Day 2: Simplify

We recently started thinking about how to pare down the number of items/belongings we own and have collected over the years. Since moving into our own place, I have been surprised by how many boxes we keep uncovering of things we have forgotten we had.

Spring cleaning has come late for us. We did do a good cleaning out of the closets and storage room within the last month, but it has proven to not be enough. While we do have the space to keep things, I've recently been inspired to adopt more minimalist habits. (Part of this admittedly is from pouring over design magazine and furniture catalogues where all photographs depict clean, almost zenful, rooms.)

The time has come for us to practice feng shui (or pseudo feng shui to start). In order for our creative wheels to get a moving, we needed to clean up our act while also making our sleep environment more organized and inviting. First step: night stand. (Click here to see how our paint job made your average Ikea Rast nightstand stand out).

We wanted for our night stand to have the essentials -- water, light, alarm clock, kleenex--, but to also have some other points of interest -- reading materials, decorate vase. This weekend we plan to slowly begin mapping out a way to minimize clutter and create more crisp, clean areas room by room. If we've learned anything about living spaces it's that having a small space filled with items not only makes cleaning even more of a chore, but it also doesn't give you extra space for impromptu projects and creative endeavors. Time to simplify, then time to create.

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Haiku, Day 2: Simple Life

Warm breeze, sweet lemonade

Rocking chair slowly back and forth

No worries, only calm

DIY: China Cabinet

If we've learning anything through our more recent home ownership, it's that there's always a project on the sidelines.

We went from nearly no furniture to an immediate need for more--mostly so that we could store the many items that were packed safe and sound at the 'rents house. Owning property has expedited the lease on that free storage space.

Our first big DIY project stemmed from the need for more kitchen storage. While our new kitchen has plenty of cabinets, with a 10+ foot ceiling, not all cabinets are conveniently accessed or useful.

pm and I decided to start our search for a china cabinet. We wanted something that would be big enough to hold a good portion of our kitchen wares (p.s. it's amazing how much kitchen stuff you get from your wedding that you ultimately do not use unless you have the space to accommodate it). We started our search by going to the usual suspects--Crate&Barrel, Ikea, Target, World Market, etc. No luck. There were very few china cabinets that fit our style and our budget.

On a random Monday night we decided to stop off a local thrift store. This trip was made more to donate old clothes, than it was buy anything. Turns out: Once we walked in we discovered an amazing china cabinet (with character!) that fit the bill for what we were looking for our kitchen space. The cabinet (as pictured) was in great shape, but needed a modest amount of TLC. (We later discovered that it would need more than a modest amount of TLC, but I digress...)

Nearly 2 weeks after the purchase--plus 3 coats of paint, sanding, waxing and reconstructing--we could hang our towels and toast to a china cabinet that was truly ours. It's nice to know that the piece we ended up getting not only goes well in the space we designated for it in the kitchen, but it also is an original. No one else will ever have one just like it. This fact makes us proud (even if it was a pain the butt to do when we were in the process). What may make us the most proud, however, is that the whole project (cabinet, paint, etc.) cost us under $300. A small price to pay for what we were looking at in all stores.

So here was the whole DIY project timeline:

1. Find china cabinet and purchase it.
2. Move it to the house. (aka: Hire strong men to move it to the house)
3. Remove all hinges, screws, glass and other hardware.
4. Clean it, bleach it, clean it.
5. Sand it. Sand it. Sand it.
6. Prime time. We primed the whole cabinet with an oil based primer.
7. Paint cabinet, drawers and details in white with a latex paint.
8. Paint drawers with green accent latex paint.
9. Patiently wait for all paint to dry.
10. Wax. (Minwax, finishing wax in natural)
11. Add all hardware and glass back to the cabinet. (we found the knobs at Ikea--of the snodd variety)
12. Fill cabinet with kitchen items.
13. Blog about it.

Not exactly sure what our next big project will be in terms of furniture. That said, we're experimenting with different paint options for the hallway.

Never a dull moment. Never a project undone. :)

My eyes are peeled.

'Tis the time for holiday deals, and lucky for us in a couple of short weeks the deals with be even sweeter. Every year around this time, pm and I get really excited about the prospect of buying new furniture for a very reduced price. Unfortunately, every year the prospects remain unattainable. We just don't have the livable space for a new couch, a dining room table...etc., etc.

This doesn't mean that we don't still look. Because we do, and we will.

In fact, sometimes I like to flip through the Crate & Barrel catalogue (among others) and dream about the things that would be nice to have even if we'll never have them. I used to play that same game as a kid. You page through a catalogue and have to choose your favorite thing on each page.

Anyway....I think we need to get married again. This way we can add all the things we didn't add to our registry the first time. For our first nuptials we had to ask for boring things (towels, plates, glasses, sheets... etc) because we did not have anything. Everything we owned fit into my Honda Civic, which included mostly clothes and one floor lamp. Now that we have all the things we need, I'd like to ask for all the things we want. First we need to get some more square footage. :)