Big Declutter

With Z off work this week, we have big plans to get the house in some semblance of order for visitors later this month.

We've ordered new broadloom to replace the filth that was in this house when we bought it. (Oh, and it is a filthy bright yellow carpet. I think this was the first thing that Z told me about the house...that it would have to go immediately.) The carpet covers the entire second floor plus four flights of stairs. Home Depot has this interesting product called Puresque that apparently helps to clean the air in the house, and that's what we've ordered. It likely will not get installed before visitors arrive, but definitely before Christmas. We will tackle removing the old carpet ourselves, so if you have any pointers, leave them in the comments!

On Sunday, we went through Z's clothing. I gently encouraged him to bless others with things that he no longer wears, either due to fit, style, or wear. It is not easy for him to part with clothing, particularly "good" things even if he hasn't worn them for years, or dislikes them. I dropped two large green bags of clothing off at Goodwill today, and our closet is much lighter. (I am very good at keeping up on clothing management, and I don't buy a lot, so my stuff is already minimal.) We will install some modular shelving over the next few weeks, much like we've used in previous houses. It's amazing how much space you can create simply by organizing your storage space. This should let us get what was our Atlanta garage shelving (and is now holding excess clothing) out of our bedroom....ahem.

Last night and this morning, we installed a new sink and faucet set in our basement bathroom (which will be used by our house guests.) The previous one was white enamel and had huge gouges in it where you could see the black metal underneath. Plus a sloppy touch-up job. So it looks 100% better now. It's only our second time doing this kind of plumbing, but it was easy and cheap. The actual hardware cost just over $100 for both pieces plus a couple of plumbing bits, and with self-install, it can't be beat!

Tomorrow, we have some movers coming to deliver our dining room table to a local woodworking shop to have it resized. We originally bought the table for our dining room two houses ago. It is a harvest style with a hand-planed top and rope trim on the apron, but is nine feet of solid wood, and doesn't fit in our current house. The table-top has been wrapped in moving blankets and leaning against the fireplace in the living room. We are having it shortened to five feet and will have two leaves made with the left-over top. It seems like a lot of expense, but we have 10 chairs and a buffet that go with it, all in the same Canadiana style. Plus, we love it.

The same movers are also taking a three-piece set of leather furniture that was bought for us by Zs employer in Atlanta when we were first in the city. We're lending it (probably permanently) to one of Z's cousins for his basement. This moving will let us re-arrange the rest of our belongings and free up the guest bedroom that, to now, has been stuffed with extra furniture. Or, at least, it will get us quite the distance there.

I think I'm moving past the grieving stage with this downsizing and starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. This will be a great house when it's organized and not cluttered and stuffed. We're getting there.