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Episode 324 – How to repurpose rooms in your home

As your life goes through its various transitions, the original or current purpose of a room may not always make sense. But repurposing a room may seem a daunting task. In this podcast Ingrid chats through how she changed everything around once her son moved out to university.
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Transcript of this podcast episode
00:00
As your life goes through its various transitions, the original or current purpose of a room may not always make sense, but repurposing a room may seem a daunting task. In this podcast, I chat through how I changed everything around once my son moved out to uni,

00:30
you're listening to the declutter hub podcast, bringing you tried and tested no nonsense tips and advice from the leading experts in decluttering and organizing your home. Now here are your hosts, Ingrid Jansen and Lesley Spellman

00:53
Hello and welcome listeners. I'm Ingrid and I'm Lesley. If you're new to the declutter hub podcast, you're so welcome. What you'll find is that we try and find a fun factor in the serious business of decluttering, and if you've been here for a while, you know exactly what we mean. So thank you so much for listening. If

01:13
you'd like to get involved in conversations relating to this podcast. It all takes place in our Facebook group, so come and join our lovely, warm, supportive community. To find the Facebook group, go to declutter hub.com forward slash group to find out more, or you can search for the declutter hub community on Facebook. Well, Lesley, here,

01:33
we are talking about how 2024 has been quite a year for me, and how a lot has changed in my house, and I feel a bit like, Oh, I'm being interviewed by you. You

01:46
looked a little bit wistful there when you did the intro, actually, and understandably so, because we're talking about transitions. And one of the big transitions that happened to you this year was that Max left home, he's 18 years old, and went abroad, actually back over to Holland to go to university in Delft, which left you with a big gaping hole in your house where his room once was, and you made the very, very brave decision to kind of get rid of his room and use it for something different. I'm trying to think of a kind way to say it, but basically so we're going to talk through that a little bit. But before we do Ingrid, let's talk about the types of transitions that happen in people's lives that might mean that they want to repurpose something.

02:31
I think there's loads of things that impact how you set up your house or how you need to make changes. I mean, if I even look at my own life. You know, when I had the children spare bedrooms and guest rooms suddenly were turned into news nurseries and kids rooms. I at one point we had to, because Anne had a tiny room, which is now my office, which I'll tell a little bit more about later, but she had to have a desk. So we had to kind of configure our living room a little bit and put in an extra desk so she could work as well. Everything changes all the time. People who used to work in the office suddenly were realizing that they wanted to work from home, or had to work from home. So at home, suddenly home offices need to be created. So change, you know, involves also making, probably changes at home. Yeah, I think, you know, the

03:29
transitions that sort of spring to mind for me and obviously, obviously, as you've rightly said, there was a huge transition in the pandemic where everybody started working from home, and that's now here to stay for so many people. So that was a big transition in terms of repurposing room rooms, I think, you know, kids come in and go in. Is another big one. You know, as kids come into your life, as they start to grow, I mean, I had like a playroom here, which is now the office that I'm sitting in, didn't need a playroom anymore. And then, of course, as we go sort of further down the line, you know, sometimes we have elderly parents moving in. Sometimes our kids that left move back, you know, for if shortly or forever, we've got the transition of partners getting divorced or splitting up. We've got, you know, or losing a partner. You know, there are so many transitions in life where which may make you evaluate the space that you've got and whether it's being used for the right purpose at the moment. So I think the one thing that I would say is that there's a lot of emotional response to all of those things. If we think about all the things that we've mentioned, with the exception of maybe working from home, which is less emotional, they all involve people. And where people are involved, then emotions are involved. And so before we even get to a point of the practicalities of transitioning or repurposing a room, we really need to be ready, don't we? Ingrid. So let's talk about Max moving out. It's been a few months now, so let's talk about that. So how ready were you to for him to move out, and how easy was it for you to then look. Let go of his personal space.

