A Little Cottage Spring Cleaning and Wishful Thinking

I love spring. Everything comes alive and there is always energy in the air. I seem to have more energy, too, and that's a wonderful thing! My problem is that when it comes to taking care of the house, I don't know where to start? Household chores? Remodeling work? Crafting for my little cottage business? Spring cleaning? Yard work? All of the above majorly need my attention, but today, spring cleaning in the office/sunroom/storage room won out. It has needed my attention for weeks now, but as you may know, it isn't heated or cooled yet so the idea of spending hours in here during really cold or hot days isn't very appealing.
I really do dislike the fact that this room often serves as a storage room - often cluttered with boxes and toys and books. The girls' books, as you can see on the bookshelf there, stay in a state of disarray and it's something that I'm always harping on them about. Usually there are always piles of books on the floor, too (they need a much bigger bookshelf - and in their room...in due time). This room also once served as a playroom, but I found that the kids still managed to keep both their "playroom" and their bedroom cluttered, so their toys were moved back to their own room. Funny, though, how those toys still manage to migrate back to this space...hmmm.... This has also been where I store items I buy to repurpose or rehab in the future. With the room so full of stuff, you just don't notice how light and airy it is in here.

Today the weather was quite pleasant so I tackled the sunroom head on. It was emptied of nearly everything but the computer desk, a couple of chairs, the girls books, an old shabby dresser that I'll repaint one day. This may be quite mean of me, lol, but I've told the kids that this space now belongs to hubs and me and that they need explicit permission to be in here (to grab a book, use the computer, or just have alone time). Everything that wasn't trash was bagged up and taken to yet another problem storage area (our unfinished bonus room upstairs). I've swept and need to mop and clean the windows, but it looks 100% better already. By the way, those steps lead right into the kitchen, in case you were wondering:)

We're going to be having a yard sale in the coming weeks and I have such a hard time focusing on what to keep and what to sell when *everything* is pulled out at once. I know my idea of just hauling it all upstairs may seem strange to some, but I want to live without this excess "stuff" for a while, and if we don't miss anything between now and the next six weeks or so, then we can live without it. Bringing down one bag of things at a time to sort through - that I can handle. My first instinct when I'm surrounded by things I have to make a decision about (does it stay or does it go?) is to just throw everything away, lol. As hard of a time that I have staying organized and tidy, clutter really does drive me bonkers and I operate much better with very few personal items. You wouldn't know that by looking at my closets now, hehe, but it's the truth. I told hubs that I wish we could challenge ourselves to only keep enough personal items that would fit into a certain number of suitcases...and nothing else.

Back to the sunroom, I love this room, despite it's problems (no heat yet, water damage on the walls when the roof leaked years ago, the ceiling that needs to be redone, and on and on...) But I was thinking that this would be a great craft room for me. It's nice and sunny and cheerful! Or, wouldn't it be fun to have a Cottage Sale in this room every once in a while? (Tiff from Folded Gingham gave me the idea...). It would need new paint and a little TLC, of course, but it's just the right cozy size for a little sale. Plus, the sliding doors open to a part of our deck that I could decorate with plants and cottage type items... and the entrance to the sunroom will soon be (hopefully!) surrounded by pretty colorful flowers. Do you see in the last photo, right outside the door, hubs has built for me recently some really large flowerbeds just waiting for dirt and plants?!

Even if I never do it, it sure is fun to think about!

Well, I'm off to do what everyone loves to do after hours of cleaning - make dinner!