New shelves + a realtor's decluttering tips

When we were thinking about putting our house on the market, we got some great tips from a realtor about decluttering. He suggested that we take it one room at a time and:

1. Clear off all surfaces (tables, dressers, etc.)
2. Remove at least one piece of furniture

I like this approach because it a) feels manageable and b) you'll have to deal with all your "stuff" when you move, so why not make the future a little easier on yourself? Even though we're not moving right now, I decided to declutter anyway.

This spot in our entry has always bothered me. I love this little side table - it's a hand me down from Adam's parents and has been with us for years - but it always felt like it was in the way in it's new spot. Also, that empty tray? In reality, it's usually piled high with crap - everything from mail to hats,  toys, and the occasional empty egg carton that someone should really take out to the compost bin.

The only problem with removing it is that it was secretly a bar cart, and where would the contents go? The dining room was out, since our dining room is more of a nook than an actual room, and our kitchen cupboards are full.

Then I remembered the space next to our fridge where our kitchen cart lives. I've wanted to add shelves here for awhile, and this was the kick in the butt I needed to get it done.

I stained and sealed some leftover pine boards from this project, and spray painted some basic grey brackets from Home Depot  with leftover ORB paint (I couldn't find the small size I wanted in black). This spray paint has been with me for awhile - I keep a pin in the hole and it works just fine.

I installed the shelves while listening to the WTF podcast one night after Hannah went to bed. It was so easy to do, I just wish I'd gone for it sooner!

This little project also inspired me to get rid of all the random stuff that had slowly accumulated on top of our fridge. We still keep a few things up there (the knife block, a gold tin that holds our stash of candles for power outages, and a small basket that holds things like band-aids and aspirin). I moved Hannah's chalk and window markers onto the kitchen cart, so it's easy for her to use them and put them away. So far she's only tried to colour the floor with chalk once, so I think we're good ;)