After pics to Before the furniture shift pics. Are you sitting down? Good. 

I hear audible gasps. That is music to my ears. The dresser will be going into my bedroom. The little chest will be going into the entryway to act as a landing strip/launch pad. If the dresser is going into the bedroom, then space must be cleared to make that a possibility. Therefore, the chair and bookcase in the bedroom have been cleared off, so that they can move into the living room. Thus, this After picture is also a Before picture.

In order for the chair and bookcase to be in a spot that makes me happy in the living room, other things must be moved. The dining table is on its way across the room to the window. For a long time I've wanted a dining table with an outdoor view. First the living room had to be tidied, so that the next step can take place (note that there is not much furniture in this room. The dining chairs became unsafe to use, so I'm currently using uncomfortable folding chairs, but my budget is being allocated in other places than furnishings, so I'll live with that.) So, yet more After pictures that are also Befores.

Stay tuned to see how the Great Furniture Shift goes. (I wonder how many Great Furniture Shifts I have had in the course of my many goes at trying to put a long line of apartments to rights?)

Shedding stuff...

Thanks to my insightful friend Catherine, who seemed to know what I needed without me asking, I have just started working through the book "SHED Your Stuff: Change Your Life" by Julie Morgenstern.


You've likely discerned by the silence of this blog that I've been stuck in neutral (or perhaps in reverse) in the ongoing journey toward making this apartment reflect my life now, rather than my parents' life then. 

For newcomers to the blog, a few years ago I moved into my parents' apartment. They have both since died -- just over a year ago. I have been working at transforming the apartment into my home rather than the home of my parents -- but this has been a long process. It's time now to get moving again in this journey.

Instead of focusing on decluttering and organization, the SHED process digs deeper, and challenges the person to look at the life he/she is living now, and how they want to "be" in the next chapter of life. Quoting from page 17 of the book, SHED is an acronym for

Separate the treasures

Heave the trash

Embrace your identity

Drive yourself forward

Just reading that felt empowering.

Last night, I took the Assessment Survey at Julie Morgenstern's website, to prepare for my SHEDding journey. Early this morning, I read the first part of the book, and I have taken the first step in the process of separating the treasures -- I have delved within myself to discover the theme for the current/coming chapter of my life.


Most of the themes she uses as examples in the book are stated in terms of a noun phrase. I found that my theme wanted to be expressed as action verbs. Readers/doers are encouraged to live with the theme for a few days and see how it fits, as they move on to the tasks set out in the following chapters.


My theme, as it began to become clear to me this morning, is

Expand! Create! Act! Connect!

My next tasks will be to unearth the things in my home, my habits, my experiences that support that theme, and give them their place as treasures.

Stay tuned. I think it's going to be a fascinating journey.

Picture Book GIVEAWAY (on my other blog)

Yes, I do still exist. I'm mostly over on my other blog, though.


And that's why I'm here today -- this week, April 22 to 25, 2012, I'm having a picture book GIVEAWAY. (No, I didn't write the book. Some day...)


A comment on any of this week's blogposts on By Word of Beth will enter you in the giveaway for one of two copies of

The Very Fairy Princess: Here Comes the Flower Girl

by

Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton

Emma is my writing coach and mentor, as well as being the person with whom I co-administer the Children's Book Hub Facebook Group, so I'm very excited about any book that she and her mother write. This one is no exception. It's the third in their Very Fairy Princess series.

The giveaway has two prizes -- First Prize is one copy of the book plus a fairy princess wand handmade by a woman in Minnesota. Second Prize is a copy of the book.

The more times you comment (on that blog, not this one) the more chances you have to win!

I will be adding links to each day's post, to make it easier for you.

 Monday, April 23, 2012 at By Word of Beth

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at By Word of Beth

All are welcome!!! Tell a friend!!!

Plan B. A Q&A type meme...

Obviously, I've not done anything toward keeping my word that I'd post here on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So instead, for a stay-in Sunday, here's a meme-type thing, a Q&A from my friend Robin at RobPixaDay.

First, the rules.
  
Rules:
1. You must post the rules. 
2. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
3. Tag eleven people and link to them on your post.
4. Let them know you’ve tagged them!

Robin's questions and my answers:


1. What’s your least favorite food or drink and why?
 So many things to choose from! (I’m a picky eater.) Liver. The thought of it, the texture, the taste… no thank you.

2. If you could be a literary character for one day, in that character’s world (not ours), whom would you choose?
Lucy in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

3. What person who was born before 1800 would you like to escort around our world for a week, if you could?
My great-great-great grandfather, William Andrews, not just to show him how the world has changed since he lived, but so that I could ask so many questions (including which of the five William Andrews born in Tavistock, Devon in 1795 he was!)

4.  Are you left-handed? Right-handed? Both?
I’m right-handed for writing, left-handed for doing things like opening jars and milk cartons.

5.  If you have to go outside in heavy rain when you’re wearing very expensive new shoes and have no other footwear available to substitute, what do you do?
Put plastic bags over my shoes, walk carefully and hope the car’s nearby.

