A Fraction of a Bedroom Makeover

I’ve had a bedroom makeover on the agenda for so long it’s embarrassing. We’re talking years. You probably don’t scrutinize my weekly photos all that closely, but if you did, you’d notice something about my bedroom pictures: they’re always closely cropped.

For years, I’d only show parts of the bed, because that is the one thing in the room that is usually neat.

Then, I cleaned off my nightstand, crocheted a few doo-dads for it, and boom! I had another area of my bedroom that I could photograph.

It’s been about two years, and those spots remained the only shareable areas of the room.

It’s bothered me for ages, but I am rarely inspired to actually put in the work and do something about it. Luckily for me, “rarely” is not the same as “never” and last week I sprung into action on another bedroom nook.

Before

Would you look at that desk? Ugh! I’ve been looking at that desk for more than two years, watching it get more and more piled-upon, and then quickly averting my eyes to the TV.

I’ve had to work from home a few times due to crummy weather, and as much as I have always loved sitting on the couch to work, it has gotten old. And thus I was inspired to clear off a section of desk for my work laptop. I set a timer for 15 minutes. I told myself I could stop after that, if I had made enough space for a computer and a cup of tea or coffee by then.

As usually happens, that first 15 minutes of cleaning really inspired me to keep going. It only took me an hour to clean up that disaster of a desk. Admittedly, some of the things I “put away” were really just relocated to a different pile in the room, but who cares?! I have a big beautiful desk to work at now!

After

I’ve had a week with it now, and while I have used it to work from home a few days, I’ve also used it to blog, and to update the Polka Dot Cottage shop. And I’ve used it as an excuse to crochet more doo-dads.

Top to bottom, that’s: a small mason jar cozy, some vintage-inspired coasters, and a Floating Lotus Mandala.

I still would like to sort through that tower of paperwork next to the printer. I guarantee you I can toss at least half of it. That may be a job for this weekend. Or maybe not. Right now, I’m just happy to sit here in the comfy chair my in-laws upholstered for us many years ago, with my grandmother’s granny squares at my back, and plenty of natural light streaming in the windows in front of me.

So now, that makes three little islands of calm in an otherwise chaotic room. Will this inspire me to keep going and do some more decluttering? We’ll see. It would be nice to reacquaint myself with the top of my dresser one of these days…