I have heard it said that you never know how much stuff you have until you try to move. To that I’ll add “or have to re-do a floor.” Now that the floor is done, I have been, slowly moving back in since Saturday. I suspect I’ll be 80% done by the weekend.
That last 20% will take awhile. But at least everything is functional. No pictures today because the camera cable is somewhere else.
One of the things we don’t realize when we live in a place is how tiny things can make you space work better for you. I’m discovering some of these things as I go along & I’ll point them out to you in bold as we go.
Books
Art & needlework books can be heavy. My cheaper IKEA bookshelves have bowed shelves because of it. We found an easy solution for at least the bottom shelf. It’s 3/4″ off the ground, so we shored it up with a 1″ board. The board cannot be seen and I can load those shelves and partially load the other ones. All the books but those on my desk hutch are unpacked now.
Desk
I packed most desk stuff in boxes and I have not tried to unpack more than a few boxes each day. While I could take this as a chance to reorganize the desk, I think it’s important to allow my things to remember. That means that, mostly things stay in the same place. If I expect the calculator to be in the top left drawer, that’s where I will find it.
I did use this as a reason to straighten up cables and cords. I’m using a cable organizer box to hide one power strip and cables for items I access rarely. A second power strip has extension cords and things I access more often, such as battery chargers. I also got a cable separator for behind my computer to keep the cords from getting tangled.
Tape Is your Friend
Command adhesive and foam double-sided tape are God sends. I have used it to tape power strips to the sides of bookshelves so they are easy to reach. Now I won’t have snakes of cords running everywhere and I can plug things in easily.
I taped a USB port to just under the desk surface so I can keep my phone plugged in. A Command adhesive hook keeps its cord in place. The shades on the windows have long cords but the hutch covers some of the cleats. We’ll make a DIY cleat using two Command hooks, one in each direction.
Purge & Purge Again
The original start of this project was a desire to reduce my stash. So there has been lots of purging going on. I got rid of 60% of my books, 20% of my threads, and about 20% of my canvases. Plus lots of stretcher bars & accessories. When you are moving back in, purge again. You may not get rid of much but oyu will find things you don’t want or that are broken or mismatched.
Remember Happiness & Comfort Early
I knew the cats would love the new arrangement, so I created a place with their favorite blanket Tuesday night. Darcy has barely left it since.
But you have things that make you happy as well. Put these in place as soon as you can. I put out my collection of Zuni fetishes under my monitor on Wednesday. Even though all the furniture won’t be in, we’re hanging all the pictures aSaturday.
Maybe my camera cable will show up so I can show you how it looks next week!
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
Eleanor T Reynolds says
Post pic for Zuni fetishes when showing us please !!
A Fan
Janet M Perry says
Thanks will do. My collection is very small. I’ll also try to do a post about them soon.
Keep stitching,
Janet
Helene Moser says
Purge – the magic word. So hard to say and so hard to do, but so essential for organization. Thanks for reminding us again.