05:02
I think it's been a process Lesley, for sure. I mean, to be really honest, I found the year before he left for uni, very hard. I think I really struggle with the fact that both the kids are growing up and that they just, you know, and of course, I've always raised them to be independent and to be ready and to make sure there are good, solid adults. You do your best, right? But I think suddenly, the the thought that he wasn't going to be here anymore, it really, really was hard on me. I struggled with it a lot. You know, this, we haven't talked about it a lot at all, really, but it was really tough for me. And of course, on top of that, I really struggled with my dad passing away as well this year. And on top of that, I really was kind of thrown into menopause as well. So all of the things kind of coming together kind of created a bit of a perfect storm. And the thought of him leaving was really hard. And I really, I was very emotional about it. I really, because I think we have, we have such a we had such a lovely family with the four of us. You know, we really love hanging out together. We do a lot of stuff together. We love traveling together and playing board games and just watching TV, just the normal things that I think it's nothing extraordinary, but it's just really nice to be as a family. And I think just the thought that it would suddenly become three was really overwhelming to me. I think also, because he was studying abroad, I he's backed in Holland, where I'm originally from, that was not such a problem for me, because we go to Holland all the time. I didn't go like, Oh my gosh, he's off to Holland. I will never see him again, because we still have, you know, we've seen him. We've been back twice already. We'll see him again for, you know, this upcoming Christmas. So that's all good, but I think it's more of the unknown. You know, finding a room in Holland is very, very, very, very difficult because there's a lot of people on a very small piece of land, so you need to really it's tricky. So that worried me a lot as well. But Max himself from the start said, Mom, I'm I'm leaving for uni. What are you going to do with my room. And I, of course, my first instinct was to say, well, we're going to keep your stuff. And he was like, Well, why would you do that? And I went, What do you mean? He said, Well, I'm not going to be here. So are you going to going to because in Holland, this the uni year is 40 to 42 weeks of the year, so they here. It's a lot less in the UK. So people, kind of kids come and go all the time, but in Holland, out of the 52 weeks they go to school, like four to 42 weeks, and then have to study on top of that. So he was like, so why are you keeping a room for me? Because the time that I'm off, I'm either studying in my own room, or I'm hopefully traveling a little bit, if I'm lucky, so I can just go into the guest room when I come home, I don't, you don't need to keep a whole room. For me, you've been in the guest room with your office for five years since the pandemic started, and I really, really want you to have a nice space, because I know how much you work. I know how much you need to record and film and all of that. So actually he was the one who suggested it. And I was a bit more like, whoa, hold on a minute. But he was like, seriously, Mom, I really want you to think about that, and I think it's really good thing for you if you get your own office and that kind of got the ball rolling. So it was him more than me. That kind of got, got, got the seed planted. And then when I kind of started to think about it, I thought, You know what, it does make sense to do a swap around. And then that's kind of the big that was kind of the start of it all. I

08:53
think it's an interesting, you know, the the whole 42 weeks, and being in Holland, which is your home country, is a slightly unusual sort of circumstance. I mean, obviously a lot of unis go for prolonged periods of time, not like, you know, my kids are kind of back before they left, like, back, because I kept saying, oh, they'll be back all the time. You know, my kids were kind of home like five and a half months out of 12. Do you know what I mean? So you feel like they're going and I think it's, it is very hard work, and particularly when your first child leaves home, it's a real wrench, you know, and that whole emptiness, and I was sobbing, and I was like preempting it to you and sort of saying, It's not nice. But then once they go, and then they come back with this kind of renewed, kind of sense of independence and annoyance, and kind of been all independent, I think they know everything. You're like, Okay, go back now. Bye. I thought it was sad, but now just, Oh, you dropped back to where you came from. And so you kind of get over it quite quickly, but, and I think there are, you know, Nathan's just left home for the last time, so he's left uni now, and he's gone down to London, so he's gone. So I've had that going on again, but it's sort of, you know, it's. Interesting one Ingrid, because you even though Max is over in Holland, and you would expect him to then come home, that's he would come home at the times when you're going to Holland, like because you go over at Christmas. And so the chances are he's going to be on family holidays like you always were. So he's home even less than the ordinary would be. And so it's really interesting that the sort of practical side of Max, I'm sure he's a chip off the old block, then came into play, and sort of said, Does it make any sense? And actually, when you get over it, you've got to get over that emotional wrench first, haven't you? I really,

10:35
I, because I always, you know, I, you know how like practical and things. So I kind of thought, you know, this emptiness syndrome, you know, oh, yell, cry. Oh, my gosh. It's really taken the wind out of my sails a couple of times where it's really like, wow, I have underestimated it. And the funny thing is that some of my friends who've got boys and girls the same age, they're now, they're gone. They're all like, Oh, they're gone. And I'm fine. I'm like, I'm so happy now for him, he's got a room. He's living his best life. He's made lots of friends. He is doing well. He suddenly has to, he has us in stitches because he's like, I have to cycle everywhere. I'm so tired, which we think is hilarious, because that's what we do in Holland. You cycle everywhere. So he's really like, the reason why he wanted to go to Holland is because he really wanted to lift them, because he's, although he feels Dutch, he's never lived in Holland, so that was the whole reason he was like, I really want to live there and see how the culture is and what it's like. And he's picking up on that, and it makes me just so immensely proud to see him and do all the things and make mistakes and move on and but with the language, and it's a lot to take in, you know? And of course, they don't have holes. A lot of students here in the UK, they live in like holes, and they still can have a canteen where they can get food and stuff. But Max is in a room by himself. Okay, it's a student flat with lots of little one one room apartments, but he's got his own little kitchen, his own little bathroom, so he has to shop and cook and do laundry and change beds and clean and you know, he had me laughing so hard because he rang me one day and he said, like, Mama, how do I clean my bathroom? Because she told it to me, but I didn't write it down. And now I don't know the order, and I'm like, I'm so proud of him, you know what I mean, but I'm happy for him now. But, Gosh, I really wish I could be a bit more positive than last year, because me All in all kinds of, in all kinds of kind of thoughts. And it was, yeah, the whole emptiness syndrome was much bigger than I anticipate. And you try to warn me, of course, and I do listen to you, but I think it's for so different for everybody, and how you respond to things you don't know until you don't know. And now he's there. He's fine. He's thriving. He's doing well. He's going clubbing in Amsterdam, and I'm like, Oh, I don't want to know. Please be careful.

13:06
So, yeah, so there's obviously, I think we can't underestimate the emotional response to that. I think is what we're saying, particularly if it involves people leaving, yeah, to me, because you do want to, kind of, you know, it's a natural human response to want to sort of safeguard that a little bit and not to let those memories kind of evaporate overnight. And so, you know, we can be forgiven for keeping hold of rooms for longer than perhaps would be considered to be rational. Then let's call it, yeah. But anyway, so we've got pragmatic mum, we've got pragmatic son. And he goes, Oh, mom, change the rooms. So then we had Anne coming into the mix, right? Because it was like, well, it makes perfect sense for Anne to then move into Max's room, because I think Max had the bigger room, right? And had a smaller room. And and Anne was like, oh, no, I don't know whether I want to, wasn't she? So she was reluctant, wasn't she? Of yes, yeah,

14:00
it was, I asked her, like, several times, like, Anne, would you like to move into Max's room because it's bigger, it's on the back of the house. You can really have maybe even put a little desk in, or a chair, or all your furniture will fit a little bit. But she had a tiny books room. I like, I mean, a bed, tiny bookcase, little trolley. That's what we're talking about, Tiny. And she's like, No, happiest Larry in my little room. I don't want to move she doesn't like, change a lot, and I'm like,

14:26
another chip off the old block.

14:28
I know, I know I'm happy where I am. Don't move me. But she did say a lot already, for a while, she really wanted to change her room up because it was still very pink. And she's like, I'm kind of over this whole pink situation, although she still likes pink, but not pink walls, pink curtains, pink everything. So I said, Why like

14:50
my room? Then would she very pink?

14:54
So we kind of said, well, so I said to her, Well, why don't you we need to think about a plan. How we're gonna do this. And I said, you don't need to decide now if you want to change move to Max's room. Even my sister got involved. I was like, Are you sure and doesn't want to move to the bigger room? And I'm like, I've asked her, like, seven times, not, like, in one night over time, because I want her to give her the option. I don't want her to feel pressured. Because she's also started a new school with new friends and and so I thought she's got enough on her plate. If she doesn't want to move, I'm not going to force her. I mean, I'm happy wherever. If I go into Matt's room, man's room, I'm good, whatever happens. And then we had a whole conversation. I set her down, and I was like, Okay, right. Let's talk this through a little bit. What, what would you like? And she said, I'm really not sure. I said, Well, okay, I have a plan. I said, Max's room needs to be painted like your room. So why don't we paint Max's room, give it a bit of a freshen up, because whether I move in or you move in, it needs to be painted. Then when your room gets painted, you need to move in there anyway, so you can move up your stuff. So you have a week or week and a half when that's painting your room to decide if you like it, and if you want to move back, you move back, because we're going to have to move things anyway. And if you're happy as Larry, you stay in there, and then I'll move into your room. And that's exactly what happened. So I didn't kind of ask her to decide within like two days. I gave her time to get her head around it, because these are big decisions, right? Especially for her with a lot of change going on, I didn't want to put that pressure on her. And in the end, once the kind of the Curtis went up in the in Max's old room, which is now her room, and once we got a rug, and once we got a she's like, I actually really like it. Here Can I stay? And I'm like, You do you if you want to stay, that's fine. And if that's now the deal, and now, then I knew I could move into her room, because that was painted then as well. So it's been a pro it's been a lot of carrying furniture back and forward. Lesley, that's that's the truth.

16:57
So let's go to a break now. So we've talked about the emotional connection to moving rooms, because it is quite big, you know, with these transitions that go on in life. So we're gonna go for a break, we're gonna come back, and we're gonna talk about the practical matters of repurposing a room. Well,

17:11
welcome back to part two of how to repurpose rooms in your home. And I'm feeling like I'm being interviewed, but Lesley, I like it. I could just sit here and tell my story. Lesley,

17:21
well, there's many things I could interview on that could that are not available for public broadcast. Shall I tell everybody what you were talking about before we came up, but we came online, so Ingrid was, like, I need to paint my hair. I'm like, I'm sorry, I need to paint my hair. And then she went, Oh, I mean, dye my hair. So she's got some grays bobbing through. I know the Dutch word for dye your hair is indeed

17:46
paint. Yeah, fun, which means paint. So I always say the wrong thing. I never say dye my hair. Also, I need to paint my hair so my family knows it, unless he finds it very funny.

18:00
Yeah, exactly. Anyway, um, let's talk about the practical matter. So okay, so we've got a scenario where, you know, in a nutshell, the spare room is, is quite a big room in your house. You had a desk in there, but, yeah, there was also a bed and laundry, that kind of stuff, and laundry, yeah, then we've got back seat room, had, like, this sort of medium sized bedroom, and had a box room, so, so Anne's happy in Max's room, which is a bigger one, so you're now in the box room, and that is where your office is, where you are sitting right now if you're watching us on YouTube. So what, what did we need to consider from a practical perspective when we were doing these moves? Because that's actually three rooms being impacted, right? Yeah.

18:40
So it all started with, of course, what's going to happen with Max's stuff? Because that's where it started. And Max was still in one of those desk beds, kind of with a high bed with a desk below it, situation. And we were like, whatever happens if he even comes back as an eight year old, we're not going to let him climb up a ladder to go to a bed. So whatever we're going to do year old

19:04
man going up, it's

19:08
just like, yeah, that's where we're past it. But we tried to change his bed before, but he really liked having his desk. So it's like, well, then the room is not big enough to have a separate desk and a separate bed. So that was the first thing, like, Okay, where's all the stuff going to go? So Max, and I, I helped him, because this was, like, a big, big thing. So we actually went through it in different phases. So we looked at his clothes one session. It's like, I'm talking with the client. But we did, like, a session on clothes. We did a session on like, all of his books and things like that. And we did a session on all of the other oh my gosh, so much other stuff. And we actually kind of basically make three different piles, things he was going to take with him to Holland, things he was going to would want to declutter and could be donated, and things that he were sentimental to. Him, and that had to go into the into my loft. So and Max also is an absolutely avid LEGO fan, and we all agreed, as a family, Lego is non negotiable. We will not declutter that from this house. So lots of that stuff all went in the loft. So it involved buying boxes. It involved labeling. It involved decluttering and donating stuff. It involves putting the bed on OLIO because and people said, Well, why don't you sell it? I'm like, this bed has done such a good job. It was not expensive at the time. I would like to really make somebody else. We put it on OLIO a free giveaway site, and it was snapped up. The mattress had to go to the recycling center because that was done finished. So is with office chair was broken, so we went, brought that. So it was like, a lot of like, just decluttering, first to make space, and then that room was empty so it could then be painted and done up. So my husband had, like, was involved then, and he was like, doing all of that. And while that happened, we started to think about, okay, when are we going to move Anne over? So when that room was ready, we then moved Anne over into that room with her bed and her little bookcase and her little trolley. And kind of went, Okay, how, how is does the room look now? And I had my eye on Max's bookcase, a little bookcase from Ikea that I really liked, but I was like, I'm having that as well. I went, Oh, okay, right, fine. You keep that, because she had a whole plan of how she wanted that room to look. And it looks lovely. And I also then swapped over some light fittings and some curtains, because the ones in Mexico's room are now in the guest room, and the ones from the guest room are now in Anne's new room, because it made better. It was better for the atmosphere of the room. It looked much better. So that was kind of phase one. And

21:55
the thing you have to think about these things really once, if you repurpose a room, you've really got to think about what that's, what that how that's going to look and if it's going to, you know, sew a curtain that might be good in a bedroom, might not be good in an office, and all that kind of stuff. And I know that when you got to moving in to Anne's old room, which is now your office, there were a lot of things that needed to be taken into consideration, because it is a completely different space to what you had. So explain a little bit about some of the things that you had to do. Were you expecting them? Were you not expecting them? You know, were there any curve balls that came your way?

22:31
So, yeah. So then Anne moved out this room, got painted, and I was like, right? I want to get I wanted to get a new desk, because the desk that I had was 20 years old that we even had bought in Ireland when we lived in Dublin, and had survived like three or four house moves. And I was like, I really want to have a little bit more space. But I was I thought, let me be smart, because this room that I'm going to is not very big, so let me take my old desk with me so I can just see how does the size work? Because I a lot of mistakes that people make. Is when they go shopping, they buy furniture that is too big. You see the lot with sofas, right? Lesley, we know this from example. People are in the shop, so go. I love this sofa, but then don't think, does this actually work in my house? So I thought the same thing about my desk. I thought, I want to put my old desk in because that's not too big, but it's it's good enough. And I actually realized, wow, I can't really go for a much larger desk because it won't fit. Then secondly, what we found out is that this room, the sound is completely different, because Anne only had a little blinder roller rolling down blind she didn't have curtains in her room because it's a tiny room and it has a wooden floor, and because of her bed took up so much space, she only had a tiny little square rug, but nothing big. So I realized that once we moved in and we were starting to record podcasts and lives, and it sounded really hollow. So you were like, You need somebody like, I know, I know, but I had to do everything in faces, right? Unless you I just, I had to get a new desk first, and then to do my setup. The lighting is different in this room, so I had to kind of make sure. So I actually went to IKEA, I got my new desk, and I got a sit, stand desk. So every once in a while, I can just press a button and my desk goes up, because, I think, because we are behind the computer so much, I think it's really important that we think about our posture and our bodies as well. And every once in a while when I'm like, Oh, I'm getting a bit stiff, I just put my desk up and I have my standing desk. And then, so we did that first, and then I got bought a new little bookcase, because I really wanted to get some stuff together that was in the guest room downstairs, in my living room cupboards. I wanted to get it all together, and I really wanted to get a new little display in my room. So Anne and I went to IKEA again and got. This lovely display that is apparently originally for bathrooms. But we were like, this is perfect to display some bits that I have. And then the last phase was, okay, we have to look at the light and sound in this room. And that's when I got a rug, I got some curtains, and I've got these really funny square sound absorbing cubes, and they actually look really nice, but yeah, it really helps with the sound. So it's been a work in progress. I still have one more thing to do, and it said I want to get a new roller blind, but that might have to wait a couple of weeks until till January, until I've got time to kind of look at that. So it's been a process. And

