purge & merge

I've been reading/hearing/seeing a lot about purging lately. The Nester has been writing about purging her home of stuff, along with her sister Emily, and also Kimba and Thrifty Decor Chick. And the other day, I was watching The Nate Berkus show and this chick was talking about only buying things for your home that you LOVE. So I started looking around my house thinking, "do I really LOVE that piece?" There are a lot of things in my home to which I just respond with a "meh". Those things need to go.

So, all of this talk about decluttering & simplifying & purging has been inspiring me, so I contacted my fam jam to see if they were ready to combine forces to host our annual multi-family yard sale. Hopefully, we'll be having this yard sale extravaganza in November...which means I better get crackin' on this purgin'! I haven't even started yet. Unless you count sorting things in my mind. :)

On a slightly related note, the hubs & I have decided to transform our dining room into a study. For several reasons: 1) We hardly ever use our dining room. We have a breakfast room where we eat as a family, and we rarely have guests over for dinner. When we do, our dining room really isn't big enough anyway. 2) Our dining room is more a part of our "living space" than our current study, which is in a bedroom. It would be nice to be a part of the "living space" when I'm on the computer, or when the hubs is painting his customized sports figures {shameless plug}. 3) Disclaimer: I am not pregnant, nor do I expect to be any time soon. However, should we find ourselves with child #2 before we can afford to sell our current house & build the house of our dreams {ha!}, we will need the current study to be a bedroom for said child. And of course since my mind has already started thinking about this, I'm ready to start the transformation, like, yesterday.

Anyway here are some before pics of the two spaces. Yes, the current study is an absolute MESS. I can't believe I'm actually revealing its current condition to the www. Yet another reason to move it out into the open - so that we don't have the excuse of just closing the door to hide the mess; we will be forced to keep it clean! {Yeah we'll see about that.} Our study serves multiple functions: 1) Computer desk area, 2) The hubs' painting workstation, 3) storage, storage, and more storage, 4) display area for the hubs' sports figures. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Laura, are you really gonna let your husband display his sports junk - I mean, memorabilia - in the open area of what is now your dining room?" Well, the answer is a resounding...kinda. I'm looking for a way to do it in a sophisticated manner. Of course not ALL of these figures will be able to be displayed; some will have to be put away. But really, who needs like 173 Atlanta Braves dudes or 347 Alabama football dudes on display? No one. {Baron, are you reading this? If so, sorry to rain on your parade.}

So...soon, Baron...you will have to say goodbye to your man cave. Go give it a kiss & hug. You had your one room to decorate for a good 4 years, and now I'm taking over. Maybe someday, when we have our dream house, you will once again have a man cave where you can proudly display your letter from Bear Bryant, and your 3D Jaws movie poster, and your 1,568 sports figures.

Here are the before pics. Stay tuned for pics of the progress we've made, and to help me make some decisions regarding the new space!

{ the study }

{ I'm having an anxiety attack over here because I can't believe I'm actually showing these pics...I mean I could have at least straightened up before taking them. sheesh. }

{ does anyone have a good suggestion for how to store an exercise ball? I mean really...it doesn't go ANYWHERE. }

{ the dining room }

{ p.s. anyone wanna buy a dining table + six chairs?? }