This is my office which has been taken over with stuff from our closets. The painting is of our Palm Springs backyard.
Yesterday, we were getting new carpet installed in our guest room and casita. We went through Costco because a neighbor recommended them. First, you have Costco’s backing if you aren’t satisfied or something goes wrong. Second, you get a percentage back from Costco on a gift card.
We had a salesperson come to the house with samples. We selected what we wanted, signed a contract and paid. The salesperson did measurements with an electronic device. He said I needed to empty out the closets and remove little things, but they would do the heavy lifting of beds and dressers.
We decided to replace the carpets after Christmas. My son is very allergic to cats and even though I raked the carpets to get rid of Olive’s hair (yes, there is such a thing as a pet rake) and I had the carpets professionally cleaned, my son couldn’t breathe. His doctor told him to leave or go to the ER. Not a great Christmas memory.
I’m sad to lose Olive and I miss her every day. She loved to hibernate in the daytime under the beds in the casita and guest room. Hence the cat dander.
We have a friend who is a retired pulmonary physician. He said cat dander can last in carpet up to three years. There’s no getting rid of it.
We had no carpet in our Palm Springs home. We replaced the carpet in our kids’ bedrooms with hardwood floors because of the allergy issue.
I can’t believe how much STUFF I had crammed into two closets. Now that it’s all out in public view in my office, I think it’s the perfect opportunity to go through it all. We are having guests for a week starting Sunday. What a great time to empty out the closets and have new carpet.
In those closets I had Christmas ornaments, gift wrap, and giant jugs to purify water from our pool in case of an emergency. Also, a sewing machine and fabric. And lots and lots of photo albums. Where will I put these things now? That’s the question.
What oddball things do you have stored in a spare closet?
I have a small hall closet intended as a coat closet I believe. I do hang seasonal jackets on a door hook but the closet actually contains my toolbox, windshield washer fluid, gardening items, birdseed, my vacuum, a camping chair. step stool and my umbrella 😉
You’ve got a great variety of items stored in your hallway closet!
This place has minimal storage so it means getting creative. This closet is what I consider my “yuck” items…things you would likely store in a garage or laundry area. The alternative was my bedroom closet and I decided no on that idea 🙂
I totally agree with you on that. No to bedroom storage for the “yuck” items that you need to keep.
Oh…what question…in my office I’ve got loads of oddball stuff. Clothes, shoes, some of Delaney’s baby paraphernalia (still) and office supplies. My worst habit is just stowing stuff in whatever closet or drawer is handy without thinking about what else is there. Drives Paul nuts. Cheers to fresh new carpeting and the glimpse of the Palm Springs backyard. You know I love that. 🌞🥰🌞
I moved a closet full of stuff from our Palm Springs guest room into the Arizona closets. It’s time to face the music. I totally get what you have stored.
Good luck! 🥰
Thanks! I figure while everything is out of the closet in view, it’s a good time to get rid of some things.
With the frequent moves we have had, I’ve gotten rid of a lot of stuff over time
That’s good for you. We were in our Palm Springs house for close to 30 years. I ended up moving too much to our new home and kept too much in boxes in the closets.
I take the opportunity to shed the unused things.
That’s so good of you. I got rid of tons of stuff, but still is wasn’t enough.
Thanks. You’ll get there slowly. 💖
I have pulled all the photo albums out onto my desk, rather than hidden in the closet. I need to go through them. When I used film, I kept every photo.
Oh yes, I’ve done that and organizing photos is a huge task. I’m still trying to work out how to do it
I have the photo albums stacked up on my desk, ready for my free time to pull out the photos, throw some away and put others in photo boxes.
Best of luck! Mine are hidden away in a cupboard so that they don’t give me anxiety as I look at them 😅
When mine were hidden away, I didn’t have to face them. They take up too much room in the guest closet. So this is my new approach.
