Help Me Accomplish My New Years Resolution!!

[MyLuckyCharm]

For the past year or so, my room has become simply a place where I retire to bed every night, but other than that and the daily ritual of changing my clothes, I've pretty much wanted nothing to do with it, because it's SO messy that it looks like it's been struck by a devastating hurricane! My New Years Resolution for 2008 is to make my bedroom a more LIVABLE and DESIRABLE place to be again. I just don't know where to start. It's a bit overwhelming.

First and foremostly, I'd like to clean out all of the clutter, because I've become such a pack-rat and don't know what to do about it. :shame: There's plastic bags from stores that I shopped at MONTHS ago still lying on the floor, and parts of my room are so cluttered that you can't even tell that there's a floor down there! Deep down inside I want to throw out all of the things that I can do without, like the purse behind my couch that I haven't used in years! The only plus in this situation is that I've been able to find the occassional $50 or so lying around that hasn't seen the light of day in ages! Anyone have any tips for where to start so it'll seem manageable?

Secondly comes the fun part: decorating! My room was originally a loft, so therefore it wasn't meant to be a bedroom when my house was bought and doesn't have a closet! It's such an inconvenience to me because instead I use a dresser, where I have all of my clothes folded; but the annoying part is that I can never see what I have when it's all piled up onto one another! After my room is cleaned out I plan to arrange for my neighbor/handyman to come and build a closet, with pay of course.

But as far as decorating goes, I'm open to ANY ideas! I don't intend on painting my room walls, which are a plain white right now, because I've realized that years down the road I'll have outgrown that color and would probably wanna hurl. But other than that, I need some ideas, girls! This sounds silly, but I planned on putting up a bulletin board with pictures/quotes/awards that I've collected over the years! But how else can I beautify my room? I'll keep you guys posted with updates when I finally decide to start! lol Which will hopefully be before the new year!

In the meantime, I'll be sitting here with open ears.

 

[Leelee]

What a gret New Year's resolution! Nothing is more satisfying to me than throwing away stuff.

It sounds like you have a great situation living in a loft. If you decide not to build a closet, you might invest in an armoire to use for hanging and storing your clothes.

Do you have a style? Modern, traditional, tropical/coastal, retro? Good places to look for ideas are Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware and Anthropologie. Also just by looking through magazines you can get an idea of colors and styles you like.

You can get paint chips from your hardware store (free!) to help you decide on a color.

Have fun!

 

[Charlie]

Anything and I mean ANYTHING you havent use or even look at is something you dont need and needs to be gone, like all those plastic bags. DH had 10 boxes full of important papers he needed he said. When we moved in together I went trought all these boxes and found catalog, magazines, receipts of things he got like 1000 years ago, Mcdonals, best buy, longs, you name it. I keep important papers and threw the rest away. He didnt even notice.
I agree with Leelee this is a great New Year's resolution!

 

[MyLuckyCharm]

Bumping shamelessly :shame:

 

[louis loves fendi 818]

My apartment is the same way. LOL. I moved in a couple of months ago and there are still boxes i haven;t unpacked. By the end of the winter I want my place to look like...IDK just fierce.

 

[choozen1ne]

I want to do the same , my room looks like my closet exploded , all you can see are clothes , jewelry and shoes , and then there is my desk , its just a mess , I want to have a room like and adult not some teenager

 

[priiin]

Great resolution!! I would to offer advice and suggest things to help you accomplish this. Let us know your style If you have a contemporary taste, I can definitely help a lot. I am very into modern/contemporary design and decor.

First, before you start decorating, which is the fun part LOL, you need to have an afternoon of cleaning. To make the slaving away a little more bearable, pick a day where you got a good night's sleep. Maybe a sunny day too. This always puts me in a good mood. Turn on some good music and start throwing the unnecessary items into big garbage bags. Your room will be less cluttered and you will feel better after throwing away all the junk.

I will check back and offer some other suggestions. Hope this helps.

