Everybody wants to organize their space these days - whole magazines and stores dedicated completely to organization. Remember when people had far too little to be bothered 'organizing' stuff?
(I do, because my house was built then. Hence the need to organize stuff.)
Anyhoo: I had a major sewing-related breakthrough yesterday and spent the whole day finally making and implementing the two organizational aids* I have been dreaming of - I am quite serious by the way, actually dreaming while awake and/or asleep - and, wow!
Wow.
Erm... yes.
Well, things are very organized in the kitchen and front hall now, and very white and decluttered and tidy.
It looks a bit funny, a bit bare, a bit like I moved into a hospital, but... yes. Tidy. And now I will be able to find things simply, quickly, and calmly, contributing to my drive to find More Time To Write.
(I'll just feel like I'm writing in an institution, is all.)
(but I'm sure I'll get used to it.)
(and if not, I can always go back to my cluttered ways. might happen anyway, right?)
* pictures and DIY details later this week!
Showing posts with label Home improvement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home improvement. Show all posts
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Monday, July 12, 2010
How to improvise an outdoor room
I keep hearing people say 'I was ____ on the porch when...", insert 'reading the paper', 'knitting', 'chatting', 'spinning' etc. and it's been making me annoyed.
My house has a perfectly good porch on it that hardly gets used - lately, it's only housed spontaneous picnics on a polar fleece blanket thrown over the floor. The very nice chairs that sit on it all winter for protection from the elements head down to the front lawn come spring, so the porch has nothing on it in summer but the ugly back of the window air conditioner so necessary during heat waves. And it can't have, really, because where would I store whatever I put there when the other chairs come back?
Well, yesterday I decided I'd had enough. I brought some chairs from the back yard patio set that rarely gets used by more than two people anyway, and I shook out the front hall carpet I use to catch snow from boots in the winter, and dug through the rafters in the garage for a couple of the 60s wire tables I keep not resisting at flea markets and people's curbs on garbage day. Ahem.
Let's take a closer look at one of those wire tables, shall we?
I love these things. I used to keep some in my living room before I ran out of space for such luxuries, and lately they've supported pumpkins at Halloween. They are indestructible and versatile and I really don't know why people keep throwing them out, but I wish they'd stop because I'm running out of room in the garage. You don't want to know how much stuff I had to shift to get at the cupboard where I keep little pots to keep little plants in.
(the plant was a present from my mum. Cute, yes? and so matchy with the rest of the front garden.)
Okay, so my improvised porch won't win any design awards, but it's highly functional. I know because within hours of setting this up the porch saw spinning, reading, and snacking. I wonder what will happen out there today?
My house has a perfectly good porch on it that hardly gets used - lately, it's only housed spontaneous picnics on a polar fleece blanket thrown over the floor. The very nice chairs that sit on it all winter for protection from the elements head down to the front lawn come spring, so the porch has nothing on it in summer but the ugly back of the window air conditioner so necessary during heat waves. And it can't have, really, because where would I store whatever I put there when the other chairs come back?
Well, yesterday I decided I'd had enough. I brought some chairs from the back yard patio set that rarely gets used by more than two people anyway, and I shook out the front hall carpet I use to catch snow from boots in the winter, and dug through the rafters in the garage for a couple of the 60s wire tables I keep not resisting at flea markets and people's curbs on garbage day. Ahem.
Let's take a closer look at one of those wire tables, shall we?
I love these things. I used to keep some in my living room before I ran out of space for such luxuries, and lately they've supported pumpkins at Halloween. They are indestructible and versatile and I really don't know why people keep throwing them out, but I wish they'd stop because I'm running out of room in the garage. You don't want to know how much stuff I had to shift to get at the cupboard where I keep little pots to keep little plants in.
(the plant was a present from my mum. Cute, yes? and so matchy with the rest of the front garden.)
Okay, so my improvised porch won't win any design awards, but it's highly functional. I know because within hours of setting this up the porch saw spinning, reading, and snacking. I wonder what will happen out there today?
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Older: not always wiser
Growing up in a boxy unadorned 1950s house (which did have, nonetheless, heaps of sentimental value and history, but more on that another day), I longed to live someplace old, with character, and if possible, a fireplace and window seat (see: The Velvet Room, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.)
