Day: May 9, 2015

Requiem: Uncle Tom’s Chair

IMG_3231

I have an Uncle Tom.  A Great-Great-Uncle, actually.  Well, he’s dead, but I did have one. And he had a chair.  This really great pink chair with excellent bones.  After Uncle Tom died, it sat in my grandparents’ basement, which, when they died, became my Aunt’s basement.  I can remember sitting in the chair reading and thinking, “someday, I’m going to have this chair in my house and I will sit and read in it.”  And indeed, all of that came to pass.

I liked how the chair fit my hips exactly, and I was charmed by the spring that had come loose, so the seat was a little askew.  Eventually, the cats took over the chair. Antares decided it was a great scratching post.  I held off getting a new chair, because I was afraid they would adopt the new chair as their scratching post, just as readily as they did this chair.  But I have acquired a new chair, so this chair will stand by the side of the road until it finds its new owner.

IMG_3229

Requium: skirt, belt and hat

With tidying comes discarding and it is time for these favorites to go.

I got this skirt from my roommate in Somerville, who got it from her cousin Diana. I wore it a lot over the years and often received compliments.  Originally, the hem was very uneven, so much so that when I took it to the tailor to even out she had to get out the official hem marking device and mark her way around.  Its still a fun skirt for Contra Dancing, but it’s tighter in the waist than it used to be, so it’s time to find a new owner to love it.

IMG_3239

Another stalwart from the Massachusetts days is this fabulous Deerstalker which I bought in a thrift shop in Somerville.  I could tie it quite tightly and keep my head warm for the cold walks I took every morning at 5:30am to get to work at Whole Foods.  I feel great affection for this hat, but have not worn it, even once since I moved to Portland.  There just isn’t a Deerstalker’s amount of cold in  my part of Oregon. IMG_3240

I suspect I purchased this belt at Newberry Comics, a local chain I didn’t like because it tried too hard to be an Alt Record Store, when actually every location looked exactly the same.  I did love this belt though.  Who wouldn’t like to wear flames on their belt?

IMG_3241

Closet renovation.

I forgot to take a “before” the before picture, but it’s time to change up my closet.  For years I’ve been looking at the space above the shelf in my closet and thinking that it is wasted.  Plus, I’ve been reading the Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, and she says you should throw away all your old letters and journals.  Marie Kondo and I disagree heartily about this, so I need a place to properly store such things. A place that is not a Rubbermaid Container that sits on the bottom of my closet, overflowing and taking up space.  Today, we utilize!

Here’s me flat on the floor so I can take the before picture.

IMG_3233

Above the door to the closet too!  That space can be used.IMG_3234

One trip to Ikea, 30 minutes of precarious balancing and drilling et voila!  Three shelves are now installed, bring the closet shelf total to four.

IMG_3236

IMG_3235

Then it was time for the purge, KonMarie style.  I put all of my clothing on the bed (she says the floor, but I ignored) and checked each item to see if I loved it.

IMG_3237

Shoes too.

IMG_3238

It turned out I did not love very many things in my closet and so bags were filled for Goodwill.

IMG_3245

Here’s the stack of things I’m coming for soon.IMG_3246
And here’s the partially finished project.  I now have room for 30 magazine files, and my sewing machines are tucked away above the door.  The meager amount of clothing I have left has been carefully hung in the closet, or folded and put away.  And Tim Riggins has been restored to his place in the closet.
 IMG_3242

And look! The side of my bed is no longer taken up by a dresser, a laundry hamper, a yellow chair serving as a secondary nightstand.  Now there’s a bed (awaiting clean sheets) and a nightstand.  It feels much more spacious, and now I don’t have to sidle out of bed every day.IMG_3243

Even better? I realized that the awesome bottle brush lamp that sits on the top of my desk can easily sit on the dresser and now I have light in the closet!
IMG_3247