Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Hoarders Confessional

 Are we ready for truth time? TRUTH TIME: This is what my guest room closet has looked like basically since we moved in. I just kept tossing stuff on the pile like a sitcom character. But something snapped over Memorial Day weekend and I decided something had to give, so I did something unthinkable: I spent two weekends cleaning ALL of the closets in our apartment. And, because I'm a future episode of Hoarders waiting to happen, I unearthed a few treasures.

Like this reclaimed wood silhouette of Lincoln I bought Sean for Christmas, made by the wonderfully talented John Birdsong. Sean was like, "Um...what?" so I temporarily stuffed the 16th president in the closet until I could figure out my next move. Six months later, I pulled old Honest Abe out and popped him right on the wall of Sean's bathroom. Now he can feel like Abe's judging him while he pees. So THERE!

I also found these amber glass Austrian candlesticks I had bought many moons ago and randomly stashed in the closet. They are so pretty! My closets are apparently treasure troves.

So this has nothing to do with the closets, but I also finally set out some of my favorite Ireland souvenirs: rocks from Inch Beach in County Kerry. Sean also thought I was crazy for insisting on bringing these home, but I think they're beautiful and will look great on some mantel someday. At some point, I'm going to paint the location where I picked them up on the bottom. And hopefully continue the tradition when I go to other beaches!

Isn't this one cray in the best way possible? Loves it.

But back to the closet treasures. Hoarding runs in the family. Over Christmas, I asked my mom if we could start going through her hope chest, otherwise known as my childhood time capsule. She saved EVERYTHING from my childhood, including an entire bag of party hats from my second birthday. It's a little excessive, but sometimes it yields awesomeness. In a bag of kindergarten projects, we found this silhouette of me that neither of us remembered having...it was stuck to crumpled pink construction paper, but seemed salvageable.

 Of course I brought it home and stuck it in the closet, but this weekend, I finally bought a frame and stuck it to the white piece of paper that came with the frame, using tape just in case I change my mind and want to use a different background. I think it could be great on a little bit of patterned paper or burlap.

And, voila! A tidier closet I can actually enter when necessary. Cleaning is secretly awesome. Maybe I should do it more?

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