When I moved away, I lived in as many older places as possible, and today, as what passes for a Responsible Adult, I can see what goes along with the fine woodwork and plastering genius and long-established neighbourhoods with nice big trees:
lead paint
asbestos
no insulation, leading to
mold, mildew, high heating bills
Of course, major renovations are always possible, but having watched neighbours (and the neighbours of those neighbours) go through that, I don't think I have the necessary fortitude.
Honestly, it's enough to send me to the real estate listings any time I think about doing any actual writing. If only agents would start including 'window seat' on their spec sheets...
When I moved away, I lived in as many older places as possible, and today, as what passes for a Responsible Adult, I can see what goes along with the fine woodwork and plastering genius and long-established neighbourhoods with nice big trees:
lead paint
asbestos
no insulation, leading to
mold, mildew, high heating bills
Of course, major renovations are always possible, but having watched neighbours (and the neighbours of those neighbours) go through that, I don't think I have the necessary fortitude.
Honestly, it's enough to send me to the real estate listings any time I think about doing any actual writing. If only agents would start including 'window seat' on their spec sheets...
Monday, November 2, 2009
The other that one thing led to
I was really looking forward to yesterday - aka The Day After Halloween.
I like the idea of Halloween, sort of, but I find it exhausting too, and no matter how hard I try not to make a big fuss about it, I always seem to get caught up and keep thinking of clever things at the last minute, like this new head for my annual Headless Man:
Probably none of the neighbourhood kids noticed I glued eyes on the silver Christmas ornaments in the leaves there, what with the dark and all, but I knew, and why should they have all the fun?
In any case I was really looking forward to it being over. I was going to take the day off from everything.
Right after I dug out the humidifier for the one super dry room in the house (radiator heat, dontcha know.)
Because I can't leave well enough alone, and since I had to move a wardrobe anyway to get at the electrical outlet for said humidifier, I thought I'd do some vacuuming and move the bookshelves, too, to give them a proper cleaning before reclining with a good book or some knitting for the rest of the day.
But it was not to be: there was
unpleasantness
behind them, thankfully only on the walls.
This is a direct consequence of living in a small house older than the concept of insulation and choosing other than a minimalist style. You just can't put tall wide furniture up against exterior walls and leave it there for a couple of years, is the problem.
The rest of the day, apart from cleanup, was an elaborate game of Tetris, finding places for the air-blocking furniture and finding non-air-blocking furniture to fit into the gaps. And this is something I definitely do not count as vacation.
Wanh.
However, there is a bright side. Come Christmas, and come January when I finally catch whatever's going around and have to muster up the strength to shovel snow, I'm not going to have to wonder what's going on in the hidden corners of the house, and I'm not going to have to deal with anything yucky.
I'm just going to have to keep noticing how crowded the living room looks with that one extra bookcase in it. Double wanh - I really hate it, even if it does give me more space for books.
I like the idea of Halloween, sort of, but I find it exhausting too, and no matter how hard I try not to make a big fuss about it, I always seem to get caught up and keep thinking of clever things at the last minute, like this new head for my annual Headless Man:
Probably none of the neighbourhood kids noticed I glued eyes on the silver Christmas ornaments in the leaves there, what with the dark and all, but I knew, and why should they have all the fun?
In any case I was really looking forward to it being over. I was going to take the day off from everything.
Right after I dug out the humidifier for the one super dry room in the house (radiator heat, dontcha know.)
Because I can't leave well enough alone, and since I had to move a wardrobe anyway to get at the electrical outlet for said humidifier, I thought I'd do some vacuuming and move the bookshelves, too, to give them a proper cleaning before reclining with a good book or some knitting for the rest of the day.
But it was not to be: there was
unpleasantness
behind them, thankfully only on the walls.
This is a direct consequence of living in a small house older than the concept of insulation and choosing other than a minimalist style. You just can't put tall wide furniture up against exterior walls and leave it there for a couple of years, is the problem.
The rest of the day, apart from cleanup, was an elaborate game of Tetris, finding places for the air-blocking furniture and finding non-air-blocking furniture to fit into the gaps. And this is something I definitely do not count as vacation.
Wanh.
However, there is a bright side. Come Christmas, and come January when I finally catch whatever's going around and have to muster up the strength to shovel snow, I'm not going to have to wonder what's going on in the hidden corners of the house, and I'm not going to have to deal with anything yucky.
