Lately

 

this is what kitchen renovation looks like/freshly purged desk/donation pile for pick-up/anniversary flowers, tulips my original favorite bloom/new toys/"seasoning" a freshly repainted chalkboard/a good little nugget of motivation

 

 

Half our house is in major disarray.  Mostly the kitchen and the area in front of our fireplace.  Welcome to DIY kitchen renovation where things sit around for a while because you are being DIY'ers in the midst of having a full time job!  Our kitchen is missing cabinet doors and our living room is housing half our kitchen gear and our new appliances.  We're currently awaiting our tile to arrive before we can switch everything over.

 

The mess, and maybe the nesting side of me, left me motivated to declutter.  So I've been slowly but surely purging our house of unnecessary things.  That roll top desk was stuffed to the max.  Basically it had become one giant junk drawer.  I attacked it one night and after I was done, there was all kinds of space... aaaaahhhhhhh.

 

I've been decluttering our closets and the nursery as well, which had been used as a storage room.  I've been tough.  Meaning, I even got rid of several perfectly functional and attractive items (like purses, dresses, shoes, coats, comforters, small kitchen appliances, etc...).  Was it hard?  Yes.  I sort of felt like I was wasting money and that maybe, maybe I'd want to use some of those things again.  Then I reminded myself that I hadn't used those things in years...seriously years!  They were just taking up valuable real estate in my house and so then I felt better about putting things I couldn't give away into the donation pile.  (Look at me being sort of minimalistic!)

 

Speaking of donating, that big pile of stuff in the third picture went out onto the porch in the morning for a local organization to pick up.  So extremely easy.  There are a ton of organizations out there that will pick up your donated items and leave a donation receipt for tax purposes.  It's really wonderful.  We've donated tons of things including our old dining room table and chairs, our old office desk, loads of clothes, etc.  All done without having to worry about borrowing a truck to haul things to a donation site.  (Examples of such organizations: Prevent Blindness, Big Brothers and Sisters, Am Vets, Foundation for the Disabled.)

 

This past weekend I felt crafty and repainted my chalkboard and did a couple other things I want to show you sometime.

 

What about you?  What have you been up to?