Good moaning Beach Cottage friends, how you cooking?
Righto, seeing as we are halfway through February already and even though I am Down Under, February always feels like Spring Clean Time to me, welcome to the Beach Cottage De-Clutter Challenge!
Are you in a cluttered old mess? Have you let things build up and get on top of you? Do you have a vintage treasure hunting habit that has gotten out of hand, ahem?
If so, you are in the right place! I have just the Beach Cottage Mission for you.
I must say, it’s been getting that way in this tatty old cottage for a while…with the work we’ve had in here over the last few months I have let things slip and slide… I think with a family of five, if you want things to resemble order, unfortunately it is a true fact of life, that you have to put some effort into that, otherwise there will be chaos.
This is a small old cottage…there is not much storage to speak of and five of us with things…and one of us who likes to add to those things regularly…hence we always need a good ‘editing’ and de-clutter every now and then.
I was though, not looking forward to it this time…really because there seems to be, all of a sudden, too many areas, that well, need help.
So I decided to man up to it, and put it on this here blog…issuing a challenge to myself…blogging it means I have to do it, right? Hopefully some of you will join me and we can get our mojos going together!
Here’s what I am planning…the first three of these are in view of the fact that these rooms are in need of a freshen up…I don’t know if it is something to do with the fact that this cottage is old, or the fact that these rooms face North and so they are in the sun, but they seem to require paint freshening quite a bit…well it’s nothing to do with the fact that in my head I NEED a feature wall in a different colour to white…I didn’t tell Mr Beach Cottage that bit, I just told him the rooms seem ‘tired’.
So, if you instagram with me, you’ll know that yesterday I started, on the cupboard in the breakfast room. Gah!!!!!!!!!!
This cupboard has been driving me mad for too long…and I cannot blame it on anyone else, most of this junk, I mean vintage treasure, falls down to one and only one person.
Me.
It was amazing though, that actually, it doesn’t take that much time to
1. find out how much stuff you have got
2. discover how much stuff you don’t need and
3. pull it out and send it to Vinnies
This was the Vinnies Pile
It grew larger than that…much larger.
There was a small problem in my de-cluttering Mission…I made that fatal mistake of getting side-tracked while chucking out the chintz….
I kept finding vintage Pyrex, funny that, I have no idea how so many vintage Pyrex dishes got into that cupboard, I mean someone in my family must find them…and as i came across them, I decided it might be nice to take a few photos…
oh yes, while the contents of that cupboard were all over the floor of our breakfast room, and the bathroom tiler was walking in and out of here to his tools, I decided to take photos of dishes
oh no, not only dishes on tables, dishes on the floor
…it was at this point that he asked me ‘do you take photographs of everything’
to which I replied a simple
‘yes’
I couldn’t explain the blog thing to him, I just couldn’t go there with vintage china all over the floor
These are mainly just the shallow Pryex vegetable dishes that I have ….I didn’t even pull the others out…
My fave is the yellow one with the snowflakes…so far I have only found two pieces of this particular pattern…
and a few of the Pyrex bowls I have collected, my favourite is the aqua fluted one, never seen another one like that either, followed by these green ones with the daisies, are they 60′s? not sure, I don’t really do the whole Retro thing apart from in Pyrex, there is just something about it and it gets some colour in my life!
note to self : I do not need a vintage Pyrex again ever ever ever
So anyway, if you are drowning in stuff too, why not join me for this Beach Cottage De-Clutter Challenge?
I want to power on into this and get some STUFF out of this tatty old cottage.
So, this is a two week, in your face, hit it with your de-clutter stick, love it or lose it Beach Cottage Mission.
You are welcome to join me…for the next two weeks I will be covering the five rooms that I want to get clear…of course you can substitute any room that you like, do one, three or all of them…or change one of them to a cupboard…
If you are in, leave your name in the comments to that I know if there is anyone willing to join me!
you can join in just by telling me what you’ve done, blogging it or sharing on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc use the hashtag #BCDECLUTTER, I am hoping to be using that a lot over the next 14 days
So that’s it from me and the Beach Cottage Two Week De-Clutter Mission
I am moving on to the open-shelving in the Breakfast Room today (while the bathroom suite goes in, yippee!), yowzas there is so much to photograph on those and I am making over the cupboard you see up there with some new paint
you in for some serious de-cluttering and get some order in your life?
Come on you know you want to ;-)
Sarah
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I am definitely in on this! I have a larder/pantry that has been used as a junk room for 2 years – it needs a new look.
Thanks for the push I needed
S x
I’m ahead of you girl. I, too, have the thrifting problem and as a result, I started decluttering in January. It’s amazing what you find that you forgot you had.
I’m in.
Kitchen (tell me, how exactly a clean silverware drawer gets so dirty?)
Game cupboard
Laundry room
Master bath/wardrobe
Linen closet
I might haVe missed something….are you no longer having your Wed. meme?
