I don't know about you, but Summer is actually when my Spring Cleaning fever normally hits. Weird, I know, but I think it is because when I was growing up, mom would perform her organization/cleaning projects around the house during the Summer. With my mom being a teacher, she never had time during the Spring season to really clean out the house. It wasn't until Summer vacation that she had free-time and three minions, I mean, children that she could direct to do projects. In addition, I have been in Europe for eight months itching to figure out how to make my home flow better. So I have decided to perform a purge. That is right ladies and gentlemen. The world's best hoarder is performing a purge. I first started by thinking about what I wanted in my apartment.
What do I need in my space?
What can I live without?
Am I throwing lots of parties?
Who comes to visit my apartment?
After asking myself these questions, I came up with the following idea. I am going to turn my dining room into an office, and then, the built-in office/cubby space into a storage closet. The built-in office space had already become another form of a junk holder, so I decided I should formalize that arrangement. This meant I had to start getting rid of furniture that I know longer needed for the dining room now turned office space, which is mainly, my dining room table.
In my teensie weensie apartment, it isn't really that much of a "dining room". It had become more of a junk room/unfulfilled project room (as you can see in the picture above). So, I sold the table to a college student who needed it, and I bought a desk from IKEA. Then, once I could see what I could do with the space, I created a design board.
What do I need in my space?
What can I live without?
Am I throwing lots of parties?
Who comes to visit my apartment?
After asking myself these questions, I came up with the following idea. I am going to turn my dining room into an office, and then, the built-in office/cubby space into a storage closet. The built-in office space had already become another form of a junk holder, so I decided I should formalize that arrangement. This meant I had to start getting rid of furniture that I know longer needed for the dining room now turned office space, which is mainly, my dining room table.
In my teensie weensie apartment, it isn't really that much of a "dining room". It had become more of a junk room/unfulfilled project room (as you can see in the picture above). So, I sold the table to a college student who needed it, and I bought a desk from IKEA. Then, once I could see what I could do with the space, I created a design board.
I am really looking forward to what this space will become. It is going to inspire me and bring me joy. As part of that, I hope to create a gallery wall above my desk. I took some amazing photos in Europe and I would really like to frame them and hang them on the wall. It would be a great display of everything I love.
To clean out the area, I first created donation and trash boxes. I had a bunch of boxes left over from the move from Belgium so I used those to create the separate containers. The trashing stuff has been easy. I have way too many things that I honestly don't need (aka a ton of dried up/broken pens). The donations are going a little bit harder because I have to slowly go through my closet. Yes I'm trying to tackle that as well. But moving on...
Here is what I have so far! I built the IKEA desk and moved a bookshelf over to the office to put my plants on. What do you think s far? I need to start looking for a chair and put up my gallery wall. I found out a really easy way to plan out how to hang my gallery wall. I will use Excel! I'll update you all about that on another post though.
I am so excited to be back and that I can execute al of my plans now! Have a great week everyone!
