A Room A Day #13 & #14

13. Stair Closet
14. Game Closet



















Like any house full of closets, ours have always been dysfunctional. In our condo now, our linen closet isn't great, and even though I blame it on the angled shelf design, I usually care enough to neatly place folded towels on the shelves about every other time that I put the away the laundry.

As long as I can remember, the hall closet over the stairs has been full of stuff. It was relatively organized for a few months, I remember tearing it apart and folding everything before putting it back. Everything was in there. Sheets, towels, blankets, old Halloween costumes,baskets, bags of craft supplies, and random scraps of unidentifiable things. This is how I found it a year ago.

Off the top I see a basket, sheets, a lamp and cord, pillows, stuffing, and the giant faux fur blanket that my dad made my mom for Christmas several years ago, I took the last year or so that I lived in the house, and then left it when I moved. The problem with this closet, is that it's not strictly vertical like most. To the right it stair steps up and I climbed up to get a shot but it was packed. There's actually a door that shuts off the stair stepped area, but it's crammed so full that the door is stuck behind the pile of sheets and the basket on top, with stuff spilling out of the side area. It doesn't look like it, but there are shelves in there.

The game closet (no picture, sorry) is between the back bedroom and the third, smaller bedroom. As a kid it always had tons of board games, card games, party games, and all of them were in varying states of disrepair and stages of lost pieces. There were also usually plastic grocery bags of random fabric scraps and craft supplies shoved into the cracks, packing it solid. If you wanted a game, you had to prepare for an avalanche. Just after I moved out, I think my mother went through it in an empty-nest rage and tossed everything. Then she called my sister and I to tell us what she had done hoping for a reaction. At that point, I hadn't really identified as a hoarder or COH, but I was so frustrated with my own issues that I told her I didn't care about the stupid games. Now I still don't care about the games, but I wish I had known better how to encourage her and use gentle reinforcement to diffuse the situation.

A Room A Day #12

12. Bathroom


















The main bathroom has always been in a transitional state. It's gone through phases of ivy, white, pastels, Americana, and most recently birdhouses. The floor is only about ten or fifteen years old, the window and shutters are probably about the same age. Everything else that is permanent, is original to the house.

The counter top is the late 60s early 70s style of pink starbursts and gold sparkles. The walls that you can see in the photo were painted and wall papered at one point, but the humidity from the shower brought down most of the wall paper. If I remember correctly, the wallpaper that is still up is taped. The wall section that is jutting out is from the attached bathroom off the master bedroom. The right side of the nook area is the shower and tub. The wall you can't see, across from the toilet and sink, is all built in cabinets that match those under the bathroom sink. At one point, I think my mom was considering going to a white-wash country style, so 50% of the trim down there and around the door is painted white...but nothing else.
 

I have cleaned the cabinets and drawers out several times. At some point, I'd go in for a shower, and look for something, shampoo, or something, and realize that there was shit from my parents dating days in there. They lived in a different state then! I found a wedding present of bride and groom figurines that held perfume and cologne that my mom hadn't seen since they moved there in 1989.

This bathroom, like the other one, is small, but functional. The smartest thing to do here is clean it out and paint it something neutral. The giant pane mirror is nice, but a new, double vanity would fit, and the built-in cabinets need help.

You might be wondering why the mat on the floor isn't closer to the toilet. It's actually for the cat. My mom had moved the cat's litter box into the cabinet, and put the mat there so she could clean her feet on it. This was such a horrible surprise when I visited last. The last place I would put a litter box, is the one place that company is sure to go eventually. I guess they haven't had guests in a while, and maybe it made sense to her. I hope this has moved, especially with the boyfriend's allergies.

A Room A Day #11

11. Third Bedroom


















The third bedroom is the smallest, and was the last room I lived in from high school until I moved out. I was in this bedroom when I threatened to move out at 18 while in college. I had packed up half of my stuff and found a place to move, but my mother told me if I was adult enough to live on my own I was also adult enough to be cut off.

It's where I lived when my boyfriend came over for the first time, while my parents were out of town. I was so embarrassed by the state of my room that I tried to keep him out. He eventually saw it and the rest of the house, and wasn't shy about voicing his surprise at how messy everything was. Shortly after that, I decided to do a make over. My parents were in Colorado for a few weeks, and I took advantage of that time.

The following is my bedroom makeover from about six years ago.

First I cleaned up. My room was very Oriental/Tae kwon do themed at the time.

Then I started packing things up. I dismantled this desk and meant to take it to goodwill or the thrift store, but I think it's probably still in my parents garage in pieces.

I put up three sheets of fabric on the wall adjacent to the living room, two black pieces on the ends and a piece of metallic bronze on the inside.

Then I painted the wall with the door and the wall with the window.

With several years and miles distance, I would have a slightly different style :) But at 18 this was amazingly empowering transformation for me. 

After I moved out, it took two weeks for my mother to hoard the room. If she knew I was coming over, she'd lock the door. Some time later, she moved most of her stuff out of this room, painted, and my dad moved in. The bookcase is one of a pair that I borrowed the year I lived alone. It was originally in the family room, but now it holds my mom's junk in this room, and the rest is my dad's bedroom. 

Thinking about resale, this room would be best as a guest room, library, or in-home office.

A Room A Day #9 & #10

9. Back bedroom
10. Closet



















Obviously this has morphed from "A Room A Day" to "Several Rooms Rushed at the Very End." I put this off long enough, and now that I know I'm going home Sunday, I feel that I should finish what I started before I see the house and give an update.

