Just for fun, let me invite you into a little-seen room in my home. It’s the room that only a select few intrepid souls have ever dared to enter. It’s the laundry room/storage room/pantry/furnace room/place where all the junk that has no other logical place gets dumped.
Sadly, this room represents the worst in me – my propensity for clutter, my inability to complete mundane tasks like laundry, my sloppiness, my procrastination, my avoidance of all things “housework” – I could go on and on, but the list is starting to depress me. I’m sure by now you’re getting the picture WHY so few people have ever been invited in.
I could wax allegorical about how this room represents the deep dark recesses of my soul – those ugly pieces of my personality that I hide from the world. But I’ll leave that to you to figure out. Suffice it to say that this room needed work – desperately.
Well, I’m happy to report that this room (like much of the rest of my house) has undergone a transformation. I decluttered, I scrubbed, I tossed, I tore out old musty carpeting, and I got down on my hands and knees and put in a new floor.
Without much further adieu, here are the before and after pictures.
Before
This is how it has looked for nearly all of the 7 years we’ve lived in this house. Disgusting, isn’t it? Junk everywhere, scraps of the world’s ugliest carpet on the floor (which, sadly, still covers the rest of the basement until we can afford to replace it), overflowing laundry baskets, you name it.
After
And this is what it looks like now. Everything in its place, laundry cleaned and put away (where it can FIT now that everyone’s dressers and closets are decluttered), and a clean and shiny new floor! Nothing fancy – I just bought those cheap peal-and-stick floor tiles – they may not last forever, but they sure look great now!
So there you have it. I’m hoping a room transformed will continue to inspire me to keep all those nasty bad habits in check (or at least SOME of them – can’t expect perfection, after all).