slowly slowly slowly said the sloth

After taking a long break from blogging, and well, the entire garage project itself, I'm back. I fell deep in the pits of unemployed bliss (mostly succumbing to hours, hours, hours of abc family programming and daily grace video blogs). Though entirely necessary, it has put me behind schedule. But with the help of some serious intervention from a wise seven year old I know, I'm back on the cleaning wagon. I'm two days strong and can only hope I continue in time to be able to accomplish all the fun crafting that will be made available to me by having a nice, clean, organized garage.

For your benefit I will provide you with a snazzy before and after to show you (and me) that I have in fact accomplished something (however small) since the start of all these shenanigans.

Hey, there, messy garage. Show me what you're working with.

Mhm. That's nice. But look at 'er now!

And here it is, well on its way to being one cozy and welcoming rumpus room I'll say. Next up, gettin' a ladder and hoisting all those boxes up where they belong. Once that's all squared away, the real party will start: painting the walls. But for now, my assistant is demanding an otter pop, must go.

pretty in paint

Yesterday I completed my first assignment. I cleaned, painted, and organized a shelf. A small step in the grand scheme of garage overhaul 2011, but a step nonetheless.

The shelf was dirty, dingy and in dire need of a spruce. Seeing as it was only serving as a place to hold our ziplocks and other such kitchen overflow I wasn't too concerned with a high standard of painting. I wiped the shelf down and then threw a coat of white paint on top. I may or may not have pretended to be Tom Sawyer with a bucket of whitewash by my side and the sun beating down on me through the open garage door. But I digress...

The shelf went from this:

 

To this:

 

Better, huh? Okay, it's not rocket science that a shelf looks better with a fresh coat of paint, but still. It feels pretty good. 

So to put it all in perspective, here's what the shelf looks like two days ago, overflowing with kitchen appliances, science projects, and other unidentifiable objects:

 

And here she is, all shiny and new, outfitted with some cute new baskets (a Ross steal at 15 bucks for the pair) to hide the clutter: 

Not a total Betty, but a vast improvement.

And tomorrow I will get back to the cleaning, cleaning, cleaning of the rest of the garage. Which I have started, but nothing in the way of a glamorous before and after shot, yet. The current picture is more like a moved boxes from here to there and starting piling things according to junk vs. donate-able. A little less glamor and a lot more action.

one small step

Step one of this project will require an intensive cleaning of previously stated overrun-with-junk-garage. Thanks a lot, universe.

If I had realized how lengthy the first step of this process would be, I'm not certain this project would have gotten any farther than, "Oh hey, that sounds like fun." You know, a fleeting thought easily erased by flipping the television on and trying to keep up with those Kardashians.

Unfortunately it's too late now, because here I am, diving head first into the project. Heck, I created a blog for this nonsense, I must forge on. Reality tv distractions can't even stand in my way.

So here for your viewing pleasure, and (I'm certain) much to my mother's dismay, I must share with you the before photos of my dear, sweet garage. 

So much potential, eh?

(It hurts a little to look at, to be quite honest, but that just means the after shot is gonna feel so good, right?)

My first assignment will be the cleaning, painting and organizing of the shelf unit next to the door, in hopes that it will create space to hold some of our many newly acquired kitchen appliances.

Wish me luck. At least I have my handsome, mountain climber of a cat to keep me company.

limbo crisis averted

I find myself hovering in limbo. With my next teaching gig not starting for over a month and the wedding extravaganza done, what ever was this girl gonna do with herself until August? Sit still? Never.

A friend of mine and her husband are moving to Amsterdam (leaving most of their worldly possessions behind) and as I walked into their going away party her husband joked, "If you see anything you like, name your price." The joke was lost on me and by the time I was leaving the party, I had a lengthy list of furniture and knick knacks I would be happy to take off these world traveler's hands. I emailed my friend, who was so happy to be emptying her house and putting a couple bucks in her pocket before the big move, and soon I will be the proud owner of assorted furniture and more.

I'm in love with all my new acquisitions, but of course, didn't quite take the time entirely to think prior to purchasing: where is all of this stuff (a couch, a globe, and more, oh my) going to go? A minor detail. Though, could it be that when I so desperately needed a new project the universe, ever so subtly and kindly, dropped one in my lap?

The project began to formulate quickly when I joked to a friend that I would use all these newfound treasures by turning my garage into a usable hangout space, far from the storage unit that it has become overrun with kitchen wares, dirty laundry and more empty crate and barrel boxes than humanly imaginable.

"Yeah," my friend said. "A rumpus room."

Exactly.

Because, besides being totally fun to say, creating a rumpus room would answer several of my limbo created concerns. Something to do? Check! Productive? Absolutely. Cheap but challenging? I certainly hope so.  A satisfying and usable result? Fingers crossed.

So here we go. This blog will chronicle the month long (and more, I imagine) journey as I clean, create and craft my garage into something highly purposeful.

"And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start."