Personal Organizer: Attacking the Living Room

Well, while my personal mental crisis was going on, Sunny and her friend Queer Eye came over Saturday to begin the assault on the living room.  (I did take before pictures which I’ll post here in a few days in another photo-spective.)

Just so you know, I had begun the assult on the living room back in December when I came back from New Mexico.  I started with the bookshelves and purged books from the monstrocity bookcase and a long window-high retro-shelf and a third bookshelf I have in the room.  I then gave the retro-shelf to KH for her daughter, eliminating some of the wall-to-wall furniture.  I have hopes of getting rid of some of the bookshelves upstairs and moving one of the bookshelves remaining in the living room up there.

But that had been where I left off and the living room had fell back into darkness and dispair when I’d collapsed back into despression after the funeral in February.

It wasn’t pretty.

So, we had a lot to do on Saturday.

Now, that said, remember how Sunny described her friend as a combination of all the guys of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy?  I never realized how mean they are.  He really was mean.  “Hate this.”  “This is ugly.”  ‘You can’t possibly like this.”  “No, really, this is ugly.”  “We’ll just put this aside to be put in a box for when you have a house.” — the last is what he did with the things he really thought were ugly that I wouldn’t give up.

He also made me purge books again.

Plus, he took down some of my art, including my clay sun and my copper gecko I brought back from Mexico.  He really hates my Mexican art, which is the style I was going for in the living room.  Even Sunny told me I could put my gecko back up when she was leaving.

Basically he told me that my walls were too busy and my knick knacks were too everywhere and that his eyes just didn’t know where to focus.  He thought that maybe part of why I was feeling so overwhelmed and oppressed was because of all the visual clutter, not just the trash clutter.

O.K.  I’ll never admit it to him, but sitting in my living room yesterday, looking around at how he’d arranged the few knick knacks he’d let me keep on my shelves and stuff on the side of the room he’d arranged…it was very nice looking…classy even…maybe even…calming.

Though I think I’m going to hang my gecko back up tonight.

When I was talking to my mom about it, she did point out that I was after all paying these people to tell me this stuff and give me this advice.  She’s right of course.  *sigh*

He does have this cool suggestion though about putting my piano in the center of the back wall of the living room and then kind of “wallpapering” the wall around it with hanging pictures, my art, mostly my Ruth Thompson art.  Then doing the same on the wall with the sofa.  Then we would leave the wall with the entertainment center and the windows blank (except that there are some shelves hanging between the windows).

Anyway, he’s still mean.

He also didn’t like my tablecloth, my piano runner, the piano seatcover my mother made, any of the fairy figurines because they were made in China, any of the handmade figurines because they looked cheesy, my coffeetable books, most of my candles and votives, my quilt rack, and the handpainted Mexican cats my mother got me in Mexico… *thibbit*

Anyway, I was probably feeling extra sensitive already from the long nasty talk with N2 the night before anyway.

Sunny doesn’t come back until Saturday and then for only 3 hours.  I want her to help me in the bedroom, so I’m trying to get the upstairs bathroom done before then.  My plan is to get the upstairs bathroom and the bedroom done before Pugly comes and shut off the office.  Then Sunny and Queer Eye can come back and a more leisurely pace to do the office and finishing touches to the apartment.

Meanwhile, I’m sore as heck and the bedroom is going to be a nightmare.  My mom keeps saying, “Wait till she she sees all those shoes!” but it’s the clothes that’s the real nightmare…and since I’ve already lost 15lbs since the beginning of March, I really don’t want to give any of the lower sizes up now.

Tags: personal organizer, Clean Sweep, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

Personal Organizer: Day One

Well, last night I met with my Personal Organizer for the first time. We’ll just call her Sunny. She’s just fantastic. Definitely no judgement, full of energy, and lots of fun. She just kind of dived in, which is definitely what I needed.

We started with the kitchen which was horrible. I lost the kitchen about a month ago. I’ve been eating take out that long. One of the discussions of course is appliances and what I actually use.

There was a battle over the crockpots and I put my foot down and managed to keep both of my crockpots. There’s just too many times that I have dueling crockpots going. I can’t not have both.

I also told her that my mother would hunt her down if she got rid of my coffeemaker. Actually, it was loverly to have fresh coffee this morning for the first time in ages — to actually to be able to get at the coffeemaker was a joy. I even cleaned up and tossed the coffee grounds when I was done making the coffee.

In the end, I parted with my toaster oven, which a co-worker snatched up, my mother’s old portable black & white t.v., and my egg steamer. I also had to part with one of my utensil holders and a oil burner. She also made me part with some plasticware and some chipped dishes.

Definitely good work.

Plus we did a lot of dish washing, counter cleaning, and scrubbed down the stove. We cleaned the microwave and swept the kitchen too. (I moped this morning before I left for work too. Aren’t you proud?)

Oh, and she’s rearranging where things go on my counter, trying to figure out a better system for me. Swapped the side the dishdrain is on. Don’t tell my mom, but she put the coffeemaker back where my mom had it. She did put the dish tub I like back in the sink and pitched the one my mom prefered. Hah!

She convinced me to pitch a really disgusting plastic step stool I’ve had since college. Now I’ll have to buy a new wooden one I’ve had an eye on. I’m also eyeing a bamboo cutting board for my counter to replace my old counting boards. And I just got a $25 gift certif from work as part of their employee appreciation week.

Tonight, everything comes out of the cabinets and drawers, sorted and purged and arranged and then the argument about the cubit cabinet and the baker’s rack will begin. I’ve already said that I’m willing to negotiate what goes on the baker’s rack, but just like my mom, she’s trying to get rid of my cubit cabinet.
I took pictures 45 minutes in and right when we finished last night but I’m saving them for when the first room is finished for before and after photos. Perhaps tonight or tomrrow morning if the room is finished, you’ll get phase I pictures.

We’re scheduled to work all day on Monday and then she and her gay friend (described as all the guys on Queer Eye For The Straight Guy) are coming next Wednesday night and then the schedule gets iffy. I guess we’ll see where we are by then. I think the upstairs is going to be the real nightmare. Oy.

She has a friend who cleans houses who I might hire to come in and do a deep clean when we’re done and then maybe to do maintenance twice a month or monthly.

Anyway, I think this is really a good thing for me, whether my parents approve or not. I see me growing from this experience and learning from it. Certainly it’d be good to go from being Oscar to Felix and embrace my inner neat freak.

Tags: personal organizer, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy