Did you notice how I called it “The Gameroom” without any slashes, parentheses, or other explanation?

I’m doing my best to start thinking of this as a single purpose room that can adjust to other purposes when needed.

This is the second week of work on this room-overhaul, and I’m ready to see some real progress.  Last week’s frustrating furniture-moving-episode is now just a memory, and I’m beginning to adjust to the new arrangement.  I might even like it.

Might.

The new arrangement makes this room look more like a gameroom.  (Which is, after all, the point.)

My big task for this week is to get rid of the desk. The desk which (once I decided it had to go) has been getting on my last nerve. The desk which I will gladly place on the curb with a big, handwritten sign saying FREE.

But before I can get rid of it . . . I have to unearth it.

So today, I cleared the desk. Not cleaned . . . just cleared.  There is a rebellious little part of me that thinks the recipient of the free desk should have to dust it him/herself.  It’s likely the same part of me that causes a lot of my slob-problems . . .

This is my VERY least favorite type of decluttering project.  Paper.  Lots of it, and all random.

I grabbed a trashcan and began going through the clutter item by item.

I found plenty of trash.  Expired voter registration cards, school papers from when my second grader was in kindergarten . . . and lots more.

Mmm-hmmmm, totally useless stuff.

A can full of out-of-the-box staples, random Little People, faded nerf-darts, and such?

I tossed it all.

There were several moments of Decluttering Paralysis.  Knowing that I wasn’t just straightening or cleaning, or even organizing this desk . . . but completely clearing it so I can purge it from my home, was big.

And overwhelming.

Since I couldn’t go ahead and set up the new computer table (the heavy TV will require Hubby’s help to move), and I didn’t want piles all over this room for the next two days . . . I did my best to consolidate and contain.

I was particularly proud that I turned this basket into a storage spot for CDs.

I think it looks slightly better than the way I had been storing them in the desk’s cubby:

It turned out that a LOT of the paper clutter was made up of good intentions. Most of it was recycled paper that people have given me to use for printing on the other side.  I gathered it up (along with other office supplies) and placed it in this storage tub.

Yes, I’m slightly stressed about how I’m going to deal with these things on the new computer table.

After about an hour and a half, it looked like this:

Once we move the computer, we can drag the desk out to the curb!

I just have to distribute those last remaining knick-knacks to places of honor throughout the house.  Things like my tiaras (purchased, not won), and . . . .

(That’s Hubby and Me in our dating years!)

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I’ll be linking this up to Orgjunkie’s 29 Day Organizing Challenge.

I’m also linking this up to The Nester’s “It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful” link-up. This project is far from (and will never be) perfect . . . but progress is beautiful.