Purging stuff has never been an issue for me, but I’m married to a man who would love to hoard keep absolutely everything just in case we might use it at some point down the line. I’m in the throes of spring cleaning, perhaps a wee bit premature since it’s only January. I think it’s probably the fact that we had to wait so (relatively) long to take down our Christmas decorations. Earlier this week we had the pleasure of having our house photographed for a local magazine (for their 2014 Christmas issue!) and so I had to leave all the holiday decor up. The minute the shoot wrapped, I was tearing everything Christmas down.

But despite the Christmas decor, I was absolutely loving having my house in magazine-ready condition (read: no clutter. Anywhere). As a highly visual person,  viewing clutter stresses me out. Big time. So having a bunch of junk on top of the kitchen counters makes me crazy. Copious amounts of papers and stuff all over my desk? Sends me into a conniption. I can’t focus. So clearing out all the stuff that is stressing me out — stuff that we don’t need or stuff that can be put away — is high on my priority list right now.  I also ordered several new striped storage bins from the Land of Nod that arrived in late December. They fit perfectly in my Ikea Expedit shelves, and are controlling all the small things like toys, books, etc., that wreak havoc on our living spaces. We have 4 sets of these shelves now, and I am super impressed with them. They are total workhorses and can take a beating. We’ve used them for the pop up shops two years in a row now, as well as in numerous spots in our house. They’ve been moved up and down stairs, and all over town and still look good as new. You can’t beat the price either.

Painting by Pippin & Pearl

I then spent the rest of the day after the shoot assembling a bunch of new Ikea shelves and furniture for my shipping room and getting this whole upstairs studio back in shape after the craziness of the Christmas season. So far I’ve cleaned out 3 trash bags full of Jude’s toys, loads of stuff that was just sitting in the shipping room (more on the shipping room’s amazing makeover next week!), brokedown furniture that had to go, and a couple of trash bags full of clothes.

painting by Rita Ortloff

print by Paper Fashion

The only thing that hasn’t been purged? The ferris wheel. Jude cried when he overheard me talking about it getting tossed with big junk. It’s now in the garage (!). I should’ve known I wouldn’t get away with it that easy!

I’m still obsessing over the new mini lucite trays. I can’t stop designing new inserts for them. They’re so crazy cute!

See you next week!