From the Weekend: Scenes from the Bedroom Cure

Found on my husband's nightstand while curing the bedroom.

I hadn't really intended to do the "cure" quite this devotedly. I'd intended to do it the way I always do on-line events like this--pick my own tasks and do them at my own pace. Instead, it seems I am doing almost all of the assignments--and when they are assigned, too.

Along with hundreds of others all over the world, I cleaned my bedroom this weekend. I started Friday and finished Saturday.

The assignment was simply to clean. I took it a step further and decided to incorporate one of Joshua Becker's assignments from "A Simple Year." To wit, to declutter this room as one of two areas of my home and get rid of anything "unnecessary."

Once again, I started with a room badly in need of both cleaning and decluttering.

This was taken from the doorway:

This is rather embarrassing, but I had let things go--I knew the big clean up was coming and I was working 'til 10 pm all this week---excuses, excuses.

Immediately to the left of the door, we have the dresser. (That is the closet door to its left)

Then, the loveseat/dog's bed. I have had this piece of furniture since a room-mate dragged it home from a University reading lounge back in the eighties. (Room-mate and University shall remain nameless.) It's an incredibly sturdy and heavy piece of furniture.

On to the bed wall. It is a lovely little alcove just big enough to feel cosy.

And then, to the right of the bed (and tucked behind the doorway) are the shelves.

Oh, the shelves.

I have been thinking about culling their contents for months, now.

Easy to purge: the Simple Scrapbooks magazines I've had for years--but never referenced. Time will tell if I regret that decision, but I doubt it. My scrapbooking style is as simple as can be--and I don't really need books for ideas, anymore.

More difficult, however, were the books dealing with my faith. I have had periods of intense belief and periods of indifferent, almost non-belief throughout my life. I am in one of the latter right now--and I am not completely at peace with it.

When I started purging the books --the books on what it means to be a Christian woman, the books on prayer and the books on God's character, and so on, I was scared. Really scared. I didn't know what it meant. I didn't know what I was doing. Was I saying good-bye to ever believing in God again? Was I committing to being an agnostic? Was I turning my back on God? I wasn't sure I was ready to do that, but those years I was a practicing Christian were truly some of the worst years in my marriage and family-life.

I decided to keep two C.S. Lewis books, Mere Christianity (which I have read) and The Problem of Pain (which I think I've started but not finished). I committed to reading the latter within six months. I will decide then whether to keep my books or let go of them.

It also occurred to me that if I ever do return to my faith--I just might want a different library.

Marie Kondo would have me pile these books on the floor. My knees argued back--and won!

As I considered each book, eventually I found myself picking up each one, holding it in my hand and asking myself, "Does this bring me joy?" Then, if the answer was no, I put the books in the box and said, out loud, "Thank you for your service."

And so I built a pile of boxes outside the door.

As you can see, I decluttered more than just the Christian books.

The rest was easy.

I decided I didn't want to see these boxes underneath the love seat anymore.

What did they store? One box was full of painting clothes suitable for a range of weights and seasons. I kept something in my current size suitable for summer and trashed the rest. The other box held summer clothes for a person about eighty pounds lighter than me. I pulled out two pairs of pants and the rest went out to the hallway.

I vacuumed everything that could possibly be vacuumed, including the mattress and the window screen. I dusted and I dusted and I dusted. I washed the mattress pad and pillow covers, sheets and pillowcases. I vowed to buy new pillows and wrestled the duvet into its beautiful cover and put a new and better piece of fabric on the poor old worn out loveseat.

I practically have a brand new room.

Ready?

Nothing is styled. I basically finished, took photos and then rushed off to work.

And here we are, the shelves! I am most proud of these.

I pulled out a few toys I've had in storage. That duck on the bike is one of the silliest things ever.

So, there we have it.

One clean and decluttered room, ready for whatever the year may bring.

Boom da da boom.

ETA: I finally got the shelves tidied up and styled. Here they are: