Preparation and Inspiration

I've been rained in for the past two days and haven't been able to work on painting my tables. What I have been doing instead is going through my closet (clothes and trinkets) and sorting out what goes, what stays and what will be stored. I've also done a fair amount of research on storage in a small apartment. Along the way I've found a lot of inspiring images from Apartmenttherapy.com.

When the decision was made that we would be moving to a city, I began a quest to read up on organization and diminishing clutter. Technically, this decision was made mid-2009. I have developed a system of determining what to keep and what to get rid of. If I don't love it or if I don't use it incessantly, it goes. It has to meet at least one of these claims or hold a ridiculous amount of history/sentimentality.

I took every article of clothing I own and put them into two piles: keep and donate/sell. (I toss damaged clothes after they're damaged. So, I don't have a "toss" pile.) Then I bag up the donate/sell pile and begin piling into the following categories of type: pants, jackets, sweaters, hoodies, short sleeved t-shirts, long sleeved t-shirts, tank tops, dress jackets, skirts, shorts, jeans, pj pants, pj shirts. I have so many sub-categories, because I have a very large amount of clothing. Then I went through each pile with Jared, who sees me everyday and knows what I wear. He told me what additionally I needed to donate/sell. (Of course I had veto power for my one plaid shirt.) The point of going through this with a close friend is that he helped me make tough decisions and justify my keeps. For example, I purchased a sweater on clearance that I love. However, by the time it was on clearance it was a size large, and in Jones New York I wear a small. Jared told me I've never worn that and told me that if I'm not going to wear it, get rid of it. Easy for him to say. In the end, I have two 13 gallon trash bags filled if items to take to a resale shop. Which leaves me with one large sized box, one large sized suitcase and one small sized suitcase of clothing to haul to Minneapolis.

Trinkets was much more difficult. Originally, I had two large plastic tubs filled with trinkets. I emptied both tubs into four piles: keep, toss, donate and store. I now have a plastic tub to storage and one medium/small box of trinkets that I Tetris-ed into place. Unfortunately, I only went through the trinkets upstairs in my closet that were already boxed up. I still have to go through the trinkets downstairs and in the upstairs bedroom. I also need to go through all of our kitchen items.

I need to go through all of the house by next Saturday. Jared and I are going to make a trip to his parents to drop off all items marked for storage. (Shouldn't be too much. Although, Jared has decided we aren't bringing my record player along.)

I've been researching the best way to add storage to a small kitchen and small bathroom. What I've landed on is that pegboard solves a lot of problems and when in doubt, use magnets. I want to install pegboard in the kitchen as well as above the end-table in the entryway. I've drawn up a diagram of where we'll be placing furniture in the apartment. I'm only having a problem with what to place the rabbit and the hamster. Parts of me wish we didn't have to worry about the pets and where they'll be living. We'll have to solve this issue when we get there. I have a hard time imagining three-dimensional space.

Here are some of those inspirational photos from Apartmenttherapy.com.

1. The print on this chair from the Kindel Manufacturing Company is classic in a granny way but very fun and loud.
2. I'm modeling our bedroom on this design. The layout of out room is a little larger with a larger window.
3. Magnetic paint is being used on the back of this bathroom door to create storage.
4. I'm really feeling accordion scissor lamps. 
5. I can't get enough of this table set. I'll need to keep an eye out for one of my own.
6. This wooden sewing storage would be good for all-purpose storage as well.