I'm just going to have to keep noticing how crowded the living room looks with that one extra bookcase in it. Double wanh - I really hate it, even if it does give me more space for books.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Great Pumpkin
Well, it is almost October, after all.
Yesterday I got another magazine in the mail with pumpkins on the cover, and once again I was tempted to do something fancy with the ones in front of my house this Hallowe'en. Letters that spell out Boo! or pictures of witches carved out with who knows what fine woodworking tool, or this year's addition - holes carved out of many different colours of gourd with an apple corer, then plugged with colours from different gourds. They're all cool and different.
On the other hand, if all these innovations keep up, and I go on with my traditional scary face and candle option, I'll eventually be cool and different myself.
I mean, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And I'd rather put my energy into costumes. Sewing and gluing and painting, mmm. They take soooo much longer.
Yesterday I got another magazine in the mail with pumpkins on the cover, and once again I was tempted to do something fancy with the ones in front of my house this Hallowe'en. Letters that spell out Boo! or pictures of witches carved out with who knows what fine woodworking tool, or this year's addition - holes carved out of many different colours of gourd with an apple corer, then plugged with colours from different gourds. They're all cool and different.
On the other hand, if all these innovations keep up, and I go on with my traditional scary face and candle option, I'll eventually be cool and different myself.
I mean, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And I'd rather put my energy into costumes. Sewing and gluing and painting, mmm. They take soooo much longer.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Things to Ponder when Painting
Why does cedar oil repel mosquitoes when cedar trees attract them?
Procrastinator says: apparently the oil (at least, for Alaska Yellow Cedar) has a compound in it called nootkatol that's a repellant. Mosquitoes like leafy places to hang out in the middle of the day, which is clever because people are also attracted to leafy shady places in the middle of the day. So not only do the bugs get to relax, they get lunch delivered. They're not exposed to the oil that would repel them unless the branches break, and that would take an awful lot of overfed mosquitoes.
How do you get paint off flagstone?
Procrastinator says: grind it off or buy yourself a present from paintremoval.com.
How long can a certain chocoholic go without another of her cousin's amaaaaazing chocolate brownies? Procrastinator says: an embarrassingly short time. And Procrastinator will also share the recipe when she gets it.
Procrastinator says: apparently the oil (at least, for Alaska Yellow Cedar) has a compound in it called nootkatol that's a repellant. Mosquitoes like leafy places to hang out in the middle of the day, which is clever because people are also attracted to leafy shady places in the middle of the day. So not only do the bugs get to relax, they get lunch delivered. They're not exposed to the oil that would repel them unless the branches break, and that would take an awful lot of overfed mosquitoes.
How do you get paint off flagstone?
Procrastinator says: grind it off or buy yourself a present from paintremoval.com.
How long can a certain chocoholic go without another of her cousin's amaaaaazing chocolate brownies? Procrastinator says: an embarrassingly short time. And Procrastinator will also share the recipe when she gets it.
Topcoat #1
Before I head out into Day Two of painting bliss, I'd like to say two things:
Eureka, I found solutions for a couple of huge problems in the plot of the current book and
Mosquitoes love biting unsuspecting people with paintbrushes in their hands.
but Ha! I had the foresight to purchase (if not to apply in advance) bug repellent from my local health food store and darned if the stuff didn't work! and no DEET in it or anything.
MQ7 Mosquito Repellent Lotion, if you're interested.
Which leads me to note a terrific place for productive procrastination: the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, linked in Delay Tactics. Not only can you check to see how likely it is for your shampoo or skin cream to give you cancer, you can find safer (and in my experience, way cheaper) alternatives, and then spend even more time sourcing them. It's win-win.
Eureka, I found solutions for a couple of huge problems in the plot of the current book and
Mosquitoes love biting unsuspecting people with paintbrushes in their hands.
but Ha! I had the foresight to purchase (if not to apply in advance) bug repellent from my local health food store and darned if the stuff didn't work! and no DEET in it or anything.
MQ7 Mosquito Repellent Lotion, if you're interested.
Which leads me to note a terrific place for productive procrastination: the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, linked in Delay Tactics. Not only can you check to see how likely it is for your shampoo or skin cream to give you cancer, you can find safer (and in my experience, way cheaper) alternatives, and then spend even more time sourcing them. It's win-win.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Prime Time
It may not be the 4th of July (have a good one, Stateside friends!) in my heart, but this is still a day highly anticipated every year in this house. Preparations are made, schedules cleared. There's even some cleaning. Sadly there is a near-total lack of food, friends, or fun.
