I'm going to replace two doors with cracked doorjambs. My bedroom and hall bath should not be opened any time my kids want to intrude anymore!

I'm going to tackle our master bedroom closet! So many clothes that need to be donated, better organization needed, etc. Just piles of shoes in a corner, piles of purses on a high shelf, blah!

I'm going to unload an enormous pile of no-longer-needed bulky items, including some baby gear and a huge box of maternity clothes, that are eating up a chunk of my basement. I've been putting it off for awhile, but I've already Craigslisted a few items and it's amazing what a difference it makes in your psyche!

I'm going to add a gallery wall of photos and art above a side piece in the living room. I currently have one small oil painting my sister painted - I want to add a few more pieces! Definitely taking before and afters.

I will tackle the refrigerator door this month. I plan to discard all the old cards/photos/ugly magnets and replace with attractive, functional magnets, a cute pen holder, and some chalkboard contact paper. And make it sparkling clean, of course.

I am going to finish upholstering a large ottoman/daybed that I made last year and have been afraid to upholster. I don't know what I am doing, but it has to get done. I bought the fabric yesterday on super sale, dark grey denim! Wish me luck....

Painting a chalkboard on one wall of our hallway. I thought it was whimsical when I thought of it, but DS has made several comments that make it clear that would be a great place to write checklists for getting ready for school/bed, lists of things to do, notes to each other, that sort of thing.

I'm going to empty out and tidy the entryway coat closet. There are coats that are now too small for my son, and coats that we no longer wear, and probably even some formalwear in coat bags that should be relocated. I'm sick of having nowhere to hang our company's coats when there is a closet right there!

Yesterday's thinking made me want to rearrange the living room! I'm also already getting rid of unwanted furniture, so this will be more open to guests and minimal.

I'm finally going to frame all the prints I've collected over the past year and hang them up. I got a headstart on my project this weekend by measuring and ordering all the frames I need (FYI Amazon has good deals on basic black frames). I'll definitely be taking before and after pictures, because I think it will make a huge difference to have framed prints hung nicely vs. unframed ones stuck up using poster strips!

I am redoing my laundry room too. It's the family friend entry and is so super ugly I get depressed walking into the house. Already took the top off a French desk to go over the washer and dryer and now need to figure out how to control the clutter from four people and make an easily removable skirt to camouflage the washer and dryer. And maybe a place to sit and remove shoes.

I'm going to enlist my husband's help to replace our hallway coat closet doors. They are broken and hideous!

My husband and I painted our master bedroom right when we moved into our new home in hopes that the usually most neglected room in the house would become our little sanctuary, clutter free! Other then paint and building night stands, not much else happened. While we can't upcycle our dresser due to the cold, I'd still like to get up some artwork on the walls, sew some drapes for our window, start sewing some accent bed pillows, finish up a giant thrifted mirror we upcycled, and continue some of that look/feel with artwork into the adjoining hallway. I also need to make sure the closets and dresser are organized! Decor is nothing without cleanliness.

I am reorganizing my kitchen, drawers, pantry, the lot. I feel my outbag will be filled with a lot of stuff.

I went a little ahead (whoops) and completed two small project. They should really be considered one. Just installed some hooks and a tower to store stuffed animals. I shared pictures here: http://turningithome.blogspot.com/2013/01/hooking-up-some-hoodies.html

I'm going to go through the cupboards and drawers in my dining room buffet, which I use as storage for my daughter's craft supplies, and organize and declutter so she can actually find things when she wants them! It's a disaster right now, so I'm really looking forward to this project!

I am so grateful for this group! It inspired me to tackle the hidden black holes in my house. They were the first off my list to get attention and it feels so good to know they're now beautifully organized! http://www.revamphomegoods.com/2013/01/tackling-bathroom-cabinet.html

I have a serious problem corner that I've been putting off since moving into my studio in August. It happens to be my "office" corner, but is also piled with crafting supplies and a few unpacked boxes. I'm going to purge a lot of said crafting supplies, organize the things that are staying, and clear off my desk so it is a more pleasant place to sit and work. It's a bigger project that's been overwhelming me for months, but now that the Cure has given me the courage/will to purge I know I can do this!

