House Diary: February 2002
The dust has settled now that the house wrecking is finally over, and Ron and I have moved into a new phase in our home's make over. In our efforts to live simply, we are doing most of it ourselves. Since we are both relatively inexperienced in this area, it is open to debate whether our chosen route is truly the simplest one. But we do deserve an "A" for effort!
Ron and I both love our home and want to make it as comfortable as possible. We want it to be a haven for relaxation and restoring our souls, a place that reflects our values and welcomes our friends. Our foray into the world of home make overs represents our attempt to make this dream a reality. We are working with a budget, hunting for the best quality products that we can find at affordable prices, disagreeing with each other and then compromising.
The House Diary series, of which this is the first installment, will chronicle our home improvement efforts as well as our honest opinions of products, our triumphs and tribulations, as well as some off-the-cuff philosophizing by yours truly. I hope that you will find something useful in these articles, and I hope that those who have more experience will feel free to share some knowledge with us!
In January, we had purchased Elfa shelving at the annual 30% off sale at The Great Indoors. For years, we had been talking about more effective ways to use the space in our closets - which, though very large, were overflowing with books, papers, computer paraphernalia, clothing, long-neglected art projects, and Christmas ornaments. Although getting organized is an important step in living simply, we are dedicated pack rats and it has been extremely difficult for us to move beyond the phase of attending "get-organized" talks and reading books about getting organized. Seeing the Elfa shelving on sale was apparently the motivation we needed.
You may ask, "Why Elfa, and not some other brand of shelving?" It appealed to me because it is metal coated with enamel, not plastic, and Ron liked it because the saleswoman told him that it was sturdy enough to hold heavy weights. It's a modular system, so we can change it around, add to it, or subtract from it as our needs change. And it would only require a few holes in the wall, at a height of eight feet. Most importantly, it was on sale.
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