 

[gillianna]

I have been on a clutter busting mission for months. I am currently working in my bedroom. I painted the walls a pale green and the trim white. It had ugly builder tan cheap paint before. I am going through my room foot by foot. I just shredded 3 bags of papers last night and have about 4 bags of stuff to donate. My problem is I have a tiny closet-about 5 foot wide. I think it was meant to be a linen closet. My hubby has the walk in closet which has about 40 feet of space in a square and he has it filled..... I refuse to share a closet with his mess. I am in the process of trying to put together a wall of closet organizers by IKEA. When we moved I had my old ones put in the basement and I regret I just didn't move them upstairs where they should have been.
I think with a loft I would try to go clean and simple. A huge closet wall that you can fit everything in would be great. I also think painting one focal wall a dark color to make the room pop would be interesting. Maybe wood blinds or plantation shutters for the windows. I love the big plantation shutters--I got mine online from Home Depot. What kind of floor do you have? If you are lucky to have wood, that is great. If you have carpet what are your thoughts? I have been big on buying large bamboo rugs to put over my carpets in a few rooms of my house and love it.
For the clutter you have to start in one place. Literally start in a 3 foot section and go through everything. Get large laundry hampers (plastic ones from any store like Walmart, Bed & Bath). I put a big black garbage bag in one and start to throw out everything I don't need. I then have 2-3 that I use to donate stuff. I have one to put things that don't belong in that room and another one for stuff that needs to be put away. I also find the clear storage bins that you can stack are great for organizing papers, out of season clothing and misc. But the main thing is to really get rid of anything you do not use, need or want. Just by throwing out a few bags a week you can see a difference. Then I would clean the room top to bottom. I mean scrub the baseboards, clean the doors and windows. Take down blinds, curtains and clean/wash them. Think about a good desk with some organizing drawers. Put your large board above it with all you papers tacked to it. Once you start in a small section in a few days you can really see a difference. Don't expect to just go through the room and try to do it all because then you will have piles of junk and it will seem like you have a bigger mess. The bookstore has some good books on organizing and getting rid of clutter. Some great decorating ideas in them.
Have you any thoughts on how you want to decorate? I am trying for the feng shui look with no clutter. It is amazing how easy it is to get rid of things after the first few bags....
I wish you luck. You will be so happy to see progress and once it is done it can be such a relaxing room for you to enjoy being in.
I enjoy the decorating look of Pottery Barn and Pier One. I save my pottery barn catalogs and keep them for reference. Pottery barn also has books on decorating and organizing.
Good luck and let us know what you do every day. Maybe we will all be motivated to stay on track with our goal to clean out our clutter too.

 

[bnjj]

My bedroom was completely cluttered until earlier this week as well. I shredded several bags of bank statements, etc., and got rid of them. I picked up all the clutter that was strewn everywhere and threw a lot of it out, listed some on ebay and have the rest in bags in my car to give to a charity when it re-opens this week.

Now I need to clean off my dresser as there is so much stuff on top of it that I can't see the surface and I need to clean out my walk-in closet.

I plan to buy some new bedding to change the decor without painting the walls or anything too major.

 

[lolitakali]

I have always told my clients (I been in the interior business for the past 5 years now) to start off with "homework":

#1) Magazine clippings (for inspiration) and find the THEMES they want... can go by style (victorian, modern, contemporary.. etc.), countries (India, Caribbean, Japanese, Arabic "thousand and one nights" etc) or interest (candy "little girls room", camping, astronomy, sci-fi etc).

#2) Take a note pad and write down ideas from these magazines and research.

#3) Bring home (the free) color chips to go with the themes from your local home improvement stores, or pieces of wall paper/even a little strip of fabric. Also depending on the scale of the project, if new flooring is needed, bring in samples of carpets, wood or tiles.

Reasons to do this; is that even as an interior decorator, my style may not be your "lifestyle" and who knows that "lifestyle" better than you yourself? What we do is to pick and choose from your "ideals" and develop that idea into a reality with your choice of combination put together.

Advice to cut clutter:
Organize, organize, organize your closet!

It is always my habit to make a framed collage of all my client's "homework" then presenting it to them when the project is done... great memory piece of how their idea was born.

 

[MyLuckyCharm]

I have always told my clients (I been in the interior business for the past 5 years now) to start off with "homework":

#1) Magazine clippings (for inspiration) and find the THEMES they want... can go by style (victorian, modern, contemporary.. etc.), countries (India, Caribbean, Japanese, Arabic "thousand and one nights" etc) or interest (candy "little girls room", camping, astronomy, sci-fi etc).

