update on my spare room

I organized my spare room some more this weekend.  I took all of the empty boxes to the recycling center and rearranged the closet.  The biggest thing was putting all of my old throw pillows in a Space Bag and hauling it up into my attic.  I have so many that they took up half the shelf space in the closet.  That space now holds my box of gift wrap, my old VCR, painting supplies and some other random items.  But all organzied and easy to find, remove and put back.  My old computer that I keep meaning to take to the electronic recycling day in my town is now tucked under my out-of-season clothes.  It all just opened everything up.

Side note: I LOVE Space Bags.  I'm such a convert.  They hold so much and you don't even need to use a vacuum cleaner - I get out most of the air just by lying down on the bag and then zipping it closed.  Or for smaller bags, rolling it up as you go.  Doesn't get it as flat as I'm sure it could be, but it's pretty darn close.

And now I have space to start a pile of Bonnaroo supplies!  Cooler, sleeping bag, fans, lantern, camp chair, floppy hat, air mattress.  I love being able to lay it all out like this!

In this picture, you can also see the air conditioner beast that I had borrowed from my brother-in-law when I moved in, thinking I would then buy it from him.  But it's way too large for my house so now he's going to sell it on craigslist or something. 

I also have my ever-expanding collection of books.  So expanding that I took a crate and have books stacked in it as well.  I really need to get a real bookcase.  My current set-up is really sad and messy.

But the most exciting part?  Floor space!  You can see the rug!

Not that you'd really want to.  The carpet is a dingy blue and so very old.  I also don't own a vacuum cleaner and don't really want to.  So this weekend, I'm going to tear it up.  Or at least start and keep my fingers crossed that it will be relatively easy.  I know there's padding underneath and I'm a little worried that it would have stuck to the floor (which is hardwood like the rest of the house), but maybe it didn't and was just protecting the finish.  A girl can hope!

But since I was able to throw out so much and get so much into the closet, there's less that I'll have to remove from the room.  And then once I get the carpet out, I'll get started on painting and making the room pretty and usable as an actual room, not just storage space.  I know, I should probably paint before removing the carpet so I can just use it as a dropcloth, but I want to take the old carpet to Bonnaroo.  The grass in the camping area is really rough and high so we like to put carpets down.  And while in my head I'll paint Memorial Day weekend, it's likely that I won't actually get around to it.  One step at a time!