« Before/After: The Desk | Main | 1 Corinthians 13 »
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Before/After: The Piano
******UPDATED****** (see below)
WHAT an exercise in humiliation this is.
The speaker at the retreat had slides she would show -- before and after pictures from her organization jobs. Most of them I would look at and go, hey, that's not SO bad. One, I remember thinking, FINALLY, someone who's worse than me. The speaker said that she'd asked the woman how she could live with her counter so covered with things, and the woman had replied, "I just stopped seeing it after a while."
That is so totally me. Because if you'd asked for a list of cluttered areas in my house, the piano (which is, hello, basically the first thing you see when you walk in my house -- the shame!) would not have been on it. And yet LOOK AT IT.
ack. The big dry-erase calendar is for school, as is the little whiteboard next to that (LT was teacher for a day last week; he rewrote our schedule for us, including the visible "Jernles"). THere are a lot of pictures, and the orange thing holds paints for T's model-building, which he hasn't done in months. And then there's the usual archaeological dig as well.
Watch for the "After" photo this afternoon.
******UPDATE******
OK, here it is:
I'm not actually done with this job. I still need to put away the pictures I took off the top. I originally planned to put them up on the wall around the desk, but most of them are in frames that aren't made to hang on the wall.
Now let's see if I ever play, now that I can find the instrument. The thing is, unfortunately, that it's really not a great piano. Pianos, unlike other furniture, do not age well, even the best ones, and this one was inexpensive when it was made over eighty years ago. I've a huge sentimental attachment to it, but it's dreadfully out of tune, would fall out of tune almost immediately after being retuned if we ever got around to spending the money on that, and the keys themselves have begun to come apart. So it's kind of a catch-22; I am not terribly encouraged to play it because it's in poor shape, but I never play, so why would we ever buy a new one (or spend just about the same amount of money to get new works put into this one, which is what I'd probably actually do. see above re: sentimental attachment). So it just sits there, holding clutter.
My next big decluttering job will probably be the video/DVD shelves. There's another area that I just stop seeing after a while.
Comments
OK, now that IS bad. Not that there is so much there, but it is a PIANO, Rachel. Not a classroom ;) I can imagine it must be tough for you though, not having your school room anymore, where else are you going to put all that stuff? However, you should be PLAYING it, not covering it with stuff. The after pic should be of you sitting there playing something with your whole family standing around you, hands on each other's shoulders singing...
Posted by: jenn at September 27, 2005 10:55 AM
You know, I've actually thought about getting rid of it, because it takes up so much space and I never play it. However, that would be about like T getting rid of his Charger -- been a part of my life for just as long. And takes up way less space, come to think of it, although the Charger's not in the living room. :)
Posted by: Rachel at September 27, 2005 11:02 AM
LOLOL!! I am looking forward to the after picture. I started the kitchen this morning. ALL of it is on the kitchen floor! hee hee
Posted by: debi at September 27, 2005 12:59 PM
You know you could PLAY it...Gee, what a concept...
Posted by: jenn at September 27, 2005 01:02 PM
You dont play it?
Posted by: debi at September 27, 2005 01:16 PM
Fantastic job!!!!!!
Posted by: debi at September 27, 2005 02:19 PM
The DVD Shelf is not a problem in our house. Toney organizes it often. But after the kitchen, which will take about a week to 10 days, I will start on endtables and the cabnits in the dining room! I have shoved so much stuff in there. that will be a HUGE job!
Posted by: debi at September 27, 2005 02:23 PM
Wow, that's a great improvement! Where did all the stuff go? I wonder if there is some sort of furniture-y use you could find for the piano. A friend I had in high school had a baby-grand for a dining room table. I guess it was her mom's and she married a pastor so they were poor and had a small house but, dang it, she was keeping the piano and so it was in the dining room. I am not sure what sorts of uses there could be for an upright but I am sure you could come up with something. I'd hate to see you get rid of something like that with sentimental value -- you could never replace it.
Will you be "organizing" the Charger? ;)
Posted by: mary at September 27, 2005 02:36 PM
OH I LOVE the idea of using random old stuff as furniture. I had this old television set that my sister found on the side of the road once that I used as a little coffee table. It was so cool. I remember that piano very well (If that is the one I am thinking of). I learned to play my first song ever on that piano...Endless Love *gag*. It is too bad about its shape though, and the fact that you have no desire to play anymore. I know how modest you are, Rachel. You might not have been Carnegie Hall material, but you played darn well if I do say so myself. Whenever I listen to Journey, I always get nostalgic for the banquet room at the Lodge, you playing on the piano and me singing...Open Arms. We had grand fun, didn't we!
Posted by: jenn at September 28, 2005 12:09 AM
oh yeah, I love how you let light in. First it was all dark and foreboding and cluttered, now it is bright and airy and clean! It reminds me of like before and after photos for those wrinkle cream ads. Like, before the lady is all frowning in bad light with no make up. Then after using it (And great lighting, make up and a good smile), she looks ten years younger!
Posted by: jenn at September 28, 2005 12:11 AM