25:43
I think it's fair to say Ingrid that, you know, some of the things that have been an issue have been because we are kind of effectively using that office as a studio, almost to record. And so those things wouldn't be relevant to a lot of people if you were just repurposing something into your own personal office space or into a different bedroom and stuff. But, you know, it's important to think about lighting. It's important to think about what kind of curtains you're going to need, and are there, you know, if you've got, you've, if you've had curtains that let the light through, do you need blackout blinds? Blinds, if you're going to be sleeping in there, you need to think about the sound. Because one of the other things that we've noticed as well, obviously, because, you know, and it is, as I say, because we're recording, it's English now at the front of the house, and so it's a lot more noisy. So we can hear those ambulances going past every five minutes and stuff like that. So not a lot we can do about it, but we can hear it, right? Yeah. So you need to, these are the things that you need to factor in, you know. So even if you want, you know, if you want a good night's sleep, you know, is being at the back of the house the ideal scenario compared to the front of the house. You know, things like that are really, really important. You know, as Ingrid's mentioned, she's looked at lighting, she's looked at curtains, she's looked at storage and organization. She doesn't need that much storage in there, but she's just got a little more of a little display. But it's important to make sure that if you are repurposing a room, you've got the right storage in place. She talks about that in Anne's room as well. So all of these things need to be factored in. But it all starts first of all with that emotional response, and then it's all about trying to work out what the purpose of the room is and decluttering it. Because if you recreate a different room, a whole room is going and so you need to think about where, you know, really, really important. You can't just go, I'm going to change that into an office if it was a boat. An office, if it was a bedroom, where's all the stuff going to go that was in there in the first place, you know? Yeah, as Ingrid said, Somebody went into donation. A few elements that have gone up in the loft. Some of it's been given away. So there's, you know, and some of it's gone with Max and so different sort of purposes. So you've got to really go through that whole process. And it's not something that you can do overnight. Is it something no take time? Yeah, for

27:44
sure. And I think for me as well, that I got a little bookcase for this office as well. And I now, for the first time ever, have got all of my files and my paperwork and the things and my decluttering books, because I love reading the cluttering books, or some of them are on display here. I've got more, but I've realized when I pull it all together, I was like, okay, I can actually decorate some of this stuff. I need to go through some of this stuff. I need to get rid of some of this stuff. I need to shred some of this stuff. So I've really done it in phases and done little bits and books over time, because these are big projects. And with our lives, you know, being full with everything that we do, you can't just go, Well, yeah, just one weekend and it will all be fine. This has been a process over several months. It's now the final tweaks and the final little bits and bobs that we still want to want to do. And it actually, this whole process has now prompted my husband to do much more painting, because we suddenly went, Wow, these rooms look so nice. Maybe we should paint the guest bedroom as well now. And of course, maybe the master bedroom needs a lick of paint, and the hallway really needs doing, and we need to do some in the kitchen. And so it's like, almost, it's kind of made a snowball. And I actually said over December this month, now I don't want any DIY, because I want to focus on, on the holidays. I want to focus on, you know, on on Christmas, on all of that. But I know for sure, and in January it will start up again, and we'll do some more. Because, you know, it's just, it's kind of, yeah, it's really given a fresh bit of energy to kind of go, Okay, what, what do we need to fix, and what needs to be repaired. And when the room is empty, it's like the perfect time to do this. You know, I think about electricity. Do you need to have some extra extension cords? What makes what just makes sense? Where can we move the furniture around, and all of these things? I think

