Saturday 15 January 2011

Christmas / New Year / Off we go again!!!

Over a month since I last posted but I'm hoping you'll let me off!!!

I mentioned in my last post about having cleared off one of my bookshelves and the fact that I would have a blank wall. Now, when it comes to minimalism I think there are a lot of different understandings. There are those who go for the absolute bare minimum, that isn't and never will be me!!! My aim (as I may have mentioned before) is to thin out and pare down but I will NEVER just have 100 things as some minimalists aim for.  I want less stuff, yes, if for no other reason than it'll make the housework easier!! I do like clear worktops, orderly bookshelves and although you'd never believe it things all put away and not cluttering up every surface...where am I heading with all this...that blank wall!!

The space that I am refering to looked like this when I first started my journey...


And the shelves I'm referring to are those on the left hand side of the picture (above the bin!!)

After some soul searching (I love books) and several trips to the charity shop I had cleared everything off that unit and either donated it to the charity shop, friends children, nephew, or relocated it onto a unit I am going to keep.  I put the shelving unit itself on eBay (it's a modular thing from Ikea and proved quite popular) and sold it.

I knew I wouldn't want a plain 'boring' blank wall. I love pictures and artwork and was thinking it would be nice to be able to have something on that wall all on it's own but didn't know what I was going to go for.  During a recent trip to London (for leisure rather than the daily commute) I popped into the gallery@oxo as they had an album artwork exhibition featuring Peter Gabriel which I wanted to see. On sale they had large prints of some of the covers and there we were a perfect fixture for that wall. The only problem was that I couldn't decide which one I wanted, decision, decisions. As I went round the gallery I noticed publicity material at the sales desk - *lightbulb moment* - they had the three pictures that I couldn't decide between in a large postcard type print which I could take home absolutely free whilst I made up my mind - so I did.

So back at home, big blank wall, three small pictures, decision to be made - or not. M comes up with idea of getting a nice black edged long portrait frame and putting all three up - genius! So after trekking round countless shops looking for the perfect frame we found the almost perfect one, a bit big but worth a try. Then another genius idea - go back to the gallery and get a fourth postcard to fill up the frame.

The below is the outcome - and I have to say I love it - hope you do too!!


 
I did manage to get all the boxes and everything cleared away for Christmas and even made enough room to get my big floppy chair out meaning M and I didn't have to spend the whole of Xmas getting cricks in our necks sitting next to each other on the sofa!!

Since the festivities finished it seemed the right time to go through the kitchen cupboards and get rid of all those long forgotten packets that seemed like a good idea at the time but went out of date in 2010!  Those kitchen gadgets that seemed so easy to use on the video, or when the demo lady was showing you! I live on my own, how many mugs, plates, glasses does one girl need? Nowhere near as many as were cluttering up the cupboards that's for sure! As it happens one of my nephews has just moved into his own home with his other half so some of the kitchen stuff has headed off in his direction.

There is still a long way to go but I'm getting there.  The best bit is that with the money I have made from selling on a lot of my stuff I am off to Cornwall for a week at the end of the month!! Hopefully a week of late mornings, long walks, leisurely lunches and general chilling out. A chance to bank some memories rather than more things - and that is what I'm aiming for...