We have been using our master bedroom as a second storage unit. This month, I will move everything we've been storing in our room to the storage unit. I would like to eliminate the storage unit, but my husband is very attached to it.

I am going to tackle the entryway closet tonight. I started clearing the shelves last week, so I need to keep going. I also need to keep working on the floors to catch up!

Time to re-seal the kitchen floor, and tackle the entryway closet!

I'm going to tackle my kitchen. One wall has some roller strokes of the chalkboard green colour I plan to paint it and people are starting to ask questions. So, I want to tackle that wall at the very least.

I am going to create and hang art in my living room. I have all the supplies and inspiration. This is a little more than a few hours, but it will be so worth it.

I have a computer desk and desktop taking up the corner of one part of my living room. Since we have all moved to laptops and the PC is outdated, I want to get rid of both the computer and desk, and add some more seating to my living room! I just ordered a new lamp and area rug for the space for old/broken replacements, so it will be a great part of this redesign.

This is embarrassing to admit, but we are still living out of suitcases, boxes and laundry baskets in our bedroom, more than a year after moving into our "new" house. But I just bought a dresser, and am going to tackle the piles once and for all! Would I love to finish painting the great room? Yes, of course. But getting our room and our clothes in order will make a bigger difference in our day-to-day lives.

I'm going to tackle our desk in the living room. My husband and I have piles of papers that need to be shredded, books that need a better organization strategy, and more of a work surface. Since it's one of the first things we see when we walk into our apartment, I'm convinced that it will make the largest impact and dramatically increase my happiness.

I'll be tackling my closet. I have things in there my husband and I haven't used in years, some even have traveled with us up the coast from move to move! I love before and after photos!

I'm going to paint and redecorate our bedroom!

I am going to be brave and paint the repurposed changing table that's now in my dining room. When my son graduated to a big boy bed and no more diapers, we moved this bulky item out of his tiny room and into our dining room with the intention of using it as dining storage, but although it is lovely (handmade, hardwood, with great storage options inside) it was painted white, which now shows many layers of dirt and has been colored all over by the kid. Going to be painted a nice brick red. Fortunately I have had all the supplies for quite some time.

One side of my bedroom needs to be organized. It's been a catch-all area and is really messy. I can tackle that this afternoon.

I'm going to paint my mis-matched dining room chairs! Will buy the paint this afternoon.

I have a giant pile of papers on the floor in the living room. Some of these need to go into files, some need to be shredded and some just need to go into the recycling bin.

We don't own a shredder, so the shred pile needs to be brought to my mother-in-law's place. She lives nearby and we visit her almost every weekend to do stuff around the house and just to say hi, so I just need to remember the bring the pile with me. I've forgotten for so long that I no longer know which pile is the shred pile!

I am going to clean out and organize the guest room closet, it is our giant outbox, and it is high time it became more useful, for us and our guests.

My boyfriend just moved in, so our one project is actually a whole lot of tech stuff: Mount his flat screen where my desk currently is, then run the ethernet connection from the living room to the newly-created office. Then I want to hide the flat screen when not in use with some floor to ceiling curtains. Has anyone hidden a TV this way? I'm having trouble finding examples.

I'm going to paint and organize my living room. I was having a really difficult time determining what color to paint it, but I recently finished setting up my dining area and the curtains I found for that have inspired me with colors for the living room. So the goal this weekend is to repaint the living room off-white (all walls are currently a darker blue) and find sample colors for the accent wall so I can paint swatches on those walls and see what they look like at different times of day. THEN I can finally organize my living room as well. I want to mount my TV on the wall and get rid of the unnecessary TV cabinet that's taking up floor space, but I haven't wanted to do that until determining what color to paint the walls.

Well, I am moving ahead fast and furious. First thing we did was buy flowers (as suggested) and placed them on the dining table along with a nice table cloth. Then we tackled the refrigerator, and then organized the total pantry (sorry, didn't take pictures). My husband and I are ready to tackle lots of other small projects (music room, organize and catalog CDs, computer area and first floor bathroom, which has a crack in the sink for the last 7 years!!!).

