As we’ve been cooped up in our home, I’ve been thankful for the outside space we have.
As we’ve spent more time outside, I’ve put a little more work into our yard.
I saved up and bought a new outdoor dining set after eating many Spring of 2020 backyard dinners on a folding table and the same metal patio chairs I sat on as a toddler.
But I didn’t get rid of the old chairs when I got the new ones.
My mom gave me these metal chairs when we moved here (fourteen years ago), after she’d used them for (at least) three decades . . .
They were on my parents’ patio back in the 1970s, and while they were fine for sitting, they weren’t pretty.
After I got the new patio furniture, I put them around the firepit.
And I worried they were clutter.
Did I really need them? Should I keep them?
It was Classic Clutter Drama.
My main issue with them was that they were ugly.
That early morning photo doesn’t show their ugliness properly. My son painted them green, years ago, as a good project for an 8 year old. They used to be bright yellow. Now they were a little of both.
Here’s a closer up look at one:
Then, I remembered a friend’s outdoor furniture that she’d painted in various bright colors.
I had no faith that I could pull off cute-and-quirky the way she does, but I decided it couldn’t hurt to try. The chairs couldn’t get uglier.
And as long as I didn’t like how they looked, the question of whether I should really keep them weighed on my brain.
I bought spray paint. My daughter and I picked out four fun colors. I bought two cans of each color just to be sure I had enough (plus two more for another project and some candy), and the total cost was right at $40.
I did my bestish to scrape off any paint peels and clean them up, and then I spray-painted the four chairs.
$40 was money well spent. Less than two hours of work over two days (it gets hot FAST so I only worked on them early in the morning) was well worth my time.
I had fun, and now they definitely aren’t clutter. I love them so much. The weight on my brain is gone!
Here’s why I count painting these chairs as decluttering:
While the chairs were maybe-keep-maybe-nots, they were clutter.
Once they were heart happy-fying pink and purple chairs, they were perfect. And definitely not clutter.
The action of getting the paint, shaking the cans, and spraying the chairs made them not clutter anymore because the decision was made and no longer weighed on my brain.
That’s decluttering.
Finishing a project achieves the same purpose as decluttering.
And all it took was a little spray paint, a few hours of work, and fourteen years of angst.
That’s too dramatic. The angst probably only lasted about five years. Maybe seven.
Have you finished any projects lately that you can count as decluttering?
Here’s a post from last spring about this idea of finishing projects as a form of decluttering: Finish The Project and Call it Decluttering!
Here are two posts about the work I’ve been doing in our yard (while knowing almost nothing about how to do yardwork properly): Decluttering? Take the Before Picture! and Help: How it Happens and How to Accept It
A few notes about the post:
My dog isn’t (just) being cute. She’s sniffing the paint on the grass as hard as she can sniff it.
Yes, that’s a wheelbarrow that filled with dirt over the years, turned into a weed garden, and eventually fell over when its leg rotted. I didn’t even see it until the before photo. And then again in the after photo.
Yes, my hanging plants died a sad, dry death.
Yes, the chiminea is sitting right next to its stand. I have no idea why.
I’m sure there are other things I could explain. Just remember I’m no gardening or decorating blogger.
You made me laugh with that last photo and paragraph! Why is it that you don’t notice things out of place until you take a photo? I’m the same way. lol! Yay for saving the chairs and now you can pass them down to your children as family heirlooms 😉
CALL ME COMPUTER DUMB. WHEE DO I SIGN UP FOR YOUR FREE CLASS SEPT. 14-18 I THINK ? THANKS FOR YOUR HELP.
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So sorry I just saw this! Glad it isn’t too late! Go to https://www.aslobcomesclean.com/hq
I love the chairs and also your contented dog 😍
A TON of my clutter falls under the category of unfinished projects.
My goal now: no starting new projects until I finish the old (or give up on the project and give away the pieces). I think my ‘slob brain’ thinks starting a project is almost as good as finishing it, so I’m less bothered by the project that needs doing (it’s practically crossed off my list, right?). Until it becomes a form of procrast-clutter.
Which, as I said, a lot of my clutter is.
P.S. I have the same outdoor chairs as you. Mine were the same dark green. Then I painted them yellow. Now they are chipped yellow and green (notice a pattern?). Except for one, which is a metallic color, a project I started two years ago. *Sigh. Yet another procrasti-clutter, unfinished project (I already have the spray paint and the scrubber thing)…
I love this post for the wheelbarrow and chimera. I used to be an uber gardner and now I could care less, and it REALLY shows, lol. My flower beds and “lawn” have been overtaken by voilets. My plan is to cover the beds in mulch and ignore the lawn. And if I ever have to sell my house, I’ll do it in winter.
all of this makes me soooooo happy! Thank you for a good laugh and a smile when I’m inundated with emails portraying some type of perfection that is so out of reach for me.
Ahahaha! I sent a pic of how we rearranged our living room to my parents and got back, “What’s that toilet paper tube doing stuck to the wall and why are there blankets all over the floor and Legos all over the table.”
I can’t remember the last time we did a pom pom drop with a toilet paper tube and the rest… well, what can I say. I didn’t do the five minute tidy yet.
Go with the wheelbarrow and just plant flowers in it as a waterfall flowerbed.
I completely agree about ‘finishing a project = decluttering’. And ESPECIALLY one involving *chairs* ;-). I’d picked up a pair of cast off very nice carved wooden chairs from the basement garage of my MIL’s condo building… well, nice except for the fact that they had *no seats* any longer. But nice wooden carving up top, and I was SURE I’d very soon ‘get’ to creating a new seat, and maybe painting them. 4 years later I finally did it– and even then it took a protracted couple of months (or was it 8 months?). Figuring out how to measure for the oddly-shaped seats… finding a piece of thin plywood… marking said plywood… cutting it out… gluing it down… then, eventually painting the two chairs. They are now helpful chairs out in our ‘events barn’ and I really love them ;-). AND yes, the weight of ‘would I? wouldn’t I?’ is off my mind ;-).
You podcast on *maintenance* was INSPIRATIONAL– I found myself getting to ALL sorts of little maintenance tasks in my home and yard yesterday after listening. I’ve often called my yard my ‘Secret Garden’, after the very neglected garden in the old kids’ book ;-).
I actually laughed till I cried about the wheelbarrow. Oh Dana, you’re the best.
I see you had some help with your project! I love seeing her.