Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Heap of Change Challenge: Part 6

I stalled a little, but I have been working on the next space in the studio.

While living in Columbus, OH many years ago, we purchased 3 of these gray shelving units from a neighborhood thrift store.  They are industrial strength  The shelves are sturdy and adjustable.

This is the first one and this is how it looked before I continued on my Heap of Change challenge:


The stuff was basically where it belonged, so all I needed to do was remove what we didn't want or no longer needed.  We also dusted, rearranged and sorted buttons.

And, here are the after photos:

This is the view of all of the shelves except for the top one.  The upper shelves hold collage materials, for the most part.  I like using glass bottles and jars in various sizes to store these items.  Just below the middle are Stampin' Up stamp sets and punches.  Below those are two shelves of buttons in glass containers, and the bottom shelf holds tins with sewing notions in them. 


This is a closer view of the completed top:


and the bottom:


Notice that there is 1/3 of a shelf empty! And, everything is a little looser.

This is what is going away from only this one shelving unit.  These boxes aren't full, but they are started!



Look!  This sweater box is full of Stampin' Up stamp sets...and it's leaving the house!


Next to this shelving unit is another.  It is crammed full of collage supplies, bead and jewelry-making materials, brads and eyelets, dominoes of many sizes and small tins for altering.

As I have moved along, there is always something to be put away in another area.  I have been squooshing things ahead of me.  There will be a time when I have to deal with those heaps.  This is what it looks like:

(This gray shelving unit that you can see on the right in this photo is the third, and final, one.   It holds clear shoe and sweater boxes of rubber stamps and rubber stamping supplies.)


Along the left-hand side of this photo is the area where I keep my paper.  This is where I started!  I still need to put some paper away, but after that, I will be done!  I have a ways to go, but I can see it.  It's right there!


Coming up are areas where the decisions about what leaves the house will get more and more difficult.  I'm a little nervous about it, but I try not to think too far ahead.

Well, that's where I am, and I've shown you a little about what lies ahead.  Overall, I feel good about my progress and the decisions I've made.  I have a great sense of accomplishment, and I am trying to figure out when the yard sale can take place.

I AM thinking too far ahead, but I have to figure out the logistics of having a yard sale, like how NOT to annoy the neighbors, how to control the traffic pattern, where the buyers can park, etc..  We live in a tiny community of 4 houses, down a rural dead-end lane off of an access road, for lack of a better name for it.  It will be difficult for buyers to turn their vehicles around in order to get out.  It just won't be easy, so I have to work on these details until I find a solution.

Now, back to clearing out...




Tuesday, March 10, 2015

The Hutch


We got a china hutch that was featured on Craigslist. It measured 72" high, 18" deep and 42" wide. It was listed at $70, which I thought was an excellent price. I mentioned to my wife that the back was missing on the bottom part and we could fix it. The seller heard and said we could pay less, so we settled on $60. I didn't expect that! We don't know many people, so we had to get it home ourselves. The advertised U-Haul rate of $19.99 turned into about $50 with mileage and replenishing 2 gallons of gas. A total of $110 was a bargain, I think, and we are very pleased with the purchase. The dark color is even growing on me.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Heap of Change Challenge: Part 5

I haven't been good about posting, but I have been good about continuing to work on the studio!

Moving along the north wall are two more shelves.  The top needs to be cleared, of course.  In the white plastic cabinet with drawers are paper doilies, plastic bags and plastic card envelopes.  There are containers that hold paint brushes.  Also, some decorative items are just laying around.  My red "Z" was knocked off the shelf by one of the {ungrateful} outdoor kitties who came in to be warm {grrr}.  He also knocked down the curtain and crinkled the blinds {grrr again and more!}.

The bottom right contains ink pads on the top shelf.  On the bottom shelf are writing instruments in a caddy, Ultra Thick Embossing Powder and some containers of various foil flakes.  The Scrabble box contains boards only, which I have used in my art.

The other shelves contain various supplies, like microscope slides, foil tape and soldering iron.  Other boxes have these items in them: fountain pens and inks, cutting tools, extra adhesives, hot glue gun and glue sticks, acrylic paints, specialty paints and tools.


Here it is after taking away what is leaving the house:



And, this is the pile that is leaving the house (I had continued to fill the box in the top picture, and the bottom picture shows the crafts I am getting rid of.):



This last picture shows the final bookshelf on the north wall.  Webster wants to play with the crayons, even though he has no opposable thumbs or coloring books.


And, this is after:


This bookshelf was moved to the east wall with the other bookshelf that I showed near the beginning of this challenge.

This is what is leaving the house:


It is still easy to put many things in the pile of stuffs that need to go. 

Yesterday I stopped to make more cards while Katie started on a big project on another area of the room.  Stay tuned!