The back bedroom is one of the two that I have lived in while at home. This is strange, I thought I'd have more to say about it. Most of my childhood was spent in that room.I remember being in that room with my pets over the years, being young and having a constantly messy room. My mother yelled at me because she insisted that I clean my room before I went to a friend's house. I saw what she did in her room, and I grabbed a dozen paper grocery bags from the kitchen and stuffed everything from my floor into the bags and into the closet. This made her furious. I remember a few times she would have to sit me down and supervise me as I cleaned my room to keep me on task. So many times, I lost my shoes for dance. And never just on a random day, or before class. I could never find what I needed the night before a recital.

Now it's my father's in-home office and closet.

The photo above shows the "office" space in the back bedroom. The walls are ocean blue because while my dad was out of town for a job, my mom got a wild hair and decided she'd paint it for him as a surprise. She talked it up so much to herself that she didn't even finish the decorating (like most of the rooms). When he got home and didn't like it, she lost it. I recognize this tendency in myself now.  I'll plan a big dinner, or craft, and either I never follow through, or it was a silly idea that turns out to be all wrong.

The closet isn't shown in detail, but it's to the left here. My mom painted this too, and again I would either make the closet a useable storage/office nook, or I would organize and minimally decorate the room for guest bedroom-use. 

Still, my dad has several empty boxes lying around, and cables running askew. My dad isn't big on sunlight, and I think that clutter blindness affects him more directly than my mother. He's learned to live with a situation that doesn't make him happy. He can turn the lights out on the room and and the issue disappears, until he has to turn the light on in the morning. 

 Here is the direct view from the doorway. To the right is a piece of dresser set (different than the others in the master bedroom; the other pieces that match this one are at the shop). The framed piece on the wall is a 7" vinyl of "Sugar Mountain" that I gave my dad a few years ago. My boyfriend found it online and I printed the lyrics and my sister and I signed them before I matted and framed it all at work. Like the song says, "You can't be 20, on Sugar Mountain." It's hard to be an adult in my parents house.

A Room A Day #6, #7 & #8

6. Master Bedroom

7. Closet

8. Bathroom

 When you think about your bedroom, what comes to mind? How about your childhood bedroom? If you grew up in a hoarded house, your experience very different than someone who had a different home. The problem is, no matter how bad my bedroom got as a kid, I always had to go back to it. When I moved out and lived alone, my room got messy enough that I started avoiding it. I slept on the couch until I knew someone was coming over. It was never as bad as my childhood bedroom, but I felt as guilty and dirty and out of control as I did when I was a kid.

My mom has slept in the same bedroom for 24 years. She has redecorated, rearranged, and it still doesn't seem any different to me. My parents haven't always slept in the same room, and so the amount of control she has had over the room has see-sawed over the years. Currently she has the room to herself, and it shows.

This photo shows the view from the hallway door. Clothes and shoes spill out of the closet and are mounded on the bed. The bed is big enough the "stuff" doesn't have to move for her to crawl in and sleep. The half empty photo frame is pretty indicative of the situation. The photos that are in the frame, are actually just stuck between the glass and frame, not behind the mat inside the frame.

This is the view to the left. The dresser has been full and empty over the years, here it looks like it's overflowing. More clothes on the ground, and a desk that was moved into my bedroom shortly after I left. 

This is the far corner, you can see the rest of the bed, and the dresser full of office things.

This is the front edge of the bed, the doorway to the attached bathroom, and the closet.
Technically, I have the closet of the master bedroom listed as room #7, so I'm knocking that out now.
Immediately I notice the product box for a strobe light that my dad bought for my sister's 16th birthday party. We hosted it in the family room before it was finished off. My sister is 30.

This is one of the areas that would be great to get my mom to journal about. A bedroom is for relaxing, and it's only as relaxing as you make it. When my room was/is messy, I can't help but feel burdened and anxious. Bedrooms tend to come with or fit homes for "stuff." The closet wall is for clothes. The wall dresser is for clothes. The other wall dresser too. Why are clothes still on the bed and floor? It blows my mind. This is a clear example of what my dad and I refer to as "horizontal surface syndrome." When get ready for bed, my clothes end up on top of the dresser 90% of the time. I try to put them away in the morning, but most weekends I still have a few pieces piled up. I feel pretty guilty about it, because I know better, and I respect the person that I share the space with.

What would I do with this space? I want the best for my mom. If I had a day, a big budget, and free range, I would make a relaxing oasis for her that would be founded on organization. The closet could be tackled, I'd save it for hanging slacks, dresses, and pressed shirts. I'd ask her to choose between the dressers and sort away the rest of her wardrobe. An accessible shoe scheme would probably be in the closet, and the desks would be swapped out for wall shelving and a chair. I suppose, even the closet could be morphed into an inset office space with shelving.

Everyone deserves a clean healthy space. It's hard to think about my mother going to bed every night in that room. Of course, like I said in my previous post, it's been 7 months since I've been there so I can hope for improvement. After all, she did send me those texts about cleaning her closet.

Here, we have room #8, the attached bathroom. The lower right corner is the front of the toilet, and over that is a standing shelf system that is rusted and covered in partially used toiletries, refuse, and reading materials. In this photo you can see the tub of medications and oddities (including swimming goggles). Two metal carts are across from the toilet blocking access to the window and crowding the accordion door that separates this bathroom from the full bathroom (the tub/shower is on the other side of the door). A half-used roll of toilet paper is prominently balancing on the pile of crap...why it isn't on the roll holder, I can't see or remember. Perhaps it's blocked by something else, or maybe that's as far as it got from the package that is buried another layer below.

Along with the oasis theme, this could easily be an adorable space. I would take advantage of the vertical space, and keep everything very minimal. If the adjacent closet was to be re-purposed for something other than an office nook, It would be extended bathroom space. I would definitely swap out the accordion door for a pocket door. If fixtures were modernized, the pocket door would probably frosted glass or substrate plexi like you see on HGTV with reeds or cassette tape inside the panel.