Renovations: Trash

I've broken down. I am so proud of myself and my progress, that I just HAD to share. Remember in my first post about our Basement to Playroom Transition, I told you that we had a pile of junk in our den so large that you'd report me to Hoarders on A & E?

You better start looking up their number. I'm showing you all one photo.

Click on the photo to see the madness up close.

Believe it or not, I thought we had put this stuff in here in an organized manner! haha.  Needless to say, while the construction is going on in the basement, I got very tired of looking at this pile of junk. I walked past it everyday going to and from the garage. :{

So, as soon as they got my closet's done, I was jumping at the chance to start filling them up! I had already started to sort keepsakes and just had to put them in organized totes for easy, stack-able storage.

I am not even kidding - it took me about 15 hours to get this far:

I think I found every picture ever taken in that original pile! I have approximately 1,000 photos that I need to put in albums - ugh!  Now I question why we ever made doubles.....can anyone help me with that one?

I did pretty good at getting rid of things though. Here is what ended up on the curb Monday morning:

1) Yes - I took a picture of my trash, on the curb.

2) Yes - The sanitation workers took it all, surprisingly.

And, 3) I think we went over why one of the trash cans doesn't have a lid, yesterday.... :{

Who knew Lucy's diaper boxes would come in so handy?

Finally, since I have been involving you in my decor ideas and dilemmas, I thought I would share a couple of pictures of items I got this weekend for the room.



Sorry this picture is so blurry. I was trying to keep Lucy and the chihuahuas off of it for at least two seconds, for a picture on  my phone. This was the best I could do.

I was excited to find this mat, with all the colors I want to incorporate into the room!  Also, Lucy was with me in the store; so, I let her hold onto it, in the cart. She loved it! She hugged it and hit it, with tons of smiles. She even tried to chew on the corner a few times, which I had to halt.  I could tell she was excited too!



I am not sure what I'm going to do with these yet. I have a bookshelf and an entertainment center that will be going back into the room. So, perhaps I will put them on the shelves. Still not sure....they were on sale (I'm a sucker!) and they matched the colors well; therefore, they had to go home with me. :)

Are you now understanding how we got that big pile of crap in the first place? haha.

I will be sure to continue the updates. Heath and I have finally come to the consensus that we are about 2/3rds done with the room! Yay!

Wish us luck!

Any ideas on colorful, canvas totes or white toy shelves? Again, I could use the help finding these!

Keepsake? or Trash?

With the new basement renovation, we have been going through our totes with a tough heart. We've been asking ourselves some hard questions: Do we really need this? Will we use this again? Although it is of sentimental value to us, will it mean anything to anyone else? Basically, will Lucy want it?

I am a sucker for sentimental items. My family history and background mean so much to me. I love having items from years before. There is just something about holding the same items that your great, great grandmother held, and imagining what she was doing, wearing, or thinking. So, I want to pass down things to my great, great granddaughter too!  This is where the trouble starts...

There are some items that I have deemed priceless and will never let go of. For my college graduation, my grandma gave me a brush set. This wasn't just any old brush set, it was my great grandmother's. It included a brush, hand mirror, and nail set. My great-grandma got it for her high school graduation in 1929. The set is beautiful. My grandma said that when she was a little girl, she'd go into her mother's room and look at them, and wish that she too had a set. It warms my heart just thinking about it.


My Great-Grandmother's Brush Set - 82 years old

I decided to put the set into a shadow box, to keep it preserved and to enjoy it. I love seeing it in my dining room every day. These are items that I could most certainly pass down to Lucy. Hopefully, she cares as much about her family history as I do. I sure hope to pass that on...

My great-grandmother kept this set, then my grandmother kept it, and it eventually made it to me. So, that makes me think...what will I pass down?  Will it be a journal? Check. Will it be photos? Check. Will it be my treasured jewelry? Check.  What else does there need to be?  I'm not sure.

Heath, being the uber geek that he is, has kept all of his cell phones from the past. He even kept most of the boxes and directions. He thinks it will be hilarious to Lucy and her siblings, years to come. I just wish we had a bag phone to go along with them. haha.  I don't really argue too much on these; because, they are small and don't take up a lot of room. Here are just a couple of the 6 or so that we have:


The white phone's antenna cracks me up! haha.

Up until the moment when Lucy was born, Heath's and my stuff seemed so much more important. Now that we have Lucy it puts it into perspective of what would she would think was 'valuable' and what would she think was, basically, crap.

The mirror that hung on the back of Heath's door in high school? The one that I wrote on and kissed, at just 15 years old, so he'd always think of me? 



The makeup has lasted 10 years! Wish I could remember the brand name! :)

We kept it this long; but, now it's heading to the trash.

What about these?


Two of a LOT of puffy, Disney VHSs!

Who even keeps VHSs anymore?  I guess we should probably get these on DVD and throw these out...

Or, what about these autographs? I simply cannot throw them out. But, will Lucy even know who these people are?

Dennis Haskins, Mr. Belding, from 'Saved By the Bell' -
 

He even personalized it! To Cori - :)

I can tell that you are a skeptic. I did meet him though, look:

Here are two more "autographs."  Or, scribbles...whichever you prefer. These scribbles were made by Benji Madden and Billy Martin, from Good Charlotte. Heath and I waited out by their tour bus one night after a concert, a long time ago.  No such luck on Joel.....:(



This was way back, before Nicole Richie...

I guess it is all in the eye of the beholder. I will give some of these items to Lucy and her siblings, or whoever else wants them. If they don't want them and they toss them? Well, then at least I gave them the option of keeping it...

Do you have anything that you've kept, even though you know you probably shouldn't have? What is it? Where did you get it? Do you and your partner agree on keeping it?