Room makeover, a before & after: And clean up those animal bones

Sometimes, when you're a young teenager, the best place for you to live is in a cave. So, the design above made perfect sense when I was given the task of remaking a room where a ceiling beam pretty much cut it in half. (See below for the before.)

(And if you think that room is messy, you are wrong. You just don't get me, never have and never will. And why can't I have a princess phone and an 8-track tape player? Oh, sorry, little PTSD flashback there.)

I hung curtains on rods that were screwed into the beam, on the side facing the bed. To hang the curtains across the foot of the bed, I strung fishing wire from the beam to the wall.

What was once a problem is now a hangout...a great place to talk to friends and tell them how Great Your Godmother Is for doing this for you...

A Snapshot: I'm sooo shallow

My husband reveres books for the reading part. While I’ve been known to pick up a tome every now and again (I know Goodnight Moon by heart), I love them especially for their looks. Don’t these look nice propping up this girl?

Better than anything you could buy

My friend Chris is one of the hardest working people you could meet, with two kids, a full-time communications job that she does from home, and several freelance writing jobs that she does...I'm not sure when...probably when the rest of us are sleeping.

And she's creative, to boot. Here's a great idea you can steal from her: She frames her children's artwork and arranges it above her desk. The pictures are easy enough to replace as the kids come up with something new.

The result: a colorful, fun wall that keeps changing and keeps you smiling.

So put your kids (or someone else's) to work. Faster! Faster! Or no supper!

I sale; you sale; we all sale

Do you yard sale? I think that can be a verb, especially if you do it a lot.

Since we were talking yesterday about my upcoming yard sale, I thought I'd pass along a tip for those of you who like to keep an eye out for bargains, or want to save the environment by re-using items, or appreciate the quality of older furniture...

Just about any piece of furniture will look good painted black (I like Benjamin Moore's semi-gloss).

I bought this armoire at a yard sale for $50 a few years ago. It was solid and clean, but its finish was, um, finished. A quart of paint and a few new knobs, and it makes for a great armoire for my office.

I added a few wire shelves inside for even more storage space.

Just one more tip when you are refurbishing a piece: Don't put it in your garage to tackle later...when you've got your painting clothes on...and after you've taken the "before" photo...but instead start to sand it just to see how that will go...and then decide to test the paint color...and, oh heck, might as well finish the whole thing and then ruin your favorite jeans by getting paint on them and order pizza for dinner cause you haven't done anything else all day. Don't do that.

A Snapshot: His poop don't stink

This guy looks down on the cats who live in our house, as if to say: She feeds you, sure, but does she display you in the library? No, I didn’t think so.

Ahhh...this is what an empty garage looks like

I make it a point every year to hold a yard sale (in some parts of the country, it's a tag sale or a garage sale. Come to think of it, in my part of the country, it's a YOD sale.)

I do it to shed my house of stuff I no longer need or want. I do to make room for new stuff, which next year could be in the yard sale because I no longer need or want it. I do it to get rid of the stuff that last year I thought I might need or want for a little longer, but then didn't after all.

I do it to keep my house from becoming overrun with stuff. I do it because it makes me feel popular to make signs with arrows pointing to my house.

Whatever reason you do it, here are some suggestions:

• Advertise in the newspaper and on craigslist. Mention the words: furniture, vintage, multi-family (if all that is true, that is).
  
  


• Make lots of signs. With words big enough to read. While traveling 60 mph.
  
  


• Don't discourage early birds. But, if you get to my house early, you better plan on paying full price. Or have coffee for me.
  
  


• Once you are officially open, bargain for heaven's sake. You aren't a museum curator, you're holding a yard sale. Get over your stuff.
  
  


• Tell people to come back when the yard sale ends to take away whatever is left. Then put out plenty of boxes and let people have at it. This is true: People caught up in yard sale mania will lick twigs off your driveway if they are free.

Soylent Green is people

In my line of work, I help people beautify their homes by using, mostly, what they already own. My feeling is this: Many of us have plenty of stuff, plenty of stuff we really like in fact, we just don't know how to pull it all together to create pleasing, comfortable, organized spaces.

In fact, sometimes too much stuff is what keeps us from creating pleasing, comfortable, organized spaces.

If that is the case in your home, listen to this: It's OK to get rid of things.

Perhaps to you that seems obvious, but I have run into numerous (wonderful) people who don't see this as an option: Because someone they love owned the thing, gave them the thing, or maybe just because they have Always Had The Thing.

I'm here to tell you: People you love or who love you really, really don't care if you get rid of stuff associated with them. Stop calling them, sending them money on their birthday, or smiling at their memory, that's a problem. Getting rid of the stuff that bottles up your home and gets in the way of loving where you live, that's not a problem.

Same with stuff you've owned for ages. These items are not your friends. Friends don't let friends live in cluttered houses.

Stuff isn't people.

So what to do with it all?

• Hold a yard (tag, garage) sale (I'm having my annual sale soon...more tips to follow).
  



• Sell items on craigslist (there are some peculiarities to doing this; more on this another time).
  
  


• Find a consignment shop. Depending on the kind of store, you can consign everything from furniture and household items to baby equipment and clothes and get a cut of the sale.
  



• Sell collectible or unusual or hard-to-find items on eBay.
  



• Donate things to charity. Some charities even pick up.
  



• Get together with friends and relatives for a clothing, accessory or product swap. (Ever wind up with perfectly good makeup, shampoo or perfume that just doesn't work for you? This is a good way to get rid of them and try something else.)
  

Go ahead, do it. It's OK.