The Small Room Under the Staircase

9 October 2009, Friday (20 Syawal)

Today is another spring cleaning day for me. This time, I decided to ransack, spring clean and clear up my store room which is tucked in a little corner next to my dining area. This is actually the area under the staircase. So the shape is rather odd.

Don't you agree that from the the outside, it looks very small? So how can I store all my junks, all the stuff that I've been keeping all these years? My lifelong history lays buried in this seemingly small room under the staircase.

What we had done when we renovated the house many years back was to partition the area under the staircase so that we get a covered store and the front of it which faces the living room or lounge was given an appealing look by putting glass shelves. And the back of the shelves are adorned with mirrors, so the showcase look very pretty and attractive.

 

 

 

As there were so many things for me to go through, it actually took me 7 hours, with just a 15mins break for lunch to complete the spring cleaning. Phew!!!. That was the longest spring cleaning I had ever done in one day.  It was back breaking and exhausting, but I was determined to complete it today.

Oh my!! There were so many junks in the store room that I just couldn't imagine where to begin. Everywhere I look there were junks.

And I couldn't believe that all the things that my maid had taken out were from the store room. From the outside, i.e. the dining area, you wouldn't believe that my store room could store all those junks, but it had, all these years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now you must be really wondering how all these junks could fit into that room under the staircase.  Well it did.

And I began to throw out all the stuff which I had deemed "throwable".  I had mentioned in my earlier posting relating to "Spring Cleaning"  that  it's interesting to discover the things you and your family members keep.

When it's time for spring cleaning, there would be bound to be things that you would want to throw away without hesitation (even though you had decided to keep that during the last spring cleaning); and things that you think, ponder, muse, mull over, and contemplate numerous times before you come to a conclusion on what to be thrown away; and there would also be things where, try as you might, you just cannot bear to part with them.

Well, today, I consider myself a veteran in spring cleaning because within a space of 4 days, I had done two major spring cleaning.  And today, I wasn't in the same dilemma.  Today, I was quite brutal in deciding the things I wanted thrown.  So, today, I had thrown away 80% of what I've been keeping in that room under the staircase. Today, I had discarded a part of history because what lay buried in that store room constituted a part of my history, a part of my family history.

The store room after being emptied of stuff, mainly junks of yesteryears

And after the spring cleaning, I was amazed with the transformation of that small room under the staircase.  Now it looks "livable".  It looks inviting.

The room now has a small table adorned with glass painted photo frames 

(photo frames which I had painted during my hey day) 

I had stopped painting for some time due to time constraint

 

 

 

All my glass paint bottles waiting for me to resume glass painting

 

  

Rows and rows of glass paint bottles

 

Till the next spring cleaning, here's the veteran spring cleaner bidding you adieu!!