I finally have the library cleaned up from it being the repository for stuff from other room shovelling exercises.



Since January I've been on a tear regarding the quantity of stuff in the house. Once in my life I want a house not full of quantity but rather furnished in some quality, just a nice place to be.

We've gone room by room through most of the downstairs rooms now, and the amount of stuff that have been tucked here and hidden there beggared belief, all taken for granted. Likewise, things like furniture have always been a mismatched bunch of the charity-shop-bought-cheap. Comfortable, yes, but...

Anyway, during this exercise the library has served (in spite of my protestations) as a catch-all for stuff "we might still need this" or "we can sell that." I got tired of the sight of it; still a daunting pile of stuff, much of it from clearing out my parents' house quickly followed by Herself's parents's house; sentimental value perhaps but little else.

This week without consultation or permissions I loaded up two large SUV loads out of the library and the kitchen and hauled them to a deserving charity shop.

Then, I finally got my library the way I want it; cases full and organised but not neurotically neat, a couple good matching leather library chairs from the local college (good stuff I'll still buy at a sale on the cheap!), a chess table made by a good friend of mine. Ah, civility!

Two new matching chairs are coming for the front room to replace our poor tired jumble-sale recliners that have served us well for years.

Just amazing the quantity of furniture and stuff. Still a bit to go, but I'm starting to see what I want to see, not HGTV interior design but a little Old World dignity perhaps; quality over quantity.