Friday, December 9, 2011

The Makeup "Nook" retires II

Is it true?  Could it really be true?  Can we come out of chaos and find calm, peace, happy kitties, and . . . oh yes, order?

As someone who has always sought order and peace, and who seems to be pursued by chaos on all sides, achieving this goal is an ongoing struggle.

To demonstrate my ongoing struggle
with chaos, this is how my "office"
 looked when I was still teaching
 college English and attempting
 to maintain a workspace
AND a guestroom in the same room.
 I've since completely re-done this room.
Check back for details!
As the little Tween in a young adult book I've been writing wailed, "I tried to be on time, but circumstances conspired against me!"
My "nook" before its retirement.
Somehow it's the circumstances, not me -- it couldn't be!  For instance, that original makeup "nook" area.  I KNOW that when it was at its worst that it was also shocking.  But that was because there just weren't enough places to put my things away in an orderly fashion.  Circumstances, right?  Not ME!

I have to admit, mediating this collection, and moving in an orderly fashion to the mahogany desk/vanity took me nearly a week.  In the meantime, the rest of the room AND THE BATHROOM looked much like this nook looks here.

But to give the reader hope (and to give myself a much-desired pat on the back), let's look at how the nook looks now. 

My "nook" enjoying the sweet life.
It's actually even more tidy than this, because that keyboard tray is normally closed.  The only thing you find there now is my curling iron and a few scrunchies in that bamboo divider.  My hairbrushes and pins, clips, etc. fit nicely into the top drawer (with plenty of room because this area is JUST for hair).  There is no chair in this area now, because I always stand and use the mirror.  Hubby is very happy (as am I) that the hair-fixing apparatus is no longer lying about (circumstances, remember?) on the bathroom counter.

 And because there is a "place for everything," amazingly, it's so easy to keep neat.  Let's see how the drawers look now . . .


The second drawer is actually still free of content, but I'll be very careful what I add to it.  Let's look into the mirror storage briefly (which I can now get to easily).

There are dozens of hooks on the inside of the middle door in the mirror.  These were originally used to hang necklaces, but I use them now to hang headbands, scrunchies, and barrettes.  All of these things I used to try and keep in a small container on the keyboard tray, and as you can imagine, it was impossible to ever find what I needed.  It's now easy to see what I need.

Remember what I said about peace?  Calm?  Happy kitties?  Well, I'm currently calm, and Emmy Dickins currently seems very happy. 

In part III we'll look at how everything went into the mahogany vanity.  Here's a sneak peek at the effort midway through the process!
read more