Sometimes the simplest things in life….Are “Old School”

It’s kinda funny as I look back on this year and the changes we have made. This time a year ago we were in the beginning stages of discussion about what we are doing? Why are we doing it? And what are we going to gain from it? My “real role” is running a staffing and consulting firm. We place people across the US in all levels and all departments. (A shameless plug, Kellen James).

As I digress, Juan and I have talked with countless Managers, Hiring Authorities and people looking to make a move and there seems to be a common goal ever since this economy took a dive…A need for a simpler life….A need for quality time with family and friends as that is what is most important.

Going back to my original thought (I know Juan says I have three or four conversations going at once), it was a huge undertaking getting ourselves situated in a much smaller space. Yet, we are so much happier now than when we were in a larger home. I am not a slave to my house/pool/yard. It is like living in a vacation home! (No not as cool as Ileana’s beach house/Previous blog article) But…it’s close.

We find ourselves enjoying our home, hanging out with friends and family here. We enjoy creating cool bar-b-que dishes and sitting at our kitchen table with a cup of coffee and just chatting. We can step outside (when it is not 114+ degrees) and get on our bikes and cruise the canal trail or walk to several neighborhood haunts and enjoy wonderful cuisine of all kinds.

We have an urban space which is very new to me and this area has 71 of these cute 900 sqft “bungalow style homes. There is a sense of great friendship and community here much more than when I was up in the “burbs” where everyone waves but drives right into their garage and shuts the door behind them never to see them until the following morning. We get together as a community for impromptu “happy hour” celebrate a birthday or hang out at the clubhouse to watch a game. It’s truly a community of friendship.

If this is the cost of downsizing and moving to the city?....I wished I did it years ago. So now I will sit with Juan, drink a nice cool “Arnold Palmer” and enjoy “Old School Style” listening to records on my 1962 Fisher Electra Stereo.

A small "taste" of what I am enjoying! Cheers!

A New IKEA Update

I received kind words from the President USA for IKEA, Michael Ward. He stated in an email “It is always so fun and gratifying to see the exciting and creative solutions people come up with to make their lives at home more comfortable and inspiring!  I hope that you continue to enjoy your home, and we are glad to been a small part in its creation.” How refreshing to get a response from Executive Management of a huge corporation. For someone at that level to take time to respond...which only took a few seconds to type up....means so much. This does speak volumes to me as my main role in life is a Recruiter and working day in and day out with companies and candidates....well that is a whole other story AND if you are ever interested in learning about that side of my life, please check out our People “geeks” blog. (I know another shameless plug).

Also, I received a great comment from Janice Simonsen. I can only assume, but not certain, that she is a part of the IKEA team. Anyway, she reached out to me to tell me about a great website where IKEA fans can add their spaces/rooms on the site http://www.theshare-space.com/. IKEA Share Space gives you an opportunity to upload photos of your room where you have purchased IKEA products, tag them so people checking out your room can see the product and get some great inspiration from others on what they did in their spaces. If you have a small space? Storage challenges” Or just don’t know what you want to do…check out IKEA Share Space for some great ideas that you can take to create your next small space!

Next, Living in 934 square feet in paradise everyday....

The New IKEA Book Is Here!

It’s that time of year; the new IKEA book is out Whooo Hoooo! When Juan came walking in from the mailbox, I could see the tiny little BIG book tucked under his arm. So I patiently waited for him to put it down….Ok…put the book down Juan….Quit talking to me and put the DARN BOOK DOWN!

IKEA really has it down with small space living. Every nook and cranny can be utilized with “multi-purpose” furniture. Really cool! How many of you (raise your hands) LOVE heading to your nearest IKEA store to check out their “small living” spaces? Well, those of you fortunate to have an IKEA near you, it truly is an experience. It’s so fun to view outside the square footage of the space you are about to enter and be amazed at the way you can make a home out of 600 square feet or 248 square feet or dorm room living. You have every convenience.

Take page 30 for example, the basic bookcase…What a great piece to do so many options. We took a book case that was four cubes long and two cubes high (Yes, very technical terms here). We added the doors and made it into a cabinet to hold boundless amounts of Juan’s main wardrobe, T-Shirts! In living in a small space you always want the rooms to appear bigger and a great way to give that spacious look is to add legs. If at all possible, “lift your furniture”. I know that sounds strange but it truly gives a small space an “open and airy” look!


Fold up t-shirts, organize purses or tri-fold your jeans


IKEA can give you so many options at such a great price. If you truly are waiting for a vintage mid-century desk but need something in the meantime, check out IKEA. You may also find you like it just as well AND it does mix very well with different styles.

