Ahhhhh, that cute bench.
That bench I ordered from eBay years ago, and was sure would solve our shoe storage issues.
Back in 2012, I finally accepted that instead of collecting shoes, it was collecting stuff. It was a catch-all spot that I couldn’t keep clear, so I got rid of it. That was a wise decision. I haven’t missed it in that spot.
It sat in my garage for a while, and I eventually tried it in my entryway. I never liked it in that spot, so I eventually moved it back into the garage, sure I was going to donate it soon.
Then, before the Donation Man came, I thought of another place where it would definitely work! My daughter’s room!!! She was thrilled. I was thrilled. We filled its shelves with her books and she experienced the joy of having a drawer for prized possessions next to her bed.
But it blocked her trundle bed. If we ever needed to pull that out for a guest, the entire room had to be rearranged.
Around here, once a room is re-arranged, but not actually arranged, it stays in limbo for way too long.
Limbo = why even try.
When my daughter and I were decluttering her room recently, I took a deep breath and asked, “How would you feel about getting rid of the white bench?”
I didn’t actually want to hear her answer.
She grimaced. She looked a little sheepish. And she said, “I really don’t want it. I’d rather have more space to play.”
More space to play.
No good Slob Blogging Mama can argue with that one, so we took it out. It hurt, but the open space is lovely.
Aaaahhhh. Open space.
And now Kit and Caroline have a real place for their own trundle bed.
P.S. The bench is gone. For real this time. Not donated after all, but sold within minutes on a local swap group on Facebook. I’ll share more about that experience later!
P.P.S Do you see the clutter that had already collected on the bench in the time it sat waiting to be picked up?? THAT’S WHY WE CAN’T HAVE FLAT SURFACES!!!
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--Nony
You an inspiration!
Good job nony.
I just got a couch today on local buy sell trade facebook page. Love it. I have two one for maternity/kids/ baby for county and a general one for just hometown and it type bitty town butted up next to it. It is nice when looking for something to know it will be within 10 miles. The couch was 2 miles away. I got a bean bag chair for my baby and was able to meet the lady in grocery store parking lot 4 blocks from my house. Haven’t sold anything yet. But it can be a nicer was of selling things
I would have totally used that in my classroom. By the way do you have any Legos? Need some and bean bag filler.
The lady who bought it put it in her classroom!
I can see why you hated to get rid of the bench. It’s gorgeous. But I also understand why you had to. Flat surfaces are nothing but clutter magnets. Or in my house, cat magnets. Cats who knock things OFF flat surfaces. No more decorative things around here. On a brighter note, it does make dusting easier. Well, when I dust anyway. 😀
Haha. Flat surfaces. My husband hates them because they are my “I will move it soon” depositories. Soon is a close relative of tomorrow!
I’m going to remember that! I think they must be siblings.
Hahahaha, Nony, you caught me!
I just realized my family can’t have flat surfaces either. Flat surface no matter where = I need to remove various stuff from said surface every day…except I don’t, and then the stuff stays there.
Several pieces of furniture had to leave our apartment for this exact reason. They had to many flat surfaces. Thank you for writing out my reasons for getting rid of furniture for me, I couldn’t have said it as good as you!
A few weeks ago I expressed interest in buying this from you, and you said you were still using it. 🙁
I was until we moved it out of her room! Sorry, I didn’t know you were local to me! And I’ve had many an offer every time I mention it.
ah, now, this one made me smile – ok, chuckle. Good-bye old friend! I have often thought it would be so nice to live nearby and be able to talk face to face, or stop by and say “yeah, me too!” in person. But seeing this bench makes me think it’s a good thing I don’t live nearby, because totally would have said ‘I’ll take it!’ and then it would found a new nomad life in my home, moving from spot to spot. Hope it’s happy and useful in it’s new home – Kit and Caroline look peaceful after all is said and done 🙂 Enjoy the new found space!
Where do you put the articles that were cluttering it?
Do you sort them out straight away?
That was a nice piece of furniture.
My first thought was ‘..but, what about the verandah?’ My second was a guilty realisation that I have a very similar piece of furniture in my home. I’m not ready to say goodbye to it yet. It’s just a hinged seat with storage underneath, no shelves, and it is really hard to dust.
You’re so right about those flat surfaces. They tend to multiply stuff over night, haha! I have a spot between hubby’s and my closets that does the same thing. But I can’t add the offending storage space to VarageSale or a FB Yardsale group because it’s built in, below a window. If I could add a photo, I would for suggestions. Hmmm, a sledgehammer might work as well, hahaha!!!
reading this today 4/11/16 I have to laugh. We had a contractor come today to give us an estimate on renovating our kitchen/eating area. His question: “How often do you eat at your table?” My reply: “always”. then I realized why he probably questioned that… the table was covered with school papers, calendars, soccer schedules, etc. etc. Yep, we simply move them to the side since we only need three spaces anyway. (oh, my gosh, another problem identified!)
So funny!!!
You know it’s a vintage telephone table, right?
That’s what it’s meant to look like, but it’s definitely not vintage since I put it together myself out of a box! It’s actually a shoe shelf. The bottom door swings open and has a few shoe slots in it.
My husband hand-crafted a huge bed (you have to take a running leap to get into it) for our 12 year old son with 4 drawers underneath and 2 big storage spaces (and lots of shelves to display too many action figures). So I moved my son’s now empty dresser out of his room and into my twins’ room. I ignored the one twin’s protests against moving it in there – and relented a week later. I couldn’t get his words out of my head: I want things out of our room, not more in our room. I realized I was doing what I am totally against: pushing stuff on other people. So now the dresser (which I used when I was a kid) is in our guest room closet not annoying anybody.