Pallet for Home

If order is the qualifier, my den hasn't been very beautiful lately!  In fact, I've been pretty ashamed of the clutter that accumulated , BECAUSE MY ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT would kick in, and I would hold on to things that I knew I could sell on Craigslist to make a little money.  But I just didn't HAVE THE TIME.

After being reminded that there is beauty in order, I immediately set out to make beauty a priority!  It started with prayer, because I had issues with holding on to stuff.  So I asked the Lord to help me "be rutheless" in cleaning out my stuff and I asked my husband and daughter to pray for me as well. 

Next, I read several books by Lauri Ward, who has a blog with a "use what you have" focus.  Her books are now listed in my Bookshelf 2009 (in the right hand column beside this text!), so you can check them out from your local library.  Of the four books I read, my favorite by far was Home Therapy, because it showed the before and after layouts, and explained why things didn't work in the original configuration, and how to identify or fix the issues by simply rearranging with strategy.  Visit her business blog here to view before/after video of her work.  It's quite impressive to see strategy at work.

One of the issues I discovered was that some of my furniture was not functional, especially in my office area.  Sometimes you can't make it do, nor can you do without...  So, I got busy searching Craigslist and came up with an inexpensive solution.  I replaced my desk and printer stand, and added a storage piece and bookshelf to better serve my needs. 

Did I mention that this all took about three weeks, during which time we celebrated Thanksgiving and finished our preparations for finals in school???  Now you know that I've been really busy!  But, I think when you see the pictures in my next post, the results will prove to have been worth the effort.

Here's a sneak peek for the next post...