My project is going to be my entryway! It is the first thing I see when I walk in the door, but also a catch all for shoes, coats, hats, bags, etc. There is just a small cubby bench there now, however, I have big plans and ideas to make it more functional and not such an eye sore when you first walk in to my house!! I can't wait to get started!!

My project is going to be finally putting up art in my dining nook and starting some wall storage for pots and pans :) The poor little blank wall needs some love. Pictures will follow!

There are three things I am determined to tackle. One is fixing the holes in my bedroom wall and painting it, one is cleaning and painting the front door frame - as these are both touch up paint jobs, I'm going to treat them as one project. The other is to get the guest bedroom really nice - clear the storage from under the bed, move a dresser in there, add a bedside light and hang art work.

I will be tackling my books and magazines. I already have a taker for some magazines, and I also plan on making a file in my filing cabinet for dogeared pages. Even though I probably won't make much use of the file, just having it will make it easier to toss the giant stacks of magazines. The books will be tougher, but I think I've found a good place to donate thanks to AT, and I'm hoping that participating the Cure will make me feel more accountable to the task.

We are tackling the guest room - so we can actually have guests! It's currently full of craft supplies, office stuff, a guest bed... luggage and unpacked boxes of stuff I need to take to work/ship to another employer out of state. It all sounds monumental, but about 20 minutes each evening should be enough to get it done in a couple of weeks! Blogging about it here: http://honeywithoutflowers.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-january-cure-challenge-post-1.html Where you can see a mini-makeover of a corner.

I already started tackling this project this weekend -- so I'm afraid it's too late for before photos. I am taking our old torn bedskirt and upcycling the fabric to upholster our boxspring. And because I won't have the tattered bedskirt anymore to hide my storage bins under the bed -- I also plan on clearing out everything from under there. The end result will make our bedroom feel more airy and uncluttered.

P.S. This is my first comment on Apartment Therapy. I've been a lurker for years -- but "The Cure" brought me out of hiding. :)

Since we're going to be doing a lot of decluttering and that's what's largely on my list, I'm going to reorganize so my boyfriend has more space for his stuff and move some furniture around so we make our empty second room more functional.

I had the great fortune to have my Mum and Dad visiting me this past week (I live in New York they live in England). My Dad kindly donated some of their sightseeing time to helping me round the apartment. Curtain pole up to hide the terrible kitchen from view, Askew lampshade in the spare room fixed, wobbly taps now solid, kitchen cupboard that didn't shut now clicks satisfyingly, Spare room layout completely swopped round (if anyone could tell me what was working and what wasn't it's going to be your guests!), hall table from Ikea built, new sturdy shelf in the wardrobe built, holes drilled in pots to stop the plants from swimming away this summer - I love Dad's and mine in particular! Does it still count for the cure if your Dad did the bulk of the work, it was my list...?!

I am gonna work on preparing/sectioning off a dining area in an open living room space. I think having a formal area to eat and enjoy meals will really make a difference and be a great start to a new year.

dhw--I've done some *AMATEUR* home upholstering and I swear by the following method: 1) carefully remove the existing fabric cover, 2) use that as a pattern to cut out your fabric, making sure to have a standard seam allowance (always cut with an inch or half-inch "extra" from the edge of the piece), and 3) pin together and sew your new pieces, or pin together and take it to a laundry shop to get them to sew it together for you, then 4) cross your fingers and put it on! You can probably staple along the bottom if it's an ottoman, but if it's a chair you may want to pick the seam you'll hand sew strategically. My mantra has been "here goes nothing" & it's worked pretty well so far!
designsponge has a series on how to upholster stuff, too, FYI

I'm tackling my guest room. Since I've moved in it's just been a catch all for my junk I'm trying to hide from people, I would like it to be a functioning guest room so I can have people stay over.

Me too! I've been reading this blog obsessively ever since my first college apartment. It's MUCH more satisfying to read it with a full time job and accompanying salary :)

I'm dismantling a MacGyver-esque footstool/ottoman that I constructed from a lap desk, a computer monitor box, tapestry scrap fabric & safety pins. Kind of proud of my ingenuity, but it's not that comfy, not exactly high enough, and sure looks homemade. The harder part of the project will be figuring out another footstool on a grad student budget!

