From Junk Room to Study Room
5 hours - Transforming a spare bedroom into a study room
Project Goals
Clear the clutter in a spare bedroom, that had become a catch all.
Create two work/study stations.
My Process
First things first
Tackle the clutter one item at a time.
We started with the pile of stuff in the middle of the room, which was mostly sports clothes for the 2 very active young men of the house. A lot of it was discarded, simply because it was now too small for the boys or had no sentimental value to them. But whatever was still needed or useful made its way in the proper cupboards or donation pile.
HOT TIP: Before you start decluttering, identify where you’re going to put the stuff you are getting rid of. Having designated boxes, bins, and bags (garbage and recycling) will help.
Next came books, DVDs, random papers, and office supplies. Annie, my friend and client, would sit and take one item at a time and decide if she wanted to keep it or not. When she wasn’t sure, we talked through it. I was responsible to take the items where they belonged and make it easy to manage the piles of donations. Eliot, one of her sons, helped us sort through the DVDs and some were kept for the RV, but a lot were donated.
HOT TIP: As you are decluttering, if you think someone you know would love or could love an item, take a photo, and text them the information right away. If they want the item(s), you can make a delivery later (or asked them to come pick it up), and if they don’t, you don’t have to wait for the next time you see them and can add the items directly in your donation piles.
Our starting point
Clean and Organize
Once the clutter was cleared, furniture moved around and trashed/recycling taken out, everything got wiped down or vacuumed. It’s important to do this step, because, once stuff is put back, it’s harder to give everything a good deep clean.
We organized the books on the shelf and got the desks sorted for the boys.
Anything we found that had a sentimental value to mom, or the boys, we kept in previously started memory boxes (simple plastic bins – one per person).
Bonus Linen Closet
At the end of the day, we were left with an empty closet, and I knew one space that was bothering Annie, was here small appliances pantry/linen closet. So, I decided to try and see if the extra set of shelves could fit in the now empty space. And luckily it did!
We now had space for some linens. We pulled every item from the other space, sorted through them quickly (even more donations yay!) and organized the keepers in the closet.
The results
I don’t know how often the boys use the study room, but if anything, just doing this process, so Annie could get a separate linen closet was worth it.
They were able to give away a lot of stuff that had ran its course: kids books, clothes, linens, etc. and the room is now usable, whenever then want to.
A mountain of junk is like a mountain of laundry waiting to be folded. It's intimidating and you can't see anything else but that gigantic task. During our session, Caroline guided me through making my own decluttering decisions, all without judgment. This helped me see more clearly, keep on track and clear the space.- Annie Bilodeau-Dalton
