Organization Challenge Completion Whole Room

I have completed the whole room phase of the competition sponsored by Organizing Junkie. Now... on to the big space category... my dining room.




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My filing cabinet that sits in a corner of the dining room. No more stacks of papers and files on top. Everything is filed in its place.

The corner of my dining room:

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All the junk in the basket has been put away (actaully, both baskets, the small one on the table and the large one of the floor) and the tote on the floor as well. The table and plant have been dusted, and it now looks clean and tidy.



My curio cabinet:
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The CD player went to my son's room where it belongs. The curio cabinet was completely cleaned, dusted, windexed, including each piece in it. Then, I did some rearranging. It was over-crowded. Some items came out completely. For the rest, I have the china on the bottom, my pretty bowls and snowglobe on the next shelf, my Christmas pretties above that. The top two shelves are designated for my Dreamsicles and other keepsakes such as crystal candlesticks, a crystal vase, and porcelain booties with my twins' names on them.



The bookcase:


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Lots of extra junk here! The poster behind the bookcase was put up, the camcorder box was stored, the wrapping paper thrown away, and the plastic rolling cart was relocated to a niche in the corner of my kitchen (after I cleaned it out). I removed all the items from the bookcase, dusted, and replaced them in a manner that I think is more pleasing to the eye. I took the pictures from the top and hung them in the staircase hall. I dusted the chess set, my dad's old pipe holder, and replaced the battery in the clock so that it works now.
My dining room looks better now!



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The finishing touch was a pretty tablecloth and centerpiece for the table. It came together nicely, and I am proud of the way it looks.

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?

The hardest part – no - make that the harest parts – were the bookshelf and the baskets that had been on the floor. Most of the things in the baskets went to my scrapbooking containers, which I also managed to organize. I gave a few of those things to my daughter. Finding a place and a use for the large basket was difficult, but I did it. It is in the downstairs closet holding blankets we use when we are cold. The bookcase – well, hanging the pictures on the staircase wall took some time, as did dusting each piece. But I also had to purge a great deal of books which have already been taken to half price books to sell. Then, straightening them and ordering them by size was time-consuming. Come to think of it, maybe cleaing out the file cabinet was the hardest.

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?

No scrapbooking supplies in the dining room unless they are in my containers and are being used at that moment. Also, simply finding homes for the things I needed to remove will help maintain order.

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?

As I mentioned, some went to my daughter, some went to half price books, homes were found for the rolling cart, DV camcorder, and CD player. Most of it went in the trash. Papers that were purged from the file cabinet were recycled.

4. Now that you have completed the challenge, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life?

Without a doubt. I just have to make sure that it never gets that unorganized again. It is so much prettier to look at now, and it’s simple and clean looking.

6. Why do you think you should win the challenge?

Because I worked so hard! And organizing the dining room also led to organizing the kitchen, the downstairs closet, my scrapbooking supplies, and my photos, so other rooms in the house benefited as well.