#2) Take a note pad and write down ideas from these magazines and research.

#3) Bring home (the free) color chips to go with the themes from your local home improvement stores, or pieces of wall paper/even a little strip of fabric. Also depending on the scale of the project, if new flooring is needed, bring in samples of carpets, wood or tiles.

Reasons to do this; is that even as an interior decorator, my style may not be your "lifestyle" and who knows that "lifestyle" better than you yourself? What we do is to pick and choose from your "ideals" and develop that idea into a reality with your choice of combination put together.

Advice to cut clutter:
Organize, organize, organize your closet!

It is always my habit to make a framed collage of all my client's "homework" then presenting it to them when the project is done... great memory piece of how their idea was born.

I really like your ideas, Loli. I like moderny-type themes... and soft pinks like salmon/watermelon/sugar pinks. Should I consider matching the furniture in my room to a particular theme? Like all pinks etc [which it is right now, lol. It's just the same thing that I've had for the past 4+ years...] Any tips for upgrading?

Thanks so much for your input! It is much apreciated and valued!

 

[lolitakali]

I really like your ideas, Loli. I like moderny-type themes... and soft pinks like salmon/watermelon/sugar pinks. Should I consider matching the furniture in my room to a particular theme? Like all pinks etc [which it is right now, lol. It's just the same thing that I've had for the past 4+ years...] Any tips for upgrading?

Thanks so much for your input! It is much apreciated and valued!

You are welcome.

Very "all girl" but pink is also the color of power and confidence. Modern style also focus on being simple, having a clean-cut metro look... up to date, in trend.

If you like the modern touch and to stress on the "power" mode (men likes this combo usually; and I have worked with a couple where she love pinks and pastels but he doesn't), contrast the pinks with dark wood (close to black like mocha color) furnitures. Think more cooperate broad "suit" room feel just with touches of a woman (the pink) as focus. Mirrors, glass, dark leather and chromes can be added. Add a chocolate mink throw for the extra "lux" look on the pink satin sheets (texture contrast). More solids, less patterns.

If you go with light maple (also a modern touch) it will "disappear" into your lighter pinks as they are more of the blush pink skin tone.... unless you want to pull the light wood tone out with a bright fuschia pink e.g. and will look beautiful in a mostly white background with light grey touches. This is usually easier as you can get away with just working with white walls. Among the bright pink, you can add the cerulean blue as a hue contrast.

OR

Play with stainless/grey steel furnitures and get the textures moving! Like a cool pink shag rug or a very fuzzy pillows. Add a touch of punk to the pink for a fun mix!

Besides the pink, a secondary color can be introduced to tone the hue down a bit (on the throws, pillows, decorations etc..), greys (if you are more serious; for a hard edged look), choose a bright cerulean blue (to bring in the skies "like a pink flower with a sky" for a background), or even a sage green and ochres (bring the nature inside).

Color "pinks" can also pull out neutrals (cremes or ivories) besides the white it is so well-known with and cremes/ivories is making a come-back in our color trend.

If you like a little metallic highlights, pair pinks with a french gold (super light gold), bronze (with that ochre tone) besides playing with the silver (grey). Rose gold is already a pink.

Remember, like a mirror... chrome, brushed steel, (think mirror but just with textures) greys (also a neutral) will take on other colors and can easily fit in as well.

------

Take the color, work from it and give it YOUR personality!
Good luck and have fun with your colors!!!

 

[CynthiaNYC]

Wow lolitakali, you have great ideas11
I would also suggest that one touch of black in an all light-colored room really grounds the space beautifully. It could be a lovely black velvet throw pillow, or a black lampshade on an otherwise super girly lamp, or even a black painted nightstand.
The other thing I really like to do is to mix pattern and texture to keep a room from looking entirely like it's a "bed in a bag" boring room, and more like it's been decorated. Even all-white rooms can be exciting if they have texture and interesting shapes!
Last thing: try to make sure that there is even distribution of items with visual weight, strong color, etc., throughout the room.

I'm not a decorator or anything, these are just my personal hints for making any room grounded, beautiful and balanced--you can check out my "non professional qualifications" here:
http://kingstreetfarm.bravejournal.com