Room Tours: The Master Bedroom

July 29, 2018July 29, 2018 / Cheryl Wilcox / 1 Comment

Welcome to my Room Tour Category! This is my second post here. The first one was a tour of the girls’ room. This will be a tour of the room I share with my husband, Bob. I think I’ve been calling him Bobby here. I usually call him Bob when I’m talking about him, and Bobby when I’m talking to him. Oh well.

I found some pictures of this room, from 2010, on a blog that I stopped keeping at the end of that year. I had blogged for five years, and then I took a break from it until this year. I read a few posts, and although I was still pondering the same ideas as I am today, I could see that I have made progress with simplifying (though slowly) over the past seven and a half years. For example, back then I was overwhelmed by our kitchen clutter, and today our kitchen seems to be in good order.

So here is what our bedroom looked like back then:

We bought the Shaker style furniture when we moved into our first home in 1999. Then we decorated the room like this in 2006, when we moved into our current home. Eventually, the quilt started falling apart. I flipped it over for awhile, then I took it off completely and just had sheets and blankets for awhile. This year I wanted a change. I did something drastic. I moved the furniture around for the first time in twelve years. I took down the pictures. Then I replaced the valances with sheers. And I bought new bedding, lampshades and placemats for the nightstands. So this is how it looks now.

I looked at loads of pictures online and found neutral colors were most attractive to me. I’m usually frugal, but this time I splurged on some 750 count sheets and they are amazing! I feel like I’m in a hotel at night. It’s very cozy and comfortable. So we each have our own nightstands. I keep a prayer book, earbuds, my Kindle, and a box of tissues in mine.

The armoire belongs to Bob. The little decoration on top was the cake topper from our wedding cake. It was a gift from his mother. She painted it to look like us. I have a cute little veil and beads and flowers just like the real ones. Well if I knew I was going to share all these details, I would have taken a closer picture of the thing.

The dresser is mine. And you can see our bathroom door on the left. My closet door is next, and our bedroom door leads to the living room. My dresser currently holds a wedding picture, my undergarments, socks, pajamas, work out clothing, bathing suit, jeans, shorts, T-shirts, dressy pumps and nylons, a sentimental box, and the jewelry the girls receive as gifts, but don’t wear yet. Most of my capsule wardrobe is hung in my closet.

Bobby’s closet is across from mine and he has the larger one, because he has more clothing. My closet is L-shaped. I keep my clothing at one end, and on the other end…

are my books! After seeing the movie, War Room, I created a prayer closet. Before capsule wardrobes, I kept all of my clothing in my dresser. But I found that because of the shape of my closet, It doesn’t bother me to have clothing in here too. I actually like leaning on my bathrobe when I’m reading on the floor.

You can see Bobby’s closet and our bathroom door on the right. I haven’t hung any pictures on the walls yet. I’m enjoying the simplicity of the room. If Bobby doesn’t tell me he wants stuff on the walls, it’s going to stay this way. We have talked about getting an electric fireplace in here. I’m thinking it would go to the right of my dresser. Maybe when it gets cold again. So this is our room and that’s the end of the tour.

Summer Capsule Wardrobe

July 23, 2018July 23, 2018 / Cheryl Wilcox / Leave a comment

This is my first summer capsule wardrobe ever! I created it with items from my spring capsule wardobe, with items that I wore last summer, and a few new pieces that I bought in June. I planned on wearing it from July 1st-October 1st, but I actually began wearing it in the middle of June when we had a stretch of super hot weather.

I’ll start with the bottoms: white crop jeans, blue skinny jeans, tan capri pants, black skirt, denim shorts, tan shorts, and (sorry to say) chambray shorts that I bought in June, and haven’t worn yet. They feel more snug than my denim shorts, and they are practically the same color. I also bought the tan shorts this year and have worn them once. I usually only wear shorts around the house, so I probably don’t need three of them.

Next up are the tops: black & white striped tank, black tank, red striped tank, gray sleeveless top, gray T-shirt, white T-shirt, striped T-shirt, and my pineapple shirt.

Here are the layers: jean jacket, jean vest (that my daughter didn’t wear anymore), white tassel top, white button down sweater, thin black sweater.

The footwear: black wedge heels, black sandals, and gray converse sneakers.

Dresses and accessories: black sleeveless dress, new shift dress, black handbag, and black Read Aloud Revival tote.

I have some other items too that I don’t consider part of my capsule wardrobe. They are: a bathing suit, sunglasses, pajamas, work out clothing, my Yoda T-shirt, (for cleaning and yardwork) my popcorn T-shirt and navy hoodie, (that I wear to the movies) and my red, Pura Vida and black “Stick It to the Man” T-shirts (that I wear around the house sometimes).

This looks pretty minimalist, but I think I wore fewer items in the past. Last summer, I would wear only my black sandals with one of my two pairs of boot cut jeans or my denim shorts, and a T-shirt (usually one I received as a souvenir from a foreign country Bobby visited). It was like a low maintenance uniform. And I didn’t own a purse. Having a capsule wardrobe takes a little more preparation, but it is simple once set up, and it gives me a more feminine, stylish appearance.

Does appearance matter? Does a capsule wardrobe make me more confident? Does it save me time, money, or decision fatigue? These are questions to ponder.

