which_chick | Sunday. More Progress!

I realize that it is not super exciting to read about the great culling of the book room, but it is important for me to have a feeling of ongoing progress and one of the ways that this happens is that I tell the faithful lexience (all, y'know, three of you) about my efforts.

I deconstructed and burned the desk that I have not sat at one time since I got it. Not a useful or wanted furniture, my dad thought I should get it and I didn't want to tell him it was unwanted so I got it. (We were at an auction. It was solid wood drawers in oak with a particleboard laminate top. Desk was very sturdy and Only Ten Dollars.) It's been in my house for twenty years and I think that's long enough for me to suffer on the altar of the ten dollar desk. It is currently ashes. I have not told my father about this nor do I intend to.

(Remember, the entire book room project is SekReT because my family is a bunch of nerds who would collectively lose their shit if they found out I was throwing away books that have not been opened by anyone in twenty years.)

I also burned the two three-legged chairs that I was going to repair someday because I'm trying to do better about realistically assessing the odds of me Doing A Thing eventually. In this case... not going to repair them someday. Ashes.

Six more buckets, two crates going out today. I think I'm better than halfway done? This is taking forever, but there is A Plan.

Step 1: Cull the books so that there are only books I might REALISTICALLY want again. Here is a picture of the remaining cull pile, AFTER the six buckets and two crates left today, also showing alarmingly pink walls and badly-faded pink carpet of room. Don't judge me, I have a full complement of self-directed judging going on over here and am not in need of additional judging.

Step 2: Remove the unwanted furniture (DONE! I HAVE DONE THIS ONE!)

Step 3: Replace fan heater with baseboard electric and programmable thermostat (Not done yet, will require some drywall work to get the thermostat wire where I want it.)

Step 4: Patch drywall, take off baseboard trim, paint room some color that is neutral. (Room is currently pink. Yes, I painted it that color. It was twenty odd years ago. I have no idea what I was thinking at that juncture. I was a dumbass. Neutral. It's going to be neutral. FuckYeah!)

Step 5: Tear up carpet (very faded pink, it is twenty years old), padding, tacker strip.

Step 6: Put down laminate plank flooring. (I want hardwood but I cannot afford it and may not be able to install it because I am dumb and hardwood flooring is complex to install. I do laminate plank all the damn time at work and I'm good at it. Two days, max.)

Step 7: Reinstall trim.

Step 8: Build or buy shelving for remaining books. Install crafting stuff to get it out of the living room.

Yay! My goal is to have this done by Xmas. (Realistic timeline: Spring.)

How many books have left thus far? They are in buckets and crates. Buckets hold approximately 40 standard size trade paperbacks but let's allow 30 for oversize and reduced packing with hardcovers. Crates fit 15 to 20 hardcovers, depending on dimensions.

34 buckets have left and 10 crates. There are six packed buckets ready to go and 2 packed crates ready to go, so we'll add those too. 40 buckets, 12 crates.

Doing the math: 30 books x 40 buckets is 1200 books. 15 books x 12 crates is 180 more. Call it 1300 books. I want to be very clear, here. When I am done with this project, THERE WILL STILL BE BOOKS IN MY HOUSE. Just... fewer.