Congrats on tackling the magazines! I have tons of them, mostly cooking mags, and find it hard to toss them even though I hardly ever read them after the initial read. I've been trying the same approach you mention of keeping in a file just the pages I think I may use someday. As you say, I also somehow doubt I'll use them much, but it makes tossing the magazines easier.
I've also been trying to get rid of books by donating them to my library's book sale. It's hard to part with some, but I want to make room for new books that match my current interests, and I have limited space so there's not much choice really. So far I got rid of about 50 books, it still doesn't show as I had them mostly stored in boxes out of sight, but it's a step forward. Good luck with your books!

I'm going to work on our living room bookshelf. The shelf actually doesn't work with my or my husband's style so it will need replaced. I will spend some time on craigslist and restore the right piece. Plus the bookshelf is cluttered and needs some help just to look presentable. Here I go!!!

Day 5: Estefania's List
Over the weekend I did too much and Sunday things starting to fail and nothing worked out. I should have take the day off. On Monday morning the house looked messy, but I fix it up during the day. Yesterday I took 10 minutes to visualized the living room with less furniture, things that got moved there over the weekend and needs to be gone. That space also hold a drum set and two little guitars, and it's what we need now: space to move freely and to live life, not to let pass me by. Someday we will have a regular living room for now we use our little "back room" because is smaller and feels comfortable.
Today the house feels refresh and clean.
Only one project? That takes a lot of pressure off me! Thank you Apartment Therapy! I will pick to take the furniture out and find a place for the things that were inside there and still keep doing the other things along, I will share pictures. The idea when I started The Cure, was to work hard in the house for a month, create flow, make it functional and use the rest of the year doing other things. I remember years ago reading Maxwell's book where he talks about going in a bike trip to Europe and how he realized that people with less stuff moved faster and enjoy more. I really liked that idea and the opportunities that creates for all of us to stop consuming and start living life instead.

I'm going with a modest goal. The area next to my computer hutch catches junk like bubble wrap, power chargers, extension cords, and who knows what. If I can clean it up (and possibly make a charging station), then I could move the shredder right next to the place where bills are filed. That would certainly make sense.

For my project of choice I want to tackle decluttering. I should do the entryway closet, that is packed, but I'll start by decluttering my bedroom closet and chests of drawers first as I believe that will have the most impact. Good luck everyone!

Shoe storage, other storage and declutter my front hall closet. It will be embarrassing to take a picture of it now, but I will do so. It's a huge double closet which looks like a bomb site, if there were a bomb that only affected shoes and boots.

I'm finally going to purchase and put up bamboo blinds and red curtains for the living room window, which will replace the blanket currently covering it. I've been in my house for over 5 months now, and it's time it looked like a real room. I also plan to make a foam-core board covered with wrapping paper for hanging my necklaces on, but that's a small one.

Painting my kitchen walls today! It's a small kitchen and will be able to get it done in one day. The walls are currently a rose color that was there when we moved in last year, I'm painting it a nice cream to really brighten up the small space, I can't wait, it will feel wonderful to get done!

I'm going to declutter, organize and decorate my bookshelf. I live in a bachelor apartment and every piece of furniture makes a HUGE difference. Right now, it looks the same as it did when I was 18, I think it's time for an update!

I'm debating tackling my craft room/office and the shelves overflowing with fabric etc that I bought years ago and am not even inspired by anymore, or (gulp) hiring someone to paint the kitchen, bathroom and hallway. I am so tired of the dingy beige walls (which I wanted to repaint after moving in 3 years ago), but also know I just don't have the time and energy to do it well myself -- I've got very tall ceilings, a modest fear of ladders, some cracks that need proper patching, a full-time job and a 4 year old... I've never hired a painter before, so am stuck on that, but this might be the only way to get it done.

I am finally going to combine our 2 home office spaces into one! We have a desk in the laundry room and one out in the family room. I need to clean out the desk and a large amoire, both full of useless junk. We will keep only what we need and have those items in the proper place. The laundry room desk and chair will be donated.

Paperpaperpaperpaperpaper. I need to file a bunch of it. I need to shred most of it. I need to get in the habit of dealing with it promptly. In the end, I'll either reclaim the tiny bedroom that I use as a home office... or move, and not have to wonder why I moved a whole bunch trash!