Also think outside the box...we turned the book shelves into extra space for our clothes by adding the cabinet doors, everything stays neat and hidden. They also have drawers you can add to book shelves to organize smaller objects such as scarves or jewelry.




Added simple straight legs to lift cabinet off floor



For all you smart phone users, IKEA has their catalog available on The App Store and Android Market. So when I am sitting patiently in the waiting area at the Doctor's office... as my Mom provides details of her ailments plus her weekend activities of garage sales and great food...I sit and electronically thumb through the pages. You can miss so much on a page that you have to go back through 3-5-7 multiple times!

Speaking of waiting for perfect pieces or allowing for extra cash to funnel our way….We took our old office cabinets from our office in our old home and made them our bed side tables for the time being. Hey, it works, right? It may not be optimal for many but until I am ready to look for a better piece of IKEA or other furniture….it works!

By the way…if you recall in my blog (I Thought 900 Square Feet Was Small) I mentioned how hard it is for me to give up the accessories like purses and SHOES!!! Well check out page 280-281 in the IKEA book…great storage solutions to hold all my shoes. I need more shoes to fill in all these racks! 

 I am lucky to have an IKEA store near me so I can see, feel and touch all the great stuff! Also they have a cafe where you can enjoy great breakfast, lunch and dinner at very affordable prices.

That's the other thing about IKEA...great prices on all products. Yes, you may have to assemble pieces of furniture but it truly is worth it. Very simple instructions....even I can figure it out! So if you ever have any challenges with space, need multi-purpose furniture or seeking a piece of furniture that will fit in an odd shaped corner of a room?....You've got to check out IKEA. I am sure they will have something right for your needs.

All Your House Is….A Place To Put Your Stuff!

“All Your House Is….A Place To Put Your Stuff!”

George Carlin

I was reminded of this great clip of George Carlin’s. A friend and networking buddy, Robert Goodman, sent me the clip in regards to what I have been discussing in my blogs. “Stuff!” and “Do you really need that size of house to hold all your stuff?”

It is so true! Take a five minute break, watch, laugh and learn!

So, have you done anything to eliminate the extra clutter from your life? Share...post a comment...let me know!

Where do you want to put this?

So another weekend, the big one! The big moving day. I had a plan; I knew where everything was going. Unfortunately the morning started off a little rough as I strained my "bum knee" not good. But today's the day and I was so excited about our new place. We had the bedroom furniture in (thanks to IKEA and Juan for putting it together) and now the fun begins our new/old midcentury modern furniture. 

Well we start bringing in our 1962 Fisher stereo, our cool Danish couch and chair, a small side chair (Juan's find) and our wonderful school chairs aka new dining chairs. It’s so exciting. But then....more and more keeps coming in and as the day wears on, I'm getting tired and cranky and my knee is really throbbing. Juan is feeling the stress and strain of a long day and taking the burden of carrying and managing most of the heavy bulky items. 

Tension rises and even though we thought we got rid of a lot of stuff, more and more items keep pouring in our 900 square foot home. 

Is it going in the garbage? Are we selling it? 

He said: So where do you want the grandfather clock?

She said: I don't know 

He said: What are you staring at? 

She said: Huh? Nothing. 

He said: So where? 

She said: In the living room corner

He said: It’s not going to fit there

She said: Why? 

He said: Because too much furniture in that room

She said: Hhmmm

He said: Shawn,

She said: Yeah

He said: What are you staring at?

She said: Nothing (I was truly thinking but yes staring)

He said exasperated: Fine! 

Storms off, slamming doors, cabinets etc 

She said: Juan?! Juan! Talk to me....where do you want me to put this and don't say in the garbage or up my @**! 

Bottom line is this….when you think you have eliminated more than enough? You haven't...Nope, no way, “ain’t gonna happen”…guess again. I truly thought we did an awesome job in getting rid of stuff(we did, goes to show you how much stuff we really had). But, when I began unpacking the kitchen, we had WAY more stuff than what I thought. Or our new cabinets shrunk.

Again, Juan and I sat in the new kitchen contemplating what on earth do we get rid of now? Yes, we STILL had stuff to sell, give away or donate. So we started with the pots and pans and realized we do not need that many pots and pans just take the ones you utilize the most. Keep the larger size and small one; get rid of everything in the middle. Create the piles once again; SELL, DONATE, THROW AWAY. Just needed a little fine tuning, but after all we’ve become “Masters of Condensing and Eliminating”.  We’re gettin’ this!

