found space

[velvetpage]

I just reorganized large sections of the living room-dining room.

I threw out some stuff, though not too much - I didn't have to empty the kitchen garbage can to finish the job. I moved some stuff upstairs, though again, not much - an old laptop that had been sitting on top of the piano for over a year, and a few things that properly belonged in an office. Everything else, including at least a hundred books, is still in that room. But it looks much more organized and much neater. The answer?

Found Space.

Last year, when Elizabeth was at the creeping-and-grabbing stage, I made screens for two white pressed-board bookcases out of the same fabric that created my curtains. It's a very nice toile that complements my decor. I attached these screens to the bookcases using stick-on velcro. The result is a visually receding storage nook that the baby didn't realize held something she wanted.

Well, I took a look at those bookcases today, and realized something significant. They are deep enough to hold two rows of paperbacks comfortably.

Now, I hate stacking one row of books in front of another. It looks at least as messy as having piles of them around. But these doubled-rows didn't look messy, because they were behind the screens. I immediately set to work moving the vast majority of the paperbacks in the living room onto these shelves. Then I moved music books onto one vacated shelf, various display sets (Narnia and LOTR, specifically) and big leather-bound anthologies onto another, and agreed to go to Ikea tomorrow to purchase more CD boxes to match the ones we already have. I moved everything that wasn't a cookbook off the top of the white bookcases, threw out one set of ugly bookends and replaced them with pretty carved wooden ones from the top of the piano where they were no longer needed, moved some pretty wooden boxes, some framed pictures and a crystal bowl or two onto the piano, and generally straightened.

Still to do: purchase new CD boxes to fill the shelf formerly occupied by my L.M. Montgomery collection. This has moved to a vacated shelf, so they will still be on display. Then we need to organize the CD's and make discreet labels for the boxes (my Christmas music collection will fill one entire drawer, and my classical collection will fill two). When all of that has been done, it will be possible to create a display on the mantlepiece. Every time I've tried this in the past, it has been sabotaged by Piet's whim to display incoming Christmas cards around the candles. I do not understand this whim. How am I supposed to burn my candles with all that paper around??? In any case, this year I'll tack up a pretty ribbon and clip the cards to that to get them out of the way, and all will be well with my candles. I even have a red silk scarf, legacy of my Christmas season working at Sears a few years ago, to act as a mantle scarf. It will look very nice.

Now if only I can convince Piet that a magnifying glass apparatus for painting miniatures is NOT a display item for the top of the china cabinet. . .

Comments

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

You have IKEA in Canada? I have their IVAR shelving in my bedroom as one of the few proprietary shelvings that will take the weight of a few cases of 78rpm records....

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Doesn't the entire world have Ikea?

We don't go in for their really modern-looking furniture. It just doesn't fit in our arts-and-crafts house. But those little wooden CD boxes are okay, and they fit perfectly on our shelves. We're going to buy three more to fill up the second shelf, and give room for our CD collection to grow. I'm tired of buying storage to fit current needs, only to outgrow it a month later when someone has a birthday.

[mr-weasel.livejournal.com]

Doesn't the entire world have Ikea?

Romania doeesn't have one...yet. Hungary does, though.

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

I have some cheapo pine shelves....which with the original shelves cut in half lengthwise to make 2 half width shelves make bonzer CD racks...but my other storage, holds 26 CDs (13 pairs side by side) are some old folding cases for Neopost 4000 series frankers rescued from the skip!
Needs must when the devil drives....

[kesmun.livejournal.com]

I hat stacking paperbacks two deep because it's a pain to get to the ones under/behind.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Well, we weren't often reading those ones anyway. I think the books on the shelves were still kind of scattered from the baby's last foray behind the screens, which was months ago. If we really need them, we know where they are, and it gives us the opportunity to say, "When we have a bigger house, we'll have room to have all our books on display!"

[kesmun.livejournal.com]

All to the good. Heh.