Oh.. I am a little backwards but early enough to catch up. I too am going thru the house and de-cluttering! so far my closet which was in good shape but just needed top re-order cardis and tops...gave 2 things to friends, got hubby to clean out his, gone thru 4 bathroom vanities and thrown away a ton of samples i never used and a few expired products. Next is on to the office and paper piles to file and shred. Making some decisions while in de-cluttering mode. Set up a coffee table and sofa we inherited in living room in an arrangement that i think will work.

Kitchen Counter

Going to reorganize it so only items/appliances that is used regularly will stay out. I'll have to find another place for the rest.

I called this morning to request a substitute for a magazine I receive. I receive this one because Domino folded back in 2008, and I was paid out forever. But I do not really read the one I get (and it is not a shelter magazine). So I figured I would get one I might actually read and enjoy: Conde Nast Traveler. The reason I consider this a project worthy of mention here is the large box (double stack) of issues of the magazine I received will stop growing. Magazine clutter has also been a project I've been studying and making changes regarding for a few years now...and I finally have my subscriptions down to what I want: a shelter, an entertainment (movies, TV, books, etc), a fashion, an inspiring, a writing, and now a travel.

I also plan to put together a coat tree I bought over a year ago. It was a mild winter last year, and I didn't need a coat very often. But I'd like this for when I do and for when company comes over. It is a sleek, modern look with a place for umbrellas also. Back in the fall I finally unboxed and placed an all-in-one printer I'd owned for nearly a year and a half. I bought a humidifier last week and started using it almost immediately (second day), so maybe I'm getting better!

I'm going to tackle our office closet! Right now it's holding mostly boxes full of pictures and larger mirrors/pictures (we moved a few months ago). It needs to hold lesser-used sewing/crafting/office supplies so that the bookcases in our office aren't overflowing. (And so I can finally find those googly eyes I needed for Halloween! *LOL*)

This almost doesn't seem big enough, but I know it will make a huge difference. As a mom of 4 boys who also home schools, I'm going to clear off our dining table. It's the first thing you see when you walk in the front door and has become the dropping spot. It is also used daily for school and 3 meals.

I plan to hang curtains as a divider between my living room and bedroom for privacy when guests sleep on the couch and to close off the bedroom when otherwise appropriate. I've been round and round with how to go about this, but every solution has been unsatisfactory including the latest one (tall curtains hung on the LR side). I was enjoying Lonnymag yesterday and saw a great example of what I'd like, at last: curtains that go right across the opening-- but rather than using a tension rod, rigged with a thick wood decorative rod. Plus I'll need the panels. Can't wait!

@A Life of Cyn: I dealt with paper in December. It took a while, but it was worth it. I collected more than two full bins of papers to recycle and am going to be shredding for a while. I also devised a plan that I will go through mail promptly, deal with whatever needs to be dealt with, and I will file and go through any remaining stack at least once a quarter. I put this on my calendar. I'd like to say I'd do it monthly, but I just don't think I will--quarterly will be an improvement and probably enough anyway. It'll not be overwhelming but enough to do to make it seem worthy of the time invested.

I'm going to hem 2 sets of curtains which have been held by pins for a year now!

There won't be any photos of my project as I am having two light switched fixed. Aside from following the Cure, I am attempting to do it without spending any extra money as two of my children are getting married this year and one is doing it in another country. My brother in law is an electrician and will work for a meal so once we can line up our schedules he'll come in and sort out the switches.

A few smaller projects here: One, consolidate all my recipes into just two locations: a binder for the recipes that aren't online, and a well-organized bookmark folder for online recipes. Up to now, I've been keeping them in about five places: a binder, two file card boxes (lovely wooden antique ones, but still...), a bookmark folder on my browser and an e-mail folder (for links e-mailed by friends.) Impossible to find what I'm looking for, and the files are taking up valuable countertop real estate. I'm also going to sort and organize my fabric collection, which is now a jumbled mess in a hall closet. Hopefully, I'll get to bigger projects before the month is over, but I don't want to overshoot and feel crappy about not getting it done.