So here are some pictures of our 900 square foot home with our finds at our vintage shops! Modern Manor & Phoenix Metro Retro as well as Ikea.

First off....let's start off "Old School" and check out my 1962 Fisher Electra Stereo!

Now for some basic pictures of some of my new "stuff" in our 900 Square foot casita!



Originally black came from my Mom and Dad circa 1960's



Walkway into our Patio home





Ikea Bedroom for now!



Shelving with doors now holds clothes

 

  

Kitchen View

                                                                                      

Table with  1950's school chairs refurbished





Check out our teak coffee table



Now we have extra side tables!



 



Yes, retro floor lamp



Yes, it works!



Would love to read your comments about what we did and how we did it. I have more fun ideas to show next time.... 

Garage Sale!!!

Remember all that touchy feely talk of “emotions”, “letting go”, blah, blah, blah…… Well a lot of it gets thrown out the window or cast aside a bit as you prepare for the GARAGE SALE!

As that pile of immensely valuable stuff begins to build in the staging area (i.e., garage), you begin to see dollar $ign$! You know your garage sale is going to be better than anyone else’s, because your stuff is actually good. It’s amazing that you’re actually getting rid of it, and at such bargain prices to boot.  You’re going to make a killing!

Our timing couldn’t have been better as our Community had a bi-annual garage sale that they advertised in the papers. We place our own ad on Craig’s list as well. If you are going to have a garage sale, one of the best things you can do is start on Friday morning, early! We did a land-slide business by 8:00 am as we had people, who were out garage sale-ing, neighbors on their way to work and all of the landscapers/home service providers stop by.

We knew the Community Garage sale was running through Sunday, so we decided we’d only run our sale until noon Friday and Saturday, unless there were customers. We might even end earlier if it was slow. Our goal was to be sold out by Saturday noon.

I’d say we easily sold 50% of our highly valuable treasures by 1030 am on Friday. We were so happy with our haul that we actually walked around the house looking for more stuff to sell. That commercial grade BBQ, sell it! That lamp, table, and a few more tools, pots and pans, sell ‘em! Friday night we even decided we should sell our big screen TV!

Saturday started off with another flurry and by 1030-ish we were mostly sold out. We had a few big items left and decided to run the sale on Sunday morning for a few hours. Whatever didn’t sell, we’d donate and take the tax right off. Sunday started off slow and we didn’t think it would be any good. In the 9:00 hour we had a final rush and sold anything that was worth a buck. We had a very small pile of stuff left. We piled it together and hung a sign on it that said “FREE”. By the time we were showered and ready to run errands, it was gone.

I don’t remember exactly how much we made, but it was a substantial amount. Most of the big ticket items; furniture, the TV, etc, we placed on Craig’s list. All told we made enough to completely refurnish our new home, buy a new/ better TV, buy all the odds and ends you need whenever you move and still had a small “home fund” left over. Money is better than sentiment any day!

A few tips:

·         List big ticket items on CraigsList. You’ll get more.

·         Price everything as you add it to the pile. If you wait until the day of the sale (no matter how early you start to set up) there will be a line of people asking you “How much?”

·         Make sure you have plenty of change ($5’s $1’s, quarters, nickels and dimes). Also, make sure you know how much change you started with, IF, you are interested in knowing how much you actually made.

·         If at all possible, keep the sale items on the driveway or at the edge of the garage. This gives you a barrier so people aren’t rummaging through the stuff in your garage that isn’t for sale.

·         Be realistic when pricing things. People come to Garage Sales to find bargains. All that valuable stuff you are parting with is not so valuable to them. Even if it is brand new!

·         Don’t be offended by haggling. It’s actually fun.

·         If people are looking at things, but not buying, your prices are too high! Keep lowering them.

·         Place a “Free” box at the end of your driveway and occasionally add a few of the real cheap items to it. (It’ll save you a trip to Goodwill). You’ll be surprised at how many people will take something from the “Free “box, then buy something from you.

·         If someone wants something, don’t hold it back unless you know them, or they leave a deposit. Your goal is to sell this stuff ASAP! We learned this the hard way as the first person that looked at our BBQ asked if we’d hold it while she went for the truck. While we were waiting at least 5 other people wanted to buy the BBQ. When the lady didn’t show up as promised, we put it back out and sold it immediately.

·         Don’t run the sale by yourself if you can help it. Have at least one other person help you as you’ll get overwhelmed.

·          And, designate one person to handle the money/make change. This way nothing walks off without being paid for.

         Now an empty house waiting for final close. So what next?....