Veiled Kaleidoscope: Musings of a Blogging Housewife: Spring Cleaning

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Time to spring clean my bedroom!!!

14 July 2010, Wednesday

The last couple of days I've been doing spring cleaning of my bedroom. My husband has been complaining incessantly that my stuff occupies 90% of the room! Is it really? Perhaps he was right. Then again, he could be exaggerating.

So, yesterday, as my class was canceled, I took the opportunity to clean up the mess. I've been mulling over which stuff I deemed "throwable' and those which no longer deserve a place in my bedroom.

Funny, 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. I guess that's human nature. It's interesting to discover the things you and your family members keep.

The last spring cleaning I did was after my house was renovated. That was the longest renovation I had to endure, starting from January right up to May 2010, a full five months. And at that time, I was really brutal in discarding all the things that no longer jive with my newly renovated house.

I had donated most of my pots and pans, crockeries, cutleries, and many other knicks and knacks to a children's home in Rawang. And a few other stuff were donated to my sister in Putrajaya. I had even given away many potted plants to the guys who came to redo my garden. Those yonder days when my garden was filled to the brim with plants and plants and plants are a thing of the past.

Today, I fully embrace a minimalist concept in my house decor. The garden today looked completely different with just a couple of potted plants lining the fence separating my neighbour's house. And under the pergola, I only have a fish pond, a garden table and four chairs, a lattice and "tiang seri" adorning the pergola area, with two potted water plants in the pond and just one plant next to the lattice. I used to have numerous potted plants under the pergola!!

And with that in mind, I'm all set to do the same with my bedroom....Alas, I realised, it was much easier to throw away things in the kitchen, things in the living room, in the dining room, in the garden, and in my backyard. It's also easier to throw away things in my store, what I had called "The small room under the staircase".

But things in my bedroom? I will continue to mull, ponder, muse, think, contemplate before I throw them away. Meanwhile, I've managed to clean 20% of the mess only. And for sure, my husband will continue to nag, pester, hassle and hound me until I dispose of most of the junks which are dear to my heart....

Friday, October 9, 2009

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.