Blue Room Uncovered

I am sitting in my blue room, appalled by the piles I have allowed to accumulate. At first glance, I guesstimate there are at least fifteen piles in here. Okay, I counted them, and there are actually twenty.

I am an organized person. Really. I just need more systems in place. I aspire to the dream state when we have a place for everything, and everything is in its place. Can it happen? I believe it can, but I need to purge and sort—big time.

Every four months or so, I like to do an extreme tidy on my blue room. It’s really the only opportunity I get to give it all a good clean and polish. And, as it is my favourite room in the house (if one room could completely define a person, it is my blue room), it so deserves the royal treatment as often as possible.

The Plan…

• To go through each and every pile and toss what I do not need. I will NOT relocate anything to any other room of the house unless it is going to its rightful place.
• To sort the piles into zones. This room is used for all things creative, primarily: my graphic design business (the computer zone), my decorating business (paint fandecks, and Signature HomeStyles stuff), doodling, beading, and gift wrapping.
• To find new containers and systems to better present, store and organize all the bibs and bobs required within each of these zones.

This is how my blue room looks at the moment…



Counter-clockwise around room: Metal drawers hold various types of printer paper, letterhead and ink cartridges. Printer I never use. Book Andrew brought up from the basement just to remind me that I had in fact started to read it many years ago. Papers and registration list for my summer craft workshops. Pantone fandeck. Blog notebook. On wall shelf: design books, invoices, box of CDs, retail books, sketch books. In wall basket: current client folders. On magnet board: list of things to do with the kids this summer, prescription for Mirena IUD (dated Jan 7, 2008), magnetic tins containing various types of paper clips, web-safe colour chart, list of people to call, a favourite picture of Jasmin, my ancient iPod shuffle. On vintage pants hanger: various inspirational photos, artwork, memorabilia.



Computer. Stack of notepads. DayTimer. Current design contract. My master copy of the current Signature HomeStyles catalogue. Pile of mail. Box of colourful paper card paper. Drawers of pens and markers. Box of Mini DV tapes and dead DV recorder. Pile of Quinn’s doodles. On glass wall shelves: photo albums, pictures of the boys, address books and journals.



Quinn’s art supplies. 7-year old Jade plant. Signature HomeStyles catalogues, invitations, and correspondence. Printer I do use. Box of kiddie beads. On wall shelf: red box of old photos, tin boxes of beading supplies and craft paints, wooden boxes of beading magazines and quilting books, 2007 tax papers. On floor: blue wooden drawers containing scraps of colourful paper, empty purple vertical file, empty painted metal garbage tin, two packages of inkjet paper, and plastic recycling bin.



Beads and ribbons. Two camera cases. Paper cutter. Door prizes for Signature HomeStyles parties. In wooden drawers: various craft supplies, blank note cards, beading tools and cords, hot glue gun and sticks. Seven pickle jars of leftover dye from kids’ tie-dye workshop. 16 bottles of paint leftover from kids’ ceramic painting workshop. Stack of interior design and decorating books. Metal bucket of paint brushes. Stack of current Signature HomeStyles catalogues and mini-catalogues. On floor: bag of corks, laptop case, returned and sample product from Signature HomeStyles. Blue waste bin.



On wall: a treasured Jim Henson Macintosh poster, and my prized Platinum album award given to me in 1998 by Canadian band Great Big Sea for designing and managing their official website (which I did from 1996 until 2006). In wall basket: household files for bills, Quinn’s activities and school papers, and our To Be Filed crap. Stacking drawers contain gift wrapping supplies, craft papers, stickers, rub-ons, embellishments. Andrew's in box. Two-tiered basket from Signature HomeStyles contains Andrew’s Wired and Make magazines, and my current catalogues.

Now that I’ve released this chaos into the world, I ask you this…
Any ideas?