Making my house fair: Day Three

I'm really on a roll. This is great. This was the whole point of my blog in the first place--to motivate me in my vocation. I'm glad that I've finally hit on a theme that is both specific enough to focus me and general enough to allow for creativity. (Thanks, Robyn!)

I cleaned off the "dresser". This piece of furniture is a wooden filing cabinet we picked up at a yard sale just before we moved. It was a smart buy in that we needed the extra storage but not so smart in that we didn't have our new apartment settled and space here is a bit tight. It's not sturdy enough to hold files but it does serve us well. The top drawer is my collection of kitchen linens--a collection I wish were much larger but my tastes run on the expensive side in that department. The middle drawer is for bulk spice storage and the bottom drawer is one of those "miscellaneous" areas that could probably be cleaned out and put to better use. I want the top to be an uncluttered display area but things always get dumped there. I'm not entirely happy with it but the extra clutter, at least, is gone. I have always meant to make a cover for my sewing machine. If I ever get some of my projects completed I could put it in a cabinet with my other sewing stuff. The fruit bowl is our table centerpiece but is always getting moved. The little statue which may not be visible in the picture is a reproduction of my favorite statue from the National Shrine here in DC--the Flight Into Egypt. The picture above is us greeting Pope John Paul II about a week after our wedding. It got lots of comments when we worked in a dorm full of Evangelical college students.

The desk is also clear but the debris is not yet sorted. The problem remains of where to put everything. I gave it some thought and did some web-surfing today and I think I'm going to purchase an open file crate and two baskets. The file crate will go next to the printer and the baskets on the shelf below. The baskets are for storing stationery and other desk supplies which, amazingly, my children have no interest in pulling down--at least not yet. I may write more someday about the file system once I make sure that it actually works!

I have a can of stain for this desk. I hate the light-colored unfinished wood and the dorm-room look of it all but this is what we could do, for now. We recently moved the computer to standing height to discourage us both from lingering too long. It has mostly worked. In any case, I now nurse Margaret with a book instead of in front of the computer. The books on the top two shelves are nothing in particular--just what fits. Our book sorting project is still a work in progress.

I also managed to get the kitchen entirely clean this evening.

Tomorrow:
the top of my dresser--another favorite dump site
the bookshelves--not entirely resorting them but removing things that aren't books and thinning out a few double-stacked sections.