Great idea. Perhaps I should do that too
👍🏼
Such a good question. I’m sure you got rid of stuff when you moved because what you have in your closet sounds totally reasonable!
Thanks. I think the main thing I need to deal with are the photo albums from when my kids were young. I have dozens of them. I’m thinking of taking the photos out and only saving the best in a photo box.
I’m threatening to rent a small dumpster and going to town on our basement. Easy for me to say . . . most of the stuff there is the kids. Ha, ha.
I hear you. I have things of my kids, including photos, swim medals, letterman’s jackets and a set of Wizard of Oz dolls that I think they may want someday. Do they?
I’ve been starting to be more demanding. My daughter had a bunch of college books she was storing. I was like “are you really going to want these.” She ended up going through them over Xmas. That was a start. Ha, ha.
Good for you! Our kids live in the Bay Area and literally have no place to store anything. I need them to go through things here and decide if they want to keep them or not.
I have 3 extra closets… den, spare bedroom and office… that are stuffed to the gills with things I probably don’t need but can’t throw out. I try not to open them too often. It’s embarrassing.
🤣
Putting in new carpet was an eye opener for me. Lucky it was before guests come next week! I have to face the pile of stuff in my office soon.
Yeah, I’d like to say that would make a difference but we had new carpet put in the spare bedroom last year. I took everything out and put it right back in.
🤣
I did something similar today. I put it all in the garage.
Out of sight, out of mind.
👍
We have a garage with nice cabinets. I tucked everything out of sight and not in the guest closets.
Even better.
👍🏼
We had new carpet installed in multiple rooms just about a year ago. I was a great time to declutter before putting thing back. Now we have tidy closets and our carpet stays cleaner with our new “no shoes” policy.
We need a no shoes policy! The closets look better, as do the bedrooms. We are having a few rainy days, so I’m not wearing shoes on the new carpet. But it should be a rule every day.
That’s a thought for getting rid of stuff—pull it all out and into the middle of the room!
I agree. What a sight in an open room to see everything I had tucked away, out of sight. We’ve been here for four and half years…If I don’t tackle it now, when does it go away?
New carpeting sounds wonderful, Elizabeth, and we still have a lot of our kid’s stuff because they don’t have room for it. 🙂 And we have boxes of baby stuff that I won’t part with, and boxes of cards that we’ve given each other too. 🙂 It’s amazing how things accumulate. Good luck with sorting through it all!
My kids live in Oakland and Berkeley and they don’t have space. When they visit, I should have them tell me what they want to keep and what we can throw out! The new carpet really looks good and should help with my son’s asthma and allergies.
For about 3 years I’ve had the top piece of an antique wooden bed headboard in one of our foyer closets. It’s laying on a shelf because I keep thinking it’d look great hanging on a wall somewhere as a decorative objet d’art. Yet I haven’t found the right wall.
I have an entire antique bed frame hanging out in our garage. I bought it from a roommate’s step mom in college. Then it was our daughter’s bed. She asked me to hang onto it for her. At one point I took photos to consignment stores but nobody wanted it.
I remember having to remove carpet from bedrooms many years ago too; Lolo had server allergies, so it was a constant battle.
Well, since we made a huge move this past year, I don’t have any more clutter in my closets. WOOT WOOT. I kinda feel like I’m bragging, but man o man, did we have some ‘stuff’ in all the closets before I was forced to move everything and really access what I needed.
I know you’re gonna love your fresh new carpet and closets!
I can notice a difference with the new carpets and my allergies are so much better. And mine aren’t that bad. Good for you for getting your closets cleaned out on your big move. I swear, I was taking things every day for months to our local donation shop before we moved, but I still brought too much with us. We accumulated a whole lot of stuff in thirty years, raising a family.
I’m in the process of getting rid of all the carpet in our home. It’s hard but so much easier to breathe now!
It is much better to have zero carpet. The only carpet we have is in the bedrooms. Our old tired feet like the feel of carpet getting in and out of bed.