one corner at a time

New Years resolutions? Still forming them. Decorations? Boxed, but still waiting to be brought to the garage. Needless to say, I’m a little slow out of the gates this year. But that annual circadian pull to organize is beating strong, and I’m looking forward to clearing the decks, moving furniture to dust underneath, and giving away a trunkful of stuff.

So far, I am trying to attack areas that could give off a nice and restful vibe…but instead, jangle my nerves because I treat them as one-step above the recycling bin. Take, for instance, the side of our fridge. This is the state of affairs after a couple years of accumulation:

And now:

All this took was a roll of cork at the office supply store, some glue dots, a good pair of scissors to cut out a nice shape, and a steady hand for painting a border (inspired by this post at d*s). Now I feel a little wash of happiness every time I come into the kitchen.

The next zone that will be worked over is on the other side of the doorway. It’s our slush pile of bills, mail, sunglasses, seed packets, you name it. I cannot just cute all of that away, however. I actually need to change some of my lazy behavior in that department. Does anyone have a good system for dealing with the riffraff of everyday life, especially bills? If so, please share. This is an area I am going to work on this year.

In the meantime, I’ll look the other way when I come into the kitchen.