29:37
it's really interesting, actually, because I think, you know, a lot of times when people come to us, you know, certainly, for one to one, help in particular, they are overwhelmed with stuff. If you're in the throes of child rearing, and we all know what that is. You know, we got kids between two and 10, for example, it can feel completely overwhelming with the volume of stuff and the amount of rooms that need to be taken up with said to children and then all. A sudden, there's life kind of, you know, we always say it gets better because the stuff starts to diminish a little bit. And then now what you can see in Ingrid's home, you know, and Ingrid's got a lovely, big home, but just by taking Max's room out of it, you can spread out that little bit more. It's exactly the same here. You know, when in the pandemic, you know, Luke had a bedroom upstairs. He moved out. He'd been gone a couple of years, and then Steve could then, you know, Steve was in like, a tiny, little office downstairs with no window. Then all of a sudden, I'm like, you can't just stay there when you're working from home all the time. So he's gone up into Luke's bedroom. And again, it was emotional wrench. You know, Luke still kind of, I've not got a I've not got a room to stay. And I'm like, Luke, you've moved out, like, six years ago, you don't need a room and so, you know, things like that. So it's really interesting. But I think if I were to think about the key messages that have come from the things You're upsetting with, I think first and foremost, it's about being ready for that, because you need to be completely committed to it, don't you to be able to go through that process. I think it's thinking about the decluttering side of things. So where is the stuff going to go if you're going to repurpose and effectively eradicate one room worth of stuff? And then thinking about a process that means that you've thought through the esthetics, the lighting, the sounds, the you know, the implications, the furniture, all of those kind of things. And to take your time. This is not something you can on a whim. Wake up one morning and go, I'm going to move rooms around. This needs to be carefully planned and executed, doesn't it? Ingrid,

31:30
yeah, for sure. And I think that's key, and that's something I think that because you underestimate how much you gotta know, how much work it is, but you still underestimated how much time it costs to, you know, pull take a bed apart, move it all across, putting it back together, and all of these things and, and it's really, I think, really helped me to, you know, pull over. So there's, like, some cupboards in the spare bedroom that have always been tricky to get into the last four or five years because my my office, my desk was blocking those rooms. So now I'm getting ready to go, Okay, actually, it's time. Now, in the new year, I'm going to pull open some of these cupboards, have a re look at some of this stuff. I did some back in November that I was like, okay, and now there's, oh, I can actually open the doors. I got space to pull stuff out. So it's really, I think, shows that decluttering is something that you can break down. You I did not do three full weekends or three full weeks. We've, we've really broken it down in smaller chunks a half an hour during the evening here. Oh, what's this file of paperwork? Let me look at that and just sort through it. Then over time, and it's really all falling into place now. So it's really, really lovely. And you know, Max is excited to be home, coming home with us after Christmas, after we see him in Holland, he's going to come back with us for the new year. So it's fantastic. And he will be in the spare bedroom, and he is all fine with that. So, yeah, exciting, it's really brought a kind of a new lease of life when you change stuff around, but it feels good now, and I think that's the most important thing. And I still miss him, though I still miss him, yeah. Well, thank

33:11
you so much Ingrid for sharing your story. Did you like be interviewed by me? Yes, I

33:16
did. Actually, we need to do this more often.

33:19
I know, I don't need to think about something that you can interview me. Um, anyway, right, okay, so I think that's everything. Yes,

33:27
I think so too. So listeners, have you thought about, has the spotters made you think? Have you thought yourself actually, does my current home work for me? Do the rooms all fit a purpose? Does it fit in with my current lifestyle and what I would like to have in my home? Or has it made you think, God, I need to actually repurpose some spaces. I want to do what Ingrid's done, and I'm going to take the new year. I'm going to do this. I need help decluttering and organizing. Just know our membership is here if you need help with decluttering and organizing your home, that is why we set up the membership, and we've got everything you need, courses, advice, support, motivation in our membership to help you with this decluttering and organizing. So thanks so much for listening, and we'll see you next week.

34:25
Thanks so much for listening to the declutter hut podcast. Don't forget to subscribe to us in your podcast player so you don't miss an episode and we'll see you next week.
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Episode 324 – How to repurpose rooms in your home

Episode 393 – How a Clutter-Free Home Strengthens Relationships – A Valentine’s special

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Episode 389 – Overcoming mobility challenges when decluttering with member Rory

Episode 388 – Start as you mean to go on – plan 2026 for decluttering success

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