Use indoor time to clear out the clutter

Short and sweet today as I'm holed up in bed with a dose of the flu. The house is warm but it's a bit frustrating not being able to do anything.

With the gloomy winter days upon us and our unpredictable weather patterns, it's very easy to get a bit down in the dumps. I am so looking forward to summer. It's not so bad if you have crisp frosty mornings and clear sunny days but to wake and find a blanket of grey fog with no sun, that's a bit hard to take. Then there's the heavy rain that seems to drench the countryside when we least need it.

It certainly doesn't make one feel enthusiastic about the start of a new day. But then perhaps we should turn that into a positive. If you're stuck indoors it's a good time to take a good hard look at your interior. Start to plan what needs doing, and perhaps clearing clutter is a good place to start.

Many of us accumulate junk. I tend to think of my junk as treasures. I accumulate fabric and books. When I was younger, it was books for reading, I always had one on the go. Now it tends to be more reference books with the occasional novel thrown in for relaxation. Sometimes, I'll buy a book purely for the pictures, especially if it's watercolour pictures, or sometimes a second-hand book with someone's name scrawled in the front cover.

My late husband was a bookworm as well, so between us we had quite a few. We built a book cupboard with good deep shelves. Novels and smaller books could be stacked two deep, with a place for the larger books. The doors could be shut so the area was instantly clean and tidy. The books collected less dust and stayed in some sort of order that way, also out of sight out of mind.

Some years later, I had a bookcase purpose-built built for the living room for some of my special books that I liked to enjoy on a more regular basis. On moving house, we had less room for books and I sold boxes of them, only to find I missed them but by then it was too late.

There are many options for displaying or having hidden bookcases, though some are more practical than others.

Books can be messy things to house and keep clean, so the idea of them behind doors works well. There are many options for storing books if you want them visible. Under stairways is often a good option for housing books or purpose-built sofas with bookcases at the end.

One of my favourites for storing books is a wall of books. Custom-made bookcases wall to wall, floor to ceiling and, even better, a door or window encased in books. The doorway becomes deep and, if the room is on a smaller scale, it's an interesting treasure trove in which to sit, relax in comfortable feather-filled sofas and listen to music and take time out. The colour and lighting has to be right to achieve the right feeling of relaxation.

My other de-clutter area is fabric. Ever since I can remember, I have bought fabric, sometimes large pieces and other times smaller pieces that I loved the colour or texture of. It was always with the intent of making something, but not always getting around to it.

I still have pieces tucked away that I bought when the kids were little. The fabric took up so much room that I built a large box on wheels. Easy access and very easy to move and it would sit under my sewing bench. Unfortunately, when we moved, it moved into the shed, still full of fabric along with numerous other boxes stuffed full as well.

Occasionally I will go through them and hand pieces on to my sister, Jenny, and her girls (but secretly she's a hoarder as well.) But, that big box of fabric always comes in handy when there is a dress-up do to go to. And many a time it has been raided for that purpose.

So I suppose my way of de-cluttering is clearing out the boxes, tripping down memory lane (as there are so many memories), finding it hard to part with my treasures and folding or stacking them back in the boxes. What a great way to spend a rainy day by the fire.

If you have any questions about issues discussed or product supply, give me a call on 0276023298 or drop me a line on terry@terrylobb.com www.terrylobb.com (website under construction)