There are some things that I'm realizing I'm just not very good at... clearing clutter and Editing for example. I think I may need a Professional Organizer, Personal Assistant or something to keep on top of it!?! *Winks*. It's not that I can't clear clutter or Edit mind you... it's just that once I do, it just doesn't stay that way long term. *Le Sigh* And so then it becomes somewhat of a vicious cycle of mine as things pile up again to pre-decluttering and pre-editing conditions... and I take full Ownership and Responsibility of that Fault and failing.
I tend to be the type that has a lot of things going on at the same time you see... for Example, this Post is pre-scheduled because Today and Tomorrow I will be attending several important Events with Friends that I've been waiting all Month for. And those "Me Days" are Rare so I try to have nothing stand in the way of Enjoying them. Typically there's a Calendar thick with Appointments and Work outside of the Home and so the Great Edits and Purges are a Work In Progress continuously it seems, being fit in whenever I can tackle them.
I could spend enormous amounts of time and energy tackling the clutter and Editing the Hoard of Lovelies that are making their way out the door, but there are many others things that either need to be done and have a priority over it... or I really want to do and have been looking forward to so I'm not cancelling just to do something that won't stay that way for long anyway. And WHY won't it stay that way for long you ask? Because the other 'Problem' you see, is that I AM good at Sourcing Fab Found Treasures... I have a knack for it... it's my Gift. *Winks* These two Great Antique Tin Type Photos... Negotiated for a mere two bucks apiece last Night from a Dealer Friend... so how could I leave them behind, I Love these things! *Winks*
And this intricately carved piece of Wood of a Desert Horned Toad, Sourced for under Three Bucks... these things seem to Find me even when I'm not actively seeking anything...
And either it takes some time to get them ready for re-sale and they sit around in 'Piles in Process' of being Inventoried and carted off to the Showroom... or I Wrestle with whether or not to keep them if I'm really diggin' em... at least for a while?!? *Le Sigh*
It's hard to follow this Advice when you're an Incurable Collector and even the 1975 'Be Anxious For Nothing' Desert Art piece was swaying between being Showroom Bound... or staying at Bohemian Valhalla because...
I was totally in LOVE with this Old Frame and the Hue of it!!! For now the whole thing went to the Showroom... but I can see me dragging that Frame back Home and separating it from it's Original Artwork if it doesn't Sell immediately! *LOL*
Perhaps I'm a Hopeless Case I don't know? I Enjoy the Thrill of the Hunt too much to stop... and I am parting with loads of Found Treasures that is generating Income... so it's not all a Neg. But there are always those pieces that STAY damn it! Like this Lovely Old French Statue with a Marie Antoinette Styled Lady with her Dogs... Aged to Perfection... for now anyway we're definitely NOT breaking up because I formed an Attachment even though I knew I could easily turn a Profit on her.
And sure, there were those Finds that just quickly got Inventoried and went out the door... like this Cute Vintage Lamp and Pressed Glass Perfume Bottle...
But often Inventory will sit around in piles here and there... and seemingly EVERYWHERE... at times too... until I can get around to it. So there is not always a place for everything and everything in it's place and that does bother me because it makes for messy visuals... and I don't like messy visuals. There's enough messy visuals created by the Family without me adding to it with my Treasures! *LOL*
I have a lot of Fun Sourcing Inventory and having a Showroom and I'm quite Discerning about Product... so I just Wish I could manage sufficient Organization where things don't look cluttered to me and I could Cull and Edit more Effectively and Efficiently AS I GO so that things would look Curated and more Selective, with plenty of room around it all.
So that it would appear more Refined rather than Chaotic. For some that Process seems effortless and fine tuned, both in their Homes and in their Business or Studio Spaces... but for me anyway it takes a lot of effort, and all of the effort, energy and time spent isn't always even evident!!!
Most of the time and at the best of times I just seem to have a Beautiful Mess... or at the worst of times, just a Mess, nothing Beautiful about it! Sure, I have those Victories where for a brief Moment in Time I get a Space completely clutter free and harshly Edited... and it feels so good... but it doesn't last and I Wonder why the Maintenance Process of the equation seems to be so difficult for me and I can't seem to Master in spite of loads of Practice and Determination to do better? It's like a Pretty Flower growing up amid a Thorny predicament... it can Thrive there among the thorns... but it would be preferable not to have to.
I realize that a part of the Problem is my mindset of: One is good... and two or more is better!!! *Winks* Do any of the rest of you have this mentality too? Case in point... I had been Searching high and low for a very long time for a Black Globe and was dileriously Happy when I 'Scored' the larger one at an Event about a Month ago, FINALLY fulfilling the Desire for an Item that had been on the Wish List a long time and I'd Patiently waited upon. But then... lo and behold... one of my Dealer Friends brings in a mini version at a killer price shortly thereafter... Damn... hadda have it!
You may be asking, Dawn, but did you REALLY hafta have it? Yes, yes, apparently I did! I'm Weak when it comes to such things, what can I say!?! It was a Deal, I could easily Afford it... and... if I have to part with it, I'll turn a Profit. I just doubt that I'll want to part with it... and so that's primarily the Issue here.
I'm such a Magpie that the Home is literally filled with my Treasures and not all of them I want to part with and yet... it disturbs me to have clutter... so I'm very Conflicted about what and how much to keep or dispose of? I see Shows where Incurable Collectors and Hoarders of the 'Good Stuff' seem not to be bothered one iota about how vast their Collection has grown and how much room it takes up... I'm not one of them... I'm bothered and so I have regular Edits and Purges.
And then throughout the coming days, weeks, months and years other Found Treasures show up... like this Awesome German World War II Medical Supply Locker... for Six Bucks!!! Yeah... like I'd leave that behind, right? Will have my Friend Brigitte take a gander at this when she comes over for Girl's Day Out this Morning, she's from Germany and may know more about this thing than I do?
And some of you Pickers can keep it all Business and not form any Attachments to any of the pieces whatsoever, which is great for you... Lucky you... but I'm not quite there yet. Wish I was, but even the lure of a fast and sure buck isn't always enough motivation to Let Go of certain Found Treasures. Though only a small fraction of what I Pick doesn't end up in the Showroom now, enough of it does form a bond with me that I don't really want to Sell it... or would be Selling it under Protest... and it's those small margins of Kept Stuff that adds up over time and becomes part of the clutter and "Need To Edit Again" cycle.
And sure... some Keepers become Necessary... the Family was lamenting that I Edited and Purged the only Scale we had in the house, which is now in my Showroom for Sale. So... when I recently Sourced this Awesome Vintage Turquoise Scale for only Twelve Bucks, intending to flip it, well, out of necessity of having a Scale in the house we needed to keep it... at least for a while... and I'm Okay with that. So long as it doesn't become a Collection of Scales! *LOL*
And there are those certain Items I was actively seeking when I Sourced them... like this Boheme' Crocheted Lampshade!
And it was absolutely Perfect for the Purpose I Intended... to replace a Deconstructed Shade I had on the Lamp that I'd fallen out of Love with and put up for Sale. *LOL* 'Cause when I am 'done' with something, I'm totally done with it and want it GONE!
Now... to tackle that clutter UNDERNEATH the Lamp... I feel another Edit and Purge coming on right about now... because you see, now THAT'S bothering me!!! *winks*
Blessings from the Arizona Desert... Dawn... The Bohemian