6.  What’s the food or drink that first pops into your mind when you think of your favorite holiday, and why?
Mum’s carrot pudding for Christmas (and the ginger chocolates she and I used to get from Santa every year.) Not only delicious, but such a warm memory.

7.  Do you yell at other drivers when you’re behind the wheel? If no, why not? — OR – If you don’t drive, do you ever yell at other people when you know they can’t hear you? If no, why not?
Rather than yelling, I tend to speak sarcastically as if the person could hear me. “Thank you so much for cutting in front of me.” “Stop sign there, darling. Yours, not mine.”

8. What’s your least favorite day of the year and why?
For many years, it was Valentine’s Day, because it reminded me too much of what there isn’t in my life. I’m easier with it now.

9. How much starlight do you think you’d need in order to get a star burn?
Depends which star. Ordinary starlight? Quite a bit. Sunlight? (The sun’s a star, too, quite a pushy ‘look at me’ kind of star.) Not much at all. 

10. What do you do when you stub your toe so hard that it feels like you broke it?
I say what a little boy I used to know called “square words.” Then I limp until it gets better.

11.  How many blogs do you think there are on the internet?
More than yesterday, less than tomorrow.

And now, the eleven questions I want my taggees to answer:

1.     Which of your ancestors would you most like to meet?

2.     If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?

3.     If you could have dinner with three contemporary celebrities, who would you choose?

4.     What is your favorite piece of music?

5.     What was your favorite toy when you were a child?

6.     What is the last movie you saw (either in the theater or at home)? Would you see it again?

7.     If you could hire someone regularly to do one chore around your house, what would it be?

8.     When you think of your favorite holiday or celebration, what sound(s) come to mind?

9.     Which is your favorite season, and why?

10.  Which book do you wish YOU had written?

11.  Tidy desk or messy one?

Finally, the people I’m tagging: (Yes, I know there are nine, not eleven. I stopped believing in math in second grade.)

Anne at Large

Laura Lynne at Min/Min

Alana at Prairie Home Therapy

Leena at Onshore

The Farmer’s Daughter

Brian Sibley

Mella at Quagmire Life

Colleen at Foreign Circus Life

Christine at Compass and Coffee Spoons

Right, then -- here's the plan...

When I settle down to a regular schedule of blog posts over on my writing blog I will blog over there on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. (The writing blog is the little line in the sidebar of links to the right -- if I put my blog title where it will show up, it types over my header. Haven't solved that glitch yet.)

I will try to blog here on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and possibly Saturdays or Sundays once in a while. We'll see how that works. We'll see if I have that much to say!

I'm spending part of today working out a viable schedule for my work-day, so that I can achieve my writing goals, and my home goals as well. I am going to try for an hour of work at the decluttering/organizing each day. That may be done in segments throughout the day, but it needs to be regular while at the same time not taking over the whole day.

First dilemma -- I want to take down the Christmas tree and other decorations, but the space they're supposed to be stored in the storage room is currently being used as a sorting station for other things. To quote Eloise from the made-for-tv movies (and no doubt, from the books as well) Eloise at the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime, "Obviously, I need a plan."

This week's plan, then, is

Sunday: to spend a bit of time today taking down the Christmas decorations and putting them back in their boxes so that they are ready to be stored, and so that the living/dining room can go back to a normal appearance. So far, 5:30 p.m., that hasn't happened.

Weekdays: to get the far end of the storage room completely to rights (except for the photos that need to be sorted, but they can at least be corralled) so that the Christmas decorations and tree can be put away.

That is in the midst of working on two writing projects, keeping up with the Facebook Group that I'm co-admin of, working on a new project that just popped up today, starting to do some research on agents...

I'll keep you updated about how I'm doing.

New writing blog launched!

Phew. There were more than a "phew" glitches in getting my new writing blog up and running, but it has now been launched. 

This will remain my personal blog, and as I said in my previous post, I do hope to update this blog more often this year. You'll note I've added subscription capabilities in the sidebar, if anyone is interested in knowing exactly when I've updated!

Also, if you're interested, you may find my new writing blog at this link:  By Word of Beth

And now, on toward whatever exciting tomorrow may hold!

Happy New Year!

2012 -- a bright, shiny new page all ready to be written on. May the year bring you joy, love, laughter, comfort in your tears, and encouragement along the way.


I started the year by having breakfast by candle -- and 'star' -- light.

I hope, in the coming year, to be here more regularly (although my main focus in life will be my writing, and my main focus in blogging will be my new writing blog, as yet still a work in progress). I intend to get the sorting and organizing project finally completed so that it no longer hangs over my head, and so that I finally am able to experience the "Serenity at Home" that was my goal when I started this blog several years ago. I look forward to a year filled with friendship, love, growth (personal and spiritual, but not physical), furthering my career as a writer, and experiencing new things with a spirit of adventure.


In one of A.A. Milne's stories about Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends-and-relations, Pooh asked Piglet what he thought first thing in the morning. I'm going to try to make Piglet's answer my mantra in 2012:

"I wonder what exciting will happen today?"

May 2012 be good to you and yours.