So, folks, are you a little tuckered out? We totally understand. Here's what you need to do. 1. Be practical. If you have bitten off too much, then scale back and move on. 2. Get brutal. Are you being too careful when you should be getting mean with your stuff? This is your chance to make a difference. Don't procrastinate: pick something small and get started. You'll be amazed what a little momentum can do. 3. Get inspired. Everyone else is working hard and having struggles as well. Share yours and see what others are doing to make their change. Also, if you'd like an inspirational story, check out this one about the founding of Patagonia: rock climbing is a fitting metaphor for what we are all doing.
So, how are you feeling about the cure? We'd like to know.
This Week's Assignment: In the Deep Treatment we tackle the Living Room. For some of you this may be a big deal; for others it may not be as much trouble. Either way, this is probably the time to tackle your BOOKS. These are a very pesky element that can be very hard to edit. You are also cooking at home 3x this week. If you would like encouragement or recipes, head over to The Kitchen, where daily support and inspiration is provided.
The One Room Workout gets to the question of shopping and considering Carb and Protein furniture if you haven't already. I urge you to buy quality when you shop. In addition, if you are entering prices into a shopping list/spreadsheet, don't forget that we have these available here for you to use.
Info:The Cure posts will go up twice a week on Mondays and Fridays, allowing for plenty of comment space. We will be pulling comments and pics to the front page post each week and everyone is urged to take pics and post them to the green Flickr pool or simply tag them with "atgreencure."
(The last post is here - all Worksheets are here - The Book Blog is here)
I've been doing the One Room Workout for my living room/dining room. Here's my progress so far:
1) Planted a Container Garden - OK, technically this isn't part of my living room since it's outside but I felt the entrance to my apartment had really bad feng shui since the plants in my pots were all dead. Now I'm growing a winter crop of brussels sprouts, salad greens and a vast assortment of herbs. Taking the time to water the garden gets me to slow down and pay attention to the rest of my apartment too.
2) Floor Plan - For the past year and half, I telecommuted and ran a business out of my apartment so my furniture was arranged to accommodate work rather than home life. While I looked forward to completely moving furniture around, once I played with my floor plan, I realized that pretty much everything was where it would fit. I am going to swap my desk and sideboard out so that my desk will be closer to my front door, and I think I figured out a way to open up my "sitting" area.
3) Landing Strip - In addition to moving my desk, I'm going to move my file cabinet and use the top of the file cabinet as my landing strip. I also have a small wire letter holder that should work well for organizing mail.
4) Object Removed - I found that finding something to take out of my living room and give away was really challenging. I immediately stopped being lazy about parking my bike in my living room and moved it into the "shared" laundryroom that no one else in my triplex uses. While de-biking my apartment created lots of space and made it immediately more attractive, it didn't quite meet the "letting go" aspect of the assignment. Ultimately, I decided to give away set of "Serenity" action figures that I won in a trivia contest to a friend who collects movie memorabilia.
5) Fabric Shopping - The main things I want to do in my living room are a) sew a slipcover for my wicker couch pad, b) sew throw pillows for my wicker couch, c) sew drapes, and d) paint. Tackling the sewing jobs first, I decided to go fabric shopping this weekend. But in keeping with the green approach, rather than trotting off to a fabric store, I decided to hit thrift stores in search of drapes that I could remake for the windows and for my couch cover. The home decor section at Value Village was sadly lacking but as I walked in, I noticed a prom dress in exactly the shade of red that would match a chair I already own. The matching shawl would be the perfect size to cover the couch seat cushion, leaving plenty of fabric for throw pillows, etc. All for $10. I started to see the used clothing there in a different light, and picked up a couple jackets to cut up and re-sew into pillows. I picked up a few more inexpensive shirts and skirts at Refind Fashion in North Portland, plus a vintage tablecloth that I plan to cut up and incorporate into curtains. So now I have a pile of red, plum and gold fabrics on my dining room table which I hope to transform into fabulous sofa cushions. I'm still looking for the main drapery fabric.
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bohemiangirlpdx, that's amazing! Well done!
This week we're looking at furniture for our One-Room Workout. We've decided on a paint colour, and culled a lot of stuff from the room. But the quality-vs-affordability issue has us a bit stumped: the only stuff we've seen that fits our style and budget, and is available in our state, is Ikea gear :) But the furniture (desk and shelving) doesn't have to do heavy duty work, so we think we're going to go with it.
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