Clutter and Panelling

What is something that adds stress to my everyday life? CLUTTER. what makes that stress particularly hard to handle? PANELING! I have been in a battle with both of those things for 2 years. But 3 weeks ago I began raging the ultimate war to finally rule over them once and for all. My motivation was a visit from my Mom. We have lived in this wonderfully old home for 2 years, and yes, have had guests up there before (including my Mom). But this time, I decided that it was time to make improvements and revamp the finished attic in hopes that it would motivate me to keep it clean.

I'll share a secret with you. I am a terrible housekeeper. I clean homes for a living, and I am very good at what I do.what I am not good at is putting things away. I am also borderline hoarder.. not really, but I do have tendencies that I could see get away from me. I see use in everything. I keep all jars, boxes, ect. I believe that I could do something crafty with them or use them eventually. Our basement and attic storage is full of boxes filled with things. I also keep sentimental items. I believe I have every card ever given to me since I can remember, I still add to that collection, and I have kept all cards my husband and kiddos receive as well. I just like to look back at them, read them, remember when I got them, and yes I plan to do something crafty with them.

Anyway, my Mom is coming to visit ( she actually flies in tomorrow). My kids were going to be gone for a whole week camping with the In-Laws, I had a slow week with cleaning so I saw my opportunity and I grabbed that paint by the brush. It took me the entire week my kids were gone to paint. Paneling is hard and time consuming stuff. I'd rather just rip it out, but time and money didn't allow for that. You will see in the pictures to follow I had my work cut out for me. The playroom was a disaster to say the least. Toys everywhere! and not just big toys, little toys with lots of little parts, doll clothes, hot wheels, movies, blankets and yes I did find some dishes and food up there. My craft room was no better. fabric and scrap booking stuff covered my desk. Gift wrapping and books covered my floor and I was even using it as my closet! ( 1950's homes were built with TINY closets). The office area still had Christmas boxes out waiting to be put away and I had tons of papers to file. so you see, I really needed a week in solitary with no kiddos to distract or undo anything.

Long story short it took me 3 weeks to finish my attic. Toys sorted and organized, crafts too. Papers filed and Christmas stuff packed away until next winter. I finished it 2 days ago, and I did everything by myself. I am very proud of what I did. It was a daunting and very time consuming task that required a lot of late nights and sore back. But I think about what I did, and it really does motivate me to keep it clean. I enjoy going up there now, and I know that it is a usable space. before I go any further, here are the before and after pics.... enjoy.

Office area B and A

Hall way B and A

Playroom B and A

Craft Room B and A

I hope you can see the difference! I try to relate everything to health. So here is my health reference for the post. This time the poundage I dropped was Clutter and Paneling. but the moral is.. If I can motivate myself to do something so daunting and lets face it, UN-fun, then I should have no problem motivating myself to make better choices for my health. The liberation I felt after hanging that last picture on the wall was so great that I kept going upstairs just to walk around and admire the work I had done. So if I think of my body as my attic, I need to put in all the time and effort to revamp it and turn it into the space I need and want, and then I will be satisfied with the work I put into it and put forth the effort to take care of it. make sense? If not, that's OK. It's late and I am super excited to pick my Mom up from the airport tomorrow. I hope you find motivation to get that task done that has been on your "To Do" list. You will feel like you dropped a million pounds when you accomplish it! I leave you with a picture of my helper for the first day. Good luck and Happy Dropin'!