Making Space

Stuff multiplies.  Fact.

No matter how much you get rid of, no matter how little you bring in.... The moment you turn your back, stuff breeds, or perhaps brings its little friends round to play, and then they forget to go back home.  Who knows?  Fact is, the only way to prevent getting pushed out of your own home is to declutter.  Little and often is what works best for me.

And then, of course, there is the maintenance of the stuff you have left.  It really does not need saying that the less stuff you have, cluttering the place up, the easier it will be to do those lovely jobs (ugh) like cleaning and decorating.  Face it, stuff takes up a lot of your energy.... The less you have, the more energy will be left for important, meaningful, or fun stuff.

So, this summer I've been mostly getting rid of stuff.  We are hoping to move next year, and those of us who used to religiously watch Ann Maurice - and nowadays Phil Spencer -  know very well that the way to release the best value from our bricks and mortar is to present them to potential buyers in the best possible light.  That means that the emergency decorating jobs from six years ago, when we moved it, just won't do.

Now, this is the point when I post the tatty "before" photos, followed by nice, shiny "after" photos, but as I have dopily forgot to take any photos before cracking out the paintbrushes, I had to trawl through my photo archives in order to find something that would give you an idea as to what it all used to look like to start with....

                                                   So, here goes - conservatory before:

Yes, it was Christmas when this photo was taken.  Live with it ;o)

And this is what we have now:

That's as far as it got in terms of decorating - but much more achieved when it come to decluttering.

                                                             A view of the kitchen last year:

                                            This is the top of the kitchen cupboards now:

Trouble is, the kitchen is still too small for the cupboards to store absolutely everything.... Therefore, bookcase to the rescue:

                                                             The master bedroom:

Daughter's bedroom (and you do realise that the only reason it's this tidy is because she is away, don't you ?)

                                             

And finally, the lounge:

                                            The lounge is still a work in progress though !