Apartment Therapy January Cure: Assignments 8 - 12 - Party Planning (Not), Landing Strip, Media Fast (Not), Project, and Bedroom

This post starts out pretty negative, but gets better I promise!

Assignment 8: Get a Get-Together Together (Nope)

During January 31 - February 2 (or somewhere in early February), I'm supposed to be planning a party to celebrate the completion of my January cure. That just isn't going to happen. With two jobs, job interviews, full-time graduate level coursework, my new fitness regime (post coming soon...), and trying to maintain an outward semblance of sanity, I really don't have time to plan a party, let alone host one. So maybe I'll have my get together towards the end of March when I graduate, rather than right before midterms.

Assignment 9: Create a Landing Strip

Sort of like the Outbox is purgatory for things possibly going out of your home, a landing strip is a screen for things coming into your home. Rather than just dumping everything on the kitchen table and letting junk mail, un-needed receipts, your bag, your lunch tupperware, whatever accumulate, you have an organized area right when you come in where things go. Possibly most importantly, once your standard items (coat, keys, purse) get put in their spots, you are supposed to immediately filter the other stuff, like the mail you picked up on the way in. It all sounds terribly grown up and responsible...

Makes getting in the front door with grocery bags tough, but at least I'm not paying for sq. ft in the hallway...

My apartment is quite small and has a *very* narrow entrance. I sort of already have a landing strip; there are a few hooks inside the pantry, which is immediately to the right of the front door when you come in. This is where my keys, coat, and purse are supposed to go. Unfortunately, my pantry has been pretty much unusable because of the disorganization, but this has improved once I got the pantry organized!

Something I don't really have a landing strip for is other miscellaneous stuff. And my boots -- which I wear a lot, particularly during the fall, winter, and spring (anyone else from Seattle?) -- now live in a basket near the living room, which is practically the length of the whole apartment away from the front door. I'm working on getting a spot for them in my closet with the rest of my shoes, but that's even farther away. My mail still gets dumped on the kitchen table, as does anything else that isn't able to be hung up on one of those little hooks. I'm not sure what to do. Do I really need a space for this other stuff? How much other stuff do I really bring into the apartment? Something to think about in the coming weeks, I suppose.

Assignment 10: Try a Media Fast (Nope)

I would so love to do this, but this is totally unrealistic for me right now. The majority of my coursework (I'm studying to become a librarian) is online and with work and everything else, any spare moment that I have, I need to be online and listening to lectures, participating in discussions, or reviewing the reading. Maybe after I graduate, I can disconnect...

Assignment 11: Project Progress

Done! Mom came over and helped me go through the pantry this weekend. We went through all of the food and got rid of what I don't use and what was past date. The hooks that I use for my landing strip are available. The spices are alphabetized. All of my canning stuff is organized at the bottom of the pantry and my vacuum cleaner even has a spot for it now. I feel so relieved when I open the pantry now. I know what's in there and where it is. I can even step into the pantry to get to the stuff that is (organized) at the back and to the left of the closet!

TA-DA!

Who doesn't love alphabetized spices? Shelf-baskets are from the Container Store.

As a bonus, I also changed the light bulbs in the dining area. They are a different color than the rest of the light bulbs (they seem quite a bit brighter and ... whiter? more natural? I don't know) but they are what I have!

And I hung up the birdcage thing. I'm going to get some fake topiary stuff to stick in the bottom.

Birdcage from Molbak's.

Assignment 12: Flowers, Bedroom Cleaning, and Wardrobe Organizing

I washed all the pillows, swapped out the bedding for some lighter, spring blankets, and (thanks to my initial Outbox set up) have a tidy closet and wardrobe. I still want to vacuum, dust, and clean up the stuff that is hidden along the far side of the bed, but I think I'll have time to do that tomorrow. When I think of this area -- something I generally avoid doing -- I think of it as The Crevice. Actually, since I've finished my big January project, I think I will make finishing up the tasks in my bedroom the next project to tackle!

Some of this stuff has already been moved and put away... but not much.

I didn't make it to the store on Sunday (I have leftovers that should get me through the next few days) but when I do, I will be sure to post some more pictures of the flowers I get. The two bundles I got earlier this month are holding up pretty well and are still hanging around the apartment.

Apartment Therapy January Cure: Assignment 7 - Flowers, Kitchen Organizing & Cleaning, Make a Meal

I spent pretty much the entire day in the kitchen to finish up this assignment! I got all of the old food out of the fridge, went through the pantry (check out the start of my pantry organization project! Labeled containers!), made dinner and got flowers! I couldn't believe how much old food I had stuffed in the pantry and in the back of the fridge... it feels really good to have all of my Tupperware back.

I was a little disappointed by the flowers at the grocery store this week. Most of them had stickers on them that said "pull by 1/6/2014" but I picked out flowers that seemed pretty fresh. I love how these are so bright and make me think of fireworks.

