How we managed to stay married by renovating our home office ourselves.
A few years ago, we visited relatives and their tiny country church. The pastor, very thoughtfully, was speaking on the topic of getting rid of past hurt and moving forward in grace. Tell me more!
His title, however, was way off and made me snicker every time he reemphasized his point, which he did every five minutes: "To be happy, you have to get rid of the junk in your trunk!" I think I may have bruised my husband's ribs from poking him every.single.time!
Not surprising, my husband is the most patient man on this planet. Are you married to, or know, a similar person? I have no idea how he has retained the shape of his back molars, because I know he has to clinch his jaw a lot around me.
A few months ago, I proposed a radical idea - we should renovate our home office into a work-space for him and a writing studio for me. What could possibly go wrong?
The problem with our home office can be summed up in one word - junk. It is the very first room you see when you enter our home. One would assume we'd keep it tidy and organized, and one would be dead wrong!
A few months ago, I picked up Marie Kondo's supposed life-changing book about getting rid crap and watched an episode of her Netflix series. Although I'm going to be perfectly frank - she's going into homes with a little too much stuff, she's not featured on the next episode of Hoarders, which would be more our style, minus the dead animals buried under junk or the piles of rotting garbage. On second thought, maybe we're ok.
She is not intimidated by the amount of stuff people keep, but her mantra is quite simple - if it gives you joy, keep it. If it doesn't, you must discard immediately. This tiny woman doesn't look like she has eight years of electric bills in her desk drawer in need of shredding...maybe she's on to something!
I've done purges before. What typically happens is that I put a bunch of crap in a box, intent on taking it to a local thrift store, but what I end up doing is letting it experience an epic road trip for two months in my trunk before finally reaching its destination. Have I shoved a box of junk (in my trunk) to the side to fit in groceries? Sure have.
But this time, it's about to get real!
We started last Saturday morning, dragging box after box into our otherwise pristine first-floor space. Christmas presents for my tiny adopted nieces? Those totally bring joy, keep pile. Five years worth of gas receipts? They spark only rage from me. They gone.
And so it continued, the contents of our little home office getting dwindled down to the things we need to keep, verses the things we need to go away. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking, "Ok, I want to keep this, just not in the home office." So I did some creative organization in the kitchen and our second junk hiding spot - the upstairs guest closet!
My sweet, adorable husband: "What can we put back in the office?"
Me: "Nothing." *mic drop*
I emptied our shredder box twice with the amount of paper we were hanging onto, and please don't get me started on the credit card offers. My sweet, adorable husband still needs to purge his box of term papers from college. Who knows, maybe he'll need an essay on macroeconomics the next time he's in Kroger?
I had in my mind a general aesthetic I was shooting for, but I have a small confession: I am a HGTV remedial student. Know those people who can see something and completely be inspired? That's not me.
When we were first married, my husband patiently helped me repaint our master bedroom THREE TIMES before I gave up and just accepted the color.
This time, however, I felt inspired. I knew what I wanted, and I knew it would be simple to execute. I wanted teal walls and all white furniture. So incredibly manly for my bearded better half, but hey, he's willing to indulge me once in a while.
He's also the world's most detail-oriented person, so it's obvious one person does the edging and detail work, while the other person lacking impulse control get to do the rolling work.
It took us a solid day to get two good coats on, and I have to say, it exceeded expectations, which is a good thing, as I don't think I can convince my husband to paint this room again.
As is life, it's one small step at a time. Check out Chapter 2 - to hear all about Krispy Kreme delivery vans and motivational speaker Matt Foley!
Thanks for reading!
~ Christy
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