Thanks….bj
oo I love those green ones with the white flowers!
There is NOTHING more satisfying than going on a cleaning frenzie and DOWNSIZING your so called ‘treasures’. Sure, at the time you just had to have them and now you think to yourself, ‘what was I thinking? Do I really need this?’ I purdge ALOT throughout the year, with my daughter – she’s great at ‘making me part with items’. Her philosophy is – when was last time you used it? is it a sentimental item? do you really need it? then get rid of it!!! You wouldn’t believe the boxes we’ve given our local Thrift Shops! Feels like a big weight has been lifted when the process is complete. You can do it!!! :o)
ok, OK, OKAY…
I’m in.
I’m going to blog about it.
I need to “love it or lose it” in a big way. That really applies to so much more than clutter… ;)
I’m in but sort of forced! I’m moving into my new to me 1946 home. So no storage to speak of and with the renos going on can only take so much.
Go Sarah! Already started on
everywhere…..
too many rooms to list ….
too much stuff to list….
but so far so good just never give up and keep going………
(advice you gave a year or so ago…..xx)
I am in and so happy you are posting this…you can make any job fun and delightful! Yippee! xo jody
I am in …. I’ve got masses to sort in this old bungalow and the sun came out today … Yippee it feels like spring in rainy old England. Jules
Moving to a smaller place at the end of the month gives me no choice . Glad to have the company though :)
Okay, I’m in, I don’t want to be, but I need to be….there you have it.
me, too. i have a cabinet FULL of plastic containers..thinking my husband might need more than one a day for lunch!..also need to clean out pantry, and downstairs!
I am in also Sarah, I actually have a to do list already written out and I was going to start with my pantry and my wardrobe tomorrow.
Will review to do pantry and kitchen cupboards. They Are not too bad after a house move last year which resulted in a major declutter.
I try to stay in the de-clutter mode. My challenge is: What do I do with it after I have bagged it up and sent it out to the suburban (lots of room and it is out of the house)!
i do so love me some pyrex! i was given my grandmothers old pyrex..i adore them. :) if you want to unload some of your’s….particularly the aqua one…i wouldn’t mind…lol! :)
Ooooh yes, I worked at it in January, and have a table full of stuff to sell on ebay( I made $500 in jan) or take to charity(probably more inclined to do this due to recent major floods) I just have waaaay too much stuff lurking in cupboards. Tupperware is my next target! I just don’t use much of it anymore. I now prefer Pyrex and glass lick and lock.
My biggest problem is removing the stuff from the house once I have made the decision for it to go.
Growing up in Corning, NY, home to Pyrex, I still have many wedding presents from the late ’60s from Conring.. A couple of years ago I was doing the declutter thing because we are eventually moving onto a boat, and I sold my husband’s favorite pyrex mixing bowl with the funny little handles. It has been such a joke that my brother-in-law saw one at a yard sale recently and bought it for him. Maybe I am out of the dog house now!
But I am still decluttering…look out dishes!!
I’m starting to do that as well, but so far I’m still trapped in my closet! I dread getting to the other rooms. Hubby will go thru the bags and boxes saying “are you sure we don’t need that??”, then some things will find their way back to the cupboards. The trick is to do this while he’s at work, then rush the boxes to the thrift store before he gets home! He will never miss anything at all, I am quite sure.
Love the vintage Pyrex. I’ve never seen some of those patterns! Trying to hold myself back from saying “Sarah, send those to me!”
haha Cyndia, yes do it while he is at work…he will never know!
Hi Sarah. Wow what a fabulous place you have created. I’m moving up the coast and have a little beach house to do up. Wondering if you or someone else who may know can tell me what white you use. I’ve used antique white USA but I think yours is a little brighter, less creamy. Or maybe it’s just the pics. Because as all white lovers know not all whites are made equal. I have done an antartica ice blue/white on some cane furniture. anyway I have gone thru do many amazing posts and still can’t quite find the name of what u use. Thanks Mel.
hi Mel
I use any of the Dulux whites and also just the regular old white..
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
Those green pyrex mixing bowls – I had a set for wedding present, and was married in 1976. Still drawing from the 60′s Flower Power movement, but it had gone mainstream by then. I still love green and flowers. Thanks for the memories.
oh thanks for letting me know… xo
I did a big purge last year before moving to my cottage at the beach, but I am loving the vintage pyrex and need to get me some!
I’m in girl!!! I just put a few things into a cupboard and barely got the door shut!! Ughhh This will keep me motivated!
Hi,
I like to join in too! I have just spent the money clearing the garage and then sat down and read your blog! I have other areas that need sorting out to. I love you green pyrex dish.
Sarah
We tackled the attic today. Next Saturday a friend is putting down flooring in our attic so we can organize everything that is “up there”. We purged a lot and feel really good. Can’t wait until everything is accessiblein the attic.