My flowers from last week were still doing okay, so I got a little vase for them.I think they're cute, like little pom poms!

That's all for tonight; I am totally worn out from my weekend!

Apartment Therapy January Cure: Assignments 4 - 7 - Playing Catch Up

I've fallen a bit behind on my January Cure. This week was the first week of the quarter (I'm in my final quarter of library school!) and I really wanted to start school off smoothly so I spent a lot of time getting everything set up and ready. That means that this weekend, I'll be working on schoolwork and catching up on my January Cure!

Assignment 4: Set Up an Outbox

An Outbox is like purgatory for your apartment. It's a space (or box) dedicated to put things while their fate is being decided; keep or donate/sell? The things in your outbox should stay there for at least a week. The idea is that by placing them in this space, they lose their hold over their owner, allowing them to be disposed of free of guilt or other complicated, material-related emotions. My outbox is going to be mostly full of clothing, I suspect. Yeah, my giraffe t-shirt is super cute and I really like it, but it is too snug under the arms so I don't wear it. Nobody likes pinched armpits.

Anybody want to dibs this size Small giraffe t-shirt from Threadless.com?

My outbox is sort of tucked behind the couch, next to the sofa back table.

Assignment 5: Pick a Project to Cross Off Your List

The pantry. It's happening. I'm going to go through everything in there and organize it. I may need to get more shelves or hooks or something, but no matter the obstacle, by the end of this Cure, it will be organized.

As it is now...

How it will be! Hopefully. Maybe.

Assignment 6: Prep Artwork for Framing & Display

My friends Pete & Britt gave me this awesome frame filled with pictures of Curtis and me (and other friends too!) from their wedding for my birthday in September last year. I'm planning on taking the pictures out and putting them in some other frames that Curtis and I have and making some silhouette art of queen anne's lace or dandelions or something and putting it in the frame. Then I am either going to hang this on the wall above the stairway or at the foot of the stairs to the right of the TV. Pictures later.

Assignment 7: Flowers, Kitchen Organizing & Cleaning, Make a Meal

  

I am really not looking forward to cleaning out my fridge. What I am looking forward to is a pristine kitchen!

I have to admit, I'm also really looking forward to doing a new flower arrangement this weekend. Today is Saturday, so I won't go to the store until tomorrow, but I'll post pictures of my new arrangement then.

How is your Cure going?

Apartment Therapy January Cure: Assignment 3 - 10 Mindful Minutes

You know how at the end of a yoga practice, there are those 10 glorious minutes where you get to just lie there and take a little nap? That's sort of what this reflection was like. Granted, I didn't actually get the vacuuming done (surprise, surprise), but it was still nice to just sit and relax and think very specifically about one small thing.

For today's assignment, we are supposed to just sit somewhere in our apartment where we don't usually sit and think about that space from a new perspective. I sat right in my doorway, looking into my pantry. I actually spent most of it with my eyes closed because looking at it is sort of stressful. If you recall from my Assignment 1 post, it looks like this:

 
So instead, I imagined how it looked when I moved in and how I would like it to look.

Okay, really, I want it to look like this...

Maybe in a dark wood?

 ... but given some significant spatial and financial limitations, I think that is perhaps not very realistic.

I would like to get the cleaning supplies organized and the vacuum cleaner out of the way of the shelves. I would like the food to be organized and straightened up. Most importantly, I need to know what is actually in there, get rid of the old food, and make it easier to find what I am looking for. My spices are disorganized and I frequently come home with expensive bottles of spices that I already had or without the spice that I need that I thought was in the pantry, but wasn't. Right now, this space is just barely functional and it makes cooking more challenging.

You can't see it from the picture of my pantry, but the back and left of the closet is stuffed full of sweatshirts and coats and craft supplies (sewing mostly, but I have a light table back there too). To get to them, I have to climb over the pantry area at the front and crawl under all of the coats that are hanging up. It's a mess.

On the plus side, my flowers still look nice!

Apartment Therapy January Cure: Assignment 2 - Flowers & Floors

I had three assignments this weekend: buy flowers for the apartment, clean all of the floors, and stock up on cleaning supplies.

1. Buy Flowers
Arranging flowers is not one of my talents. When I have bought flowers in the past, I've always just bought a bunch of tulips and stuffed them in a vase. After reading Apartment Therapy's guide to picking out flowers from the grocery store (available here) I felt inspired. How did I do?

Besides the tips on how to pick fresh flowers from the store, there was also some advice for how to pick out a good combination: pick out the prettiest flowers you can find, something green, and something spiky, edgy, or slightly offbeat. For my main flower, I picked those purple fluffy ones. I thought the colors was really rich and pretty. Those leaves are my something green and the white flowers with all the petals in bunches are my something slightly offbeat. I also liked the white with the purple together, bright and colorful without being too summery.

2. Clean the Floors
Well, I cleaned the floors before Christmas...

I canned instead.

Lemon & Herb Garlic anyone?

