Last year I blogged about our need for more storage space. Our house is by no means small; in fact, it is just right for us at this stage in time. We just needed somewhere other than the dirty and dusty garage to store things we needed to keep but which we didn’t use for most of the year, like the Christmas tree and decorations, and luggage. Those of you in older homes would be aware that storage is usually lacking (hello, built-in wardrobes, anyone?). And with kids comes stuff, try as I might to minimise it. A lot of it was piled into the playroom/study.
So last month we FINALLY had our attic installed. It took one man two full days and I can only say that I wish we had done it sooner.
Thankfully, the build happened over the new extension part of the house rather than the 100 year old section, so the old plasterwork did not have to be disturbed.
Once the installation was complete, we could move right in! It was a really great opportunity to sort through things and purge a lot of stuff. We didn’t simply put everything we wanted out of sight into the attic; it had to be something we wanted and/or needed to keep. Slowly slowly, we moved in. The easy stuff first – luggage, Christmas tree and decorations, unopened Lego (it’s Eugene’s hobby – don’t ask). Then we tackled the many lever arch files full of old personal documents like tax returns. Most of it was shredded with only the files we were required to keep going into storage “upstairs”. It got harder – kids’ school and artwork; we only kept the portfolios that the girls brought home at the end of each school year. Slowly slowly, we were able to see the beautiful fireplace in our bedroom again. Our laundry bench became functional again. Our wedding photo album, all our travel photo albums (we still like to print them out after each holiday), my massive boxed wedding dress – all of it had a new and more appropriate space to adorn. The attic is now filled with our things that we chose to keep. I suspect we will need to revisit this stuff in years to come but, for now, it serves a very useful purpose and I love our (slightly) less cluttered home.