Decluttering Checklist: Week Two

April 15, 2018 / Cheryl Wilcox / Leave a comment

This week I checked off:

kitchen desk
foyer closet
utility closet
pantry

For decluttering the kitchen desk, I tried something called the “Shock Treatment Declutter Method”. I read about it on Uncluttered Simplicity.

I took everything out of my desk and put it on my bed.

Then I sorted it into these categories:

Paper (in piles and files) and Product Manuals (in binders)
Cookbooks
Matthew’s paper tray
Electronics
Stationery
Office Supplies
Cash
Keys
Gift Cards
Library/Store Cards
Kids’ bank books and cash (in tin)
Decorations
Items to repair

2. I surveyed the damage. I observed that there was stuff with no assigned homes, too much paper, things I never use, and that my paper filing system was not simple enough. I decided to keep paper separate as it is listed on my checklist as a “Major Project”.

3. Step 3 is to ruthlessly eliminate. I don’t think I was ruthless, but I eliminated stuff and I was happy that most of the things I returned to my desk are things I use regularly. (I may not use the sticky tabs often, and I kept a few paper clips that I may not need.)

Next was the foyer closet. I removed 2 games with the kids’ permission, and 24 hangers.

I noticed I’d like to replace the ironing board cover. I started a wish list. (Maybe I’ll get one for Christmas.)

I took everything out of the utility closet. (See below.) I sorted into these categories:

cleaning supplies
children’s medicine
first aid
bandages & tape
aprons
sunscreen/bug spray

I got rid of old stuff, and reorganized.

The pantry was a mess. I forgot to take a before picture, and I’m glad I did. Here is the after picture.

It will be a little more filled up after our next food shopping trip. Those Easter pails will be stored in the basement with the Easter decorations after more candy is eaten. I am pleased that everything in here has a home. Most of the shelves are labeled with a category name and a little list of what goes on the shelf. This is school vacation week, so I am expecting to declutter for a block of time each day. I may even post more frequently.

Decluttering Checklist: Week One

April 9, 2018 / Cheryl Wilcox / Leave a comment

This week I checked off:

Cheryl’s clothing
Hannah’s clothing
living room
laundry room (1/2 bath)
upstairs bathroom

I purged quite a bit of girl’s size 10 hand-me-downs that we would not likely use. I also got rid of a few bath toys with Mary’s permission and some play make-up with Hannah’s permission. After years of decluttering, the bathrooms are really down to just items we use regularly.

I wrote about our purchasing new living room furniture in January. Back then we took away our old entertainment center cabinets where we stored DVD’s, and purchased a new TV console that had less storage space in it. I went through the DVD’s with most of the kids and purged several of them. Then I stored most of our DVD’s on a bookshelf in the nearby foyer closet. (See photo below.) My saints DVD’s, our Wii games and accessories, and electronic components are stored in the TV console, and Christmas DVD’s are stored elsewhere. The living room is also home to most of Sarah’s sheet music (near her piano) and the girls’ Kindle Fires, which are stored inside of the loveseat and in an end table drawer. In another end table drawer, we store all remote controls.

Operation Joyful Space

January 12, 2018January 13, 2018 / Cheryl Wilcox / 3 Comments

What a goofy title! But I had to call it something, and Bobby liked it better than “Totally Organized,” which was the first simplifying book I ever read. It was 1998. I was pregnant with my first child. Our five room apartment looked pretty tidy, except for the SPARE ROOM, which was filled with all of those things we didn’t know what to do with. It was my dream to be totally organized before the baby arrived. It didn’t happen.

Fast forward twenty years. We now have six children and instead of five rooms, we have ten rooms! (Not counting the three bathrooms, the three car garage, the shed, and a basement the size of eight rooms.) Yikes!

Our house looks pretty tidy, (if you don’t go in the pantry or garage or basement or upstairs). I feel like I’m working my butt off to keep up with the main living areas and any extra efforts I put into those “spare rooms” are short lived. I know it can be so much simpler.

I’ve seriously read at least 30-40 books on simplifying. I know the FlyLady. I’ve Konmaried. I always stop somewhere in komono and never reach that elusive clicking point. I’ve been an aspiring minimalist ever since I heard of the concept in 2009.

But back to Operation Joyful Space. I got the “Joyful Space” from Rachel Jones, founder of Nourishing Minimalism.com. She calls herself the Joyful Space specialist. I just finished a free five day Minimalist Mindset course she offered. (You know I like these kinds of things.) As a result of that, I set a goal to declutter my entire home in six months. (I’ll write more specifically about this goal, criteria, and assessment in a later post.) I’ve made a handy-dandy checklist, titled “Operation Joyful Space”, designed for my unique home and schedule. Operation Joyful Space I’ve also made decluttering checklists, which break the tasks down into smaller chunks. And while I was at it, I made a checklist for the normal monthly tasks that I try to do in addition to daily chores and weekly cleaning. Monthly Checklist

I realize I’m going to be busy. One of the tasks in the course was to decide exactly what you are willing to give up to complete your goal. I decided that I’ll give up DVD’s and Netflix on weekdays, time reading my iPhone in bed and fiction novels. This doesn’t include going out to the cinemas with Bobby during the week. I’m just giving up sitting around on the couch at home. And by the way, I don’t know the FlyLady in real life, just her ideas.

Unruffled Peace

minimalism