I'm going to deal with my basement, both the storage room and the toy situation. At 13 and 11, there are a lot of toys that are gathering dust, so today I'm going to put hands on all of them and group them, keep some (so visiting friends with younger kids, as well as our future grandchildren, can have something to play with), but get rid of most. The storage room will have to wait until later this week.

So my husband and I have decided, after a full week in the same apartment, to move to a new apartment complex downtown in March (aka after he takes the bar exam). In the meantime, my goal is to at least collapse all the boxes I can and weed through things that we moved but may not be functional for us anymore. First step is to get rid of our old torn-up couch to make room for the new sofa we bought this past weekend. God bless Craigslist free listings - the old one is out of the apartment tonight! I'd also like to reorganize our bedroom closet and dresser - I'll take pictures and post them to my blog, but it's a nightmare right now - completely non-functioning, no logical flow and very little storage for two of us. (It doesn't help that my husband owns quite a few suits and the corresponding dress shirts/ties/cufflinks - silly law school graduate).

I work at a senior facility and every month I see a senior pass and their family or myself has to go through piles of stuff that has been sitting for years. It is a painful, time- consuming process. So I was inspired to tackle all my own crap to save my son the time if I die unexpectedly!
My big surprise is how much easier it is to live in an apartment that has half the contents! It has inspired me to continue getting rid of stuff and I love the catharsis of paring down to the very basics!
I finished three large projects and gave them away for Gifts! What a wonderful feeling!

I'm continuing my post-move-in nesting: mount curtain rods in the living room, finish sewing the curtains, and get them hung up. Then I'm going out to Lowes to buy the new knobs for my kitchen cabinets, and on to Joann's fabrics for a decorative rod for the bedroom. Going to use rings and clips for the bedroom instead of tab-tops.

I'm a little behind from weekend chores due to a migraine but a little ahead because before the cure started I already researched everything I need to buy, including taking measurements and making my shopping list, in order to add "pantry" shelving and two pegboards in my kitchen. Plus I had found online instructions for how to remove the stove hood. I also bought a cordless drill and will be removing the upper kitchen cabinet doors. Getting caught up with my floors tonight. Definitely will do before and after pictures.

Good luck everyone!!

We have what I like to call a "Poor Man's Butler's Pantry" between the kitchen and basement entryway. A narrow space with a countertop, drawers and cabinets...it's become a dumping ground for randomness- things that need to be taken into deep storage in the basement, dirty dish towels and bibs that need to go the laundry, food magazines that I keep thinking I'll cook from, etc...there's so much stuff piled around the floor in the narrow space that it's nearly impossible to open the lower drawers/cabinets.

Man, I'm not sure which project to pick. I kinda want to pick one that's not going to be something we're doing as a specific assignment (i.e. kitchen organization), but I'm not sure I can get everything in there done this coming weekend, so I might set organizing my utensil drawers as my task. OR, I could finally hang all the art I have for the currently bare wall behind our sofa, but that would mean I'd have to buy quite a few frames and I'm trying to limit purchases as best I can. Going to think about it today and decide by tonight...

I'm going to work on a problem corner in my living room. I aim to turn my hutch into a proper bar, add a rug (?), rearrange the artwork. This will also involve cleaning out my kitchen glassware cabinet and relocating to the newly appointed bar. I will purge the hutch of unnecessary platters, bottles & trays. This will feel so good when it's complete.

I'm going to move a bookcase from my old office into my new 'art studio'/bedroom. It will make me go through the contents and purge as well as make space in the old office for the new 'walk-in closet' makeover it's going to get.

Entryway fix. It's oddly shaped and cluttered. Coat closet is clear across the room. There are little kids and mittens, and hats, and scarves, and shoes....
Might try putting in a pendant using a can light converter set.

I bought a fixer-upper last fall, and I have been mainly focused on major practical renovations (new windows, siding, a ton of insulation) ever since. We are only just now starting to make the inside habitable....the past year has been very stressful, and I still have a kitchen renovation, new flooring, landscaping, and a basement to finish!!

I think my main project will be to tackle the front porch. So that includes the organization of shoes, coats, and accessories, a seating area, a landing strip, and patching drywall on the bulkhead from the kitchen fan that was cut into during our siding installation the fall.

