Sunday, February 08, 2009

Organisation

After an enlightening experience during the week (which I've been prohibited from describing in any detail), we decided it was time to review the lack of organistion around our house. Blaming the disarray on the "recent" move was sounding a little tired even to us. The plan was to attack three major nexus of chaos; the shifting pile of bills that rarely get any attention, a growing sea of documents that patiently awaits filing that "will get done this week" and finally the Marcosian mound of cast off shoes by the front door that must migrate on their own accord from the back room cupboard every time I need to vacuum.

With these targets in mind, it was time to visit good old Ikea for a day of shuffling along the display floor in search of cheap furniture. The first thing we picked up was a metal notice board which was rather plain by itself, until Alsie in a flash of brilliance suggested applying some wall decals to "jazz it up" a little. Combined with some funky magnets from Kikki.k and a heavily discounted, though thoroughly charming, Winnie the Pooh calendar and we now feel like we have an idea of events and documents that need our immediate attention.



Our intentions to archive all our loose documents hit a road block when we realised that the filing cabinet we wanted to buy would not fit in our car. Bit of a blow but we seized the moment and shuffled the study around to make room for the future purchase, as well as finally sorting our extra bags of clothes and books to donate to Lifeline. The actual cabinet will have to wait for the next John and Sheena visit to Oxley (to borrow the 4WD) but at least I can now see most of the floor in the library. Sadly, that means there's more surface area to mop and sweep but them's the breaks.

Alison and I have gone back and forth for quite a while now with regards to a shoe cabinet for the front door. Being a strictly shoes off kinda guy, I've struggled with the need to keep shoes in a convenient spot by the entrance without hurting aesthetics or putting our footwear on display for the world to see. Bookcases, drawers, shoe racks and boxes of all shapes and sizes were considered to fulfil this task but finally we decided on a snazzy sideboard that must be new to the Ikea line up. It was one of the more challenging pieces to assemble but we got there without too many mistakes and arguments. Our new shoe cupboard is accompanied by two other practical purchases we made; a wooden stool (to put on and take off shoes) and a full length mirror (for that all important last minute once over before leaving the house). Overall we're quite happy with the look.



Not the most restful weekend, especially when I almost had to machete most of the yard to mow, but at least our little abode just got another interior bump. The next purchases for us will have to be something to store our clothes in the main bedroom so that we can finally get our socks and undies off the old television. All in good time I guess.