Yep, it's time again to paint the porch. I love the porch, but at this time of the year - and when the first chips begin to flake off the steps in the fall - I so wish I had never thought of it. Or that I had thought of it little sooner in year so the building permit came in before September, and the first paint before October, which is not a smart time to paint unless you want to go on painting every year. Or maybe that I had waited a year, because opaque stain came out six months later, and stain seems so much easier.
The grossest part is the prep, and the prep is done, so that's something. And something else is: I'm at an impasse with the book, and painting often gets more ideas percolating. And with this metal jabby thing on the inside of my tooth, it's not like I'd be eating.
Have a more-fun day than this, everybody! a more-fun weekend, too.
Yep, it's time again to paint the porch. I love the porch, but at this time of the year - and when the first chips begin to flake off the steps in the fall - I so wish I had never thought of it. Or that I had thought of it little sooner in year so the building permit came in before September, and the first paint before October, which is not a smart time to paint unless you want to go on painting every year. Or maybe that I had waited a year, because opaque stain came out six months later, and stain seems so much easier.
The grossest part is the prep, and the prep is done, so that's something. And something else is: I'm at an impasse with the book, and painting often gets more ideas percolating. And with this metal jabby thing on the inside of my tooth, it's not like I'd be eating.
Have a more-fun day than this, everybody! a more-fun weekend, too.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
S a tur day night!
That's when I get to write, apparently. I was all set to sit down and do that this morning but then I realized that the stack of magazines I haven't yet read was going to fall on me, not to mention the things that were evidently about to sprout legs if I didn't get out the serious cleaning fluids. When half an hour's scrubbing gets you one very small clean area, you know you haven't procrastinated enough.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Necessity, meet your bouncing baby Invention
Well, this probably isn't as original as all that.
BUT
if you get an over the door hook (IKEA sells a very good row of same in brushed metal, barely visible from the front of the door) and hang a shower head organizer from it, you can add space in a closet for all the extra stuff that's cluttering up the horizontal surfaces around it.
And if one of those things is a wet rainhat, hey! the shampoo shelves are perfect for air drying it.
Now as long as I don't look at the rest of the place, which has been producing piles of Stuff over the months I've been working on this book like every word is Miracle Gro for the home, I should be able to make it through the next three weeks or so. Yep, we're in the home stretch, folks!
For this draft, anyway...
BUT
if you get an over the door hook (IKEA sells a very good row of same in brushed metal, barely visible from the front of the door) and hang a shower head organizer from it, you can add space in a closet for all the extra stuff that's cluttering up the horizontal surfaces around it.
And if one of those things is a wet rainhat, hey! the shampoo shelves are perfect for air drying it.
Now as long as I don't look at the rest of the place, which has been producing piles of Stuff over the months I've been working on this book like every word is Miracle Gro for the home, I should be able to make it through the next three weeks or so. Yep, we're in the home stretch, folks!
For this draft, anyway...
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Organizational Aids
Well, no amount of Airstream floorplans (or almost-not-astronomical pricing on the 25' International model) can blind me to the fact that I am all but literally swimming in paper. I don't know how that stuff gets into the house. You'd think I have a life or something.
But I also don't know how to make it stop, and you know what that means. Feats of organizational genius are in order! When reconfiguring what I already have fails me, as it usually does, I'll be all about IKEA desk accessories, back-of-the-closet-door racks, and locker trimmings and wall-mounted magazine holders from Staples. Shelves might even make the menu this time around.
This is what summer does to me: I turn into a squirrel, scuttling here and there in preparation for the long miserable winter to come. And then I can't figure out why I have to do all the same organizing over again in January.
Maybe I just like to not write for a day... or maybe I'm happier shoveling paper than snow?
But I also don't know how to make it stop, and you know what that means. Feats of organizational genius are in order! When reconfiguring what I already have fails me, as it usually does, I'll be all about IKEA desk accessories, back-of-the-closet-door racks, and locker trimmings and wall-mounted magazine holders from Staples. Shelves might even make the menu this time around.
This is what summer does to me: I turn into a squirrel, scuttling here and there in preparation for the long miserable winter to come. And then I can't figure out why I have to do all the same organizing over again in January.
Maybe I just like to not write for a day... or maybe I'm happier shoveling paper than snow?
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