I'll vacuum next week. Or at the end of the Cure. It seems like a lot of people prefer to do their floors last anyway. Maybe I'm one of those people?

3. Stock Up on Cleaning Supplies
I already had just about everything that I need, but I bought a scrub brush to scour my tub and some of Mrs. Meyer's surface scrub. I've never used her surface scrub, but I like her all-purpose cleaner, so I'll give it a shot.

I peeked at the Cure's agenda for tomorrow (calendar PDF here) and it looks like tomorrow is going to be pretty light in terms of workload. Maybe I'll vacuum then... Or try to get a jump on my schoolwork since tomorrow is the first day of my last quarter!

Apartment Therapy January Cure: Assignment 1 - Make a Project List

Okay. Every few months, Apartment Therapy does a "cure" program that helps guide you through updating your apartment's look, organization, or clutter in some way and ends with a party. I have signed up the last three? four? times and wussed out. I've been too busy, too cheap, too tired, or fallen too far behind on the program and given up, but NOT THIS TIME.

So, here it goes.

Date: Thursday, January 2
Today's Assignment: Create a Project List

Trouble Spots by Room
Highlighted problems are the ones I'm going to focus on fixing for this cure.

Hallway
- Nowhere to put stuff down when I come in
----- Solution: Apartment Therapy calls this a landing strip. I don't know. My apartment is tiny and the entryway is virtually nonexistent. I'm not sure how practical dedicating already limited space to a landing strip really is.
- Hall closet/pantry is a total disaster
----- Solution: This is the big one. I'm just going to have to go through everything. Organize the craft stuff that is stored in the way back and go through all of the food. I am really tired of this storage area not being usable. I suppose I could also take the packaging off of the wire shelves on the door.

The closet extends several feet to the left as well and is even harder to get to.

Kitchen
- Cupboards and drawers are unorganized
----- Solution: Organize cupboards. Throw out/donate food that is either old or I am never going to use. Tupperware drawer especially needs attention.
- Fridge and freezer need to be emptied, cleaned, and reorganized
----- Solution: Throw out old food, wash containers, wipe out fridge and freezer. Restock as necessary. 
- Tea collection needs to be organized
----- Solution: I need to get some nice containers for my loose leaf tea. Dust the shelves. Make labels for the tea. This has been on the mental to-do list for ages.
- Get hook for birdcage thing
----- Solution: Go to the grocery store and buy one of those sticky 3M hooks so I can hang up the birdcage topiary thing. Even though this is low-priority, it is so easy it will probably get done. We hope.

Dining Room
- Shelves underneath bar could be more organized
----- Solution: This is an "if-I-have-time" project. I need to go through my cookbooks and the small appliances that are stored here and figure out if there are better places for things or things I can get rid of. Also, I have a small shelf full of books on tape under here.. maybe a new home? It might also be nice to get a curtain or something to cover this area up... This area just isn't very nice to look at.
- Burned out light-bulbs
----- Solution: Replace light bulbs. There are two out in the overhead lighting.

Living Room
- Cable box needs to be set up
----- Solution: Get help moving shelves so I can actually plug the cable box in.
- Wires need to be organized
----- Solution: Get help moving shelves so I can actually organize the wires. This can be done at the same time that I get the cable box set up.
- Burned out light bulb
----- Solution: Replace light bulb. There is one out in the sofa back table lamp.
- Christmas stuff needs to be put away
----- Solution: For the decorations I need to buy some storage tubs (x3 for garlands, x1 for decorations and ornaments) and presents and stuff from my parents' house need to get put away.

Staircase
- Hang new frame from Pete & Britt
----- Solution: Make the paper art to go in the frame. Then I will need help actually hanging the frame.

Bedroom
- All the stuff on the far side of the room that is hidden by the bed...
----- Solution: Go through it and either put away or give away. There isn't that much really...And getting a new, sturdier and nicer bedside table would be fantastic. It's a really narrow space so I'll need to do some serious hunting to find something that will work.

Stuffed animals, iPad, clothes for Goodwill... Just needs tidying! A new bedside table would be nice too...

- Hang wooden art thing above bed
----- Solution:  Get picture hanging stuff (hooks and wire and nails) and get help hanging it.

That thing is currently perched on top of the bed frame.

- Do something about plants
----- Solution: Get the plants back from Mom and try not to kill them. Get a new plant for the small round container.

Bathroom
- Shelves could stand to be reorganized.
------ Go through shelves and throw out what I don't need or use and tidy up.

Eh, good enough... This project is on the long list.

Porch
- Tear out dead plants (dead from natural causes; I didn't kill these. They are annuals, I swear!)
----- Solution: I'm going to wait until it is warmer. It's cold outside. Then tear out the plants and see if Mom will help me pick out and plant new ones for spring.

To sum up, I want to organize the pantry, replace the light bulbs, hang up some art, and get the entertainment center fully functional and organized. Okay? Okay!

Wanna play along? Sign up for the cure HERE.