Just a little update here – work is still going on this week and next, and I have joined a boot camp for the summer to kick-start my get-back-into-shape routine, so I’ve been busy. I’ve also continued to clean out my office in preparation for transitioning it into a studio; to that end, I’ve gotten rid of both the big ugly bookshelf and the little love seat/dog bed that rested against the wall where I pose for photos. Getting rid of those two things has cleared up a lot of space, and I can tell already that it’s going to make a difference next time I shoot – while I could easily move the sofa out of the way before, I couldn’t get it out of the room without it being a huge hassle, so it always ended up crammed against a wall. And of course, the bookshelf never moved.
The new space – I can easily move that chair and the end table out of the room, unlike the sofa that used to be there.
Please take no note of the carpet situation here – we are getting it all replaced soon, which is another motivation to de-clutter the house ASAP. I’ve been on a real tear with this all week, and have cleaned out my costume closet as well as a huge armoire that we are having hauled away by junk movers this coming Monday. The thing is massive and has always been pretty much useless; it’s part of a bedroom suite of furniture my oldest sister bought at an auction about 20 years ago for three hundred bucks and eventually gave to me – and yeah, we’ve had it ever since. And are still using the other two pieces of furniture, in fact. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I’m not one for home decorating, or buying new furniture. Anyway, the armoire at least is going, and a bunch of other things that are sitting around the house being useless (an old exercise bench, our really old Christmas tree, some computer monitors – and yes it will all be donated or recycled) and in order to get some of this stuff hauled away I’ve had to clean it out, which has led to cleaning out other closets and drawers to make room for the things I want to keep when I clean out the original piece. It’s astounding how much I’ve gotten rid of already, but I’m definitely in the mood to keep going.
So how many photos are going to be taken this weekend then? Probably none, but I’ll get back to it soon. I was going to take photos of the location where I go for boot camp, because it’s at a community center in a nearby neighborhood that is really lovely, but the trainer had to cancel class tonight so I had to work out at home – and since I work out in the same room that functions as my office and future photography studio, well, you’ve already seen a photo of that. So I’ll get pics of the workout area Monday when I go back again. Oh, and my dad and I plan on heading out to IAH on June 14th to check out the airplanes, so there will finally be some new aviation pictures too. Have a great Thursday my friends!
mareymercy. 
I particularly like that shot because it looks like something from an article on minimalist interiors. Probably the way your featured the light. Replacing carpet makes a lot of difference. I think painting and flooring transform a house. Our paint is in great shape but we could replace the wall to wall with hardwood, since we have orientals that make for double layering now and drive me crazy. It will be fun seeing what you do with all this.
That carpet – OMG! We bought it about 12 years ago, and at the time Berber was all the rage. I could swear I read somewhere online back then that it was very durable and good for pets…um, NO. It has been snagging and running for YEARS, pretty much from the beginning. All that “texture” you see in the carpet in the shot above? SNAGS. It’s horrid, but getting carpet replaced is such a HUGE PITA that we’ve been putting it off (we are not willing to get wood or tile floors at this point due to expense and time involved, since this is not the house in which we plan to retire). But we are at a point where it just MUST be done. I actually snag my big toe on my carpet and almost fall over at times! And we need paint too, and I’ve never replaced the wallpaper in the bathrooms and it’s just horrid. But, one thing at a time..!
Wallpaper is pretty easy. In fact, you can sand the edges and paint over it with a lightly textured paint. As for the carpet, lol, I thought it was shag. I loved berber too, but the carpets we have are plain pile, the original gray that they put in, in the 80s. When we bought the house, we just had it cleaned. We should have sprung to replace it. I think those laminate hard wood simulants are pretty cheap but mostly if you do it yourself, not a casual project for most of us. For now, we are just steaming the rugs clean with a Hoover (I think) that works well, but I would love to be rid of them for good. Just dirt catchers. Yeah, it can’t be done all at once. Baby steps. 🙂
I agree about the carpet – would much rather have laminate or wood, but we are just going to save that for wherever we retire. We’ve checked into all sorts of flooring, and they are all expensive, but since we need the entire house re-done carpet just seems easiest at this point. Mainly because it can be done much quicker. It really isn’t that much cheaper when you’ve got 3600 square feet to cover!
What a great idea to move that stuff out. You must feel energized.
Yes, I really think it’s gonna hit home when I go to take photos. I grew up in a house that was just stuffed with furniture and tchotchkes everywhere so that is how I’ve always inhabited the places where I live;it’s just been in the past 5 years or so I’ve started to prefer clean, simple spaces. And transforming a cluttered, overstuffed house into something minimalist was too daunting until now, for some reason!
I understand. My husband loves tchotchkes, and I have a fantasy of a meditation and massage spa room sans your masseuse hahaha.
The house we live in, purchased 6 years ago was pure white. White walls and white Berber carpet. It looked like a mental institution. Maybe that was the attraction. Anyway, the Berber was the first thing to go. Hated it. Used wood and tile everywhere except the bedrooms. Heavy texture on the walls and then had them painted with a faux finish in a wheat color, except the kitchen which is a rusty red. In my opinion the hard floors are easier to maintain.
Anyway, good luck on the clean out and replacement. It really is a pain doing all this stuff.
Yeah, the Berber has been just awful. I hated it within weeks of putting it down, but we had to live with it. Even though this is all gonna be a pain to take care of I am looking forward to it.
It’s nice to have open spaces!
Yes it is!