Last week I had a beautiful floor-to-ceiling bookshelf nine feet tall installed in my study. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but in the spirit of full disclosure, I’ve never completely unpacked my book and cd collection in over the decade I’ve lived here. Now I finally can.

I derive no pleasure in the onerous task of organizing. In fact, I’m one of those minimalists secretly keeping his stuff haphazardly squirreled away from unseen eyes, never quite sure where anything is!  Fed up with the chaos, I’m now willing to trade the inaccessible disarray of cluttered closets for the gratitude of knowing, at any moment, precisely where all of my possessions are.

After staring at the new gorgeous shelving all week, I begrudgingly decided to spend my Friday night unpacking my considerable collection. After a few hours of hard labour, my books are finally placed according to my brilliant cataloguing arrangement, but there’s hardly any room left for my cd collection. Dang! I don’t have room for another bookshelf!
The misery is far from over. In fact, my study is now covered in a thick coat of dust and littered with far too many cardboard boxes precariously balanced on every surface. What was earlier a pristine study with an empty book showcase is now a room full of tatty containers stacked higgledy-piggledy. Sigh…I’m feeling overwhelmed.

Truth be told, filling my new bookshelf is the beginning of an even bigger re-organization. In fact, I’ve just made a list of all the plastic containers I need to purchase, plus I’m making piles to ‘give-away’, ‘throw-away’ and ‘fix-away’. At least it’s a start. And time to admit I’m going bonkers!

Time to call in a professional organizer!
Watch out for more as I emerge from the dust!

Stay tuned for more Rejuvenating The Button Factory about my unique urban home in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

~Steven

PS. It’s October 2010 now – below is a pic of the finished room taken by Greg Paupst!

House And Home
Rejuvenating The Button Factory