I'm going to sort out the entry way so I can put the post down before I take off my shoes. I'm hoping to do a bit of making it pretty too - but that's dependent on the builders and might not finish by the end of the month.

My kitchen sink dribbles hot water and sprays cold. I recently discovered that the hot and cold lines are running to the opposite line on the faucet. I'm going to switch them and bask in the hot water that I will have an abundance of (I think my faucet is faulty because I've tried adjusting it like you would with a bathroom shower...no luck).

Ha! I'm just trying to unpack mindfully and keep diverting things into the outbox to prevent my home from turning into an episode of Hoarders....

I'm going to touch up the paintwork in my apartment and to swop the artwork between rooms.

I am going to repair and paint my bed room wall. One of my rabbits thought the wall would make a good project for chewing....I will fix the hole and paint one wall a lovely shade of dark gray and the rest of the room white (over the horrible "white" my landlord painted the entire apartment).

I'm really tempted to take on reorganizing the whole living room after yesterday's assignment, but I know that's probably a bit too ambitious for a mother of a 6 month old with a full-time job. So I'm going to focus on this particular set of shelves that have unfortunately turned into catch-all clutter collectors. They're from Ikea, the one with 6 square cubby-spaces, and it's lying horizontally on the floor up against the chaise section of our couch so that it can double as an end table or console table. It's also rather highly visible, right in the entryway into the living room from the dining room. It's full of stacks of important paperwork I want to keep but haven't organized, a mish-mash of novels, coffee-table type travel books, and board books for the baby, a few random baby toys... needless to say, the shelves lack purpose. I want to get all those important papers separated and filed in the filing cabinet (which is still sitting empty in the garage from our move into this house last June), decide which books will stay on the shelves and sort them, get some bins for the bottom shelves to keep the baby's toys, etc. in, and put away (or Outbox) things that don't belong there anymore.

I will be cleaning off my fridge AND hanging these little shelves up that I made last year (all under the umbrella of "love thy kitchen".

Putting in an attic access ladder this weekend, as well as upgrading the attic flooring so we can start to use it for storage. In reality, this is a help-my-husband project, but I have been working hard on choosing what can go up into the attic, and what should be stored in the main floor. We don't have a basement, so this extra storage space is going to make a HUGE different to the state of our closets, laundry room, and garden shed.

I'm going to put up a 140" bookshelf in my bedroom just under the ceiling. I've always wanted to do it and it solves the issue of where to keep my many practice-related books that I don't use everyday but need to keep on hand. I'm going to use Ikea's 7" deep shelves and if the varied colors of the books are too intrusive, I'll add covering them in off-white paper (with titles written on the spine) to my project.

I'm going to redecorate the kitchen. I already managed the deep clean that needed to happen before I could think about doing that, and I have an idea of what I want. It's a bigger project than I think is intended here, but I'm only working at quarter time this month, so I have plenty of time. This also just means new wall paint, cabinet knobs, and maybe a runner for our tiny galley kitchen.

I realized that all of my organizational plans hinge on getting our basement storage space cleaned (out) and organized. When my fiance and I moved in to our apartment a year ago, we were moving things from three different storage places (an actual storage space, my grandma's house, his parents' house). We couldn't remember half the stuff we had! We were able to put boxes in the basement to store things, but had nowhere to lock them up (there's one locking unit, and it was occupied at the time). So more expensive camping gear, extra dishes, etc stayed in boxes in our hall closet. We've since managed to snag the locking unit (woo hoo!), but have filled it willy-nilly with boxes of books, gardening supplies, unused artwork/posters, etc. that we've moved piece by piece from our respective storage places. It's next to impossible to walk in there. I'm going to buy a utility shelf and some plastic storage bins, and organize it so we can clear out some of our closets and at least feel a little less cluttered. Of course, I'll be filling the outbox as I go ;)

Our bathroom is only halfway painted so my project for this month is to finish painting it and do some general sprucing up. I plan to by some nice dispenser bottles to put shampoo and the like in, then place them in this long oval shaped planter I have to make the shower area look a bit nicer. Definitely have been using the outbox. Now if only I could convince my husband he needs to clean out his closet and get rid of all those shoes that are more holes than shoe.

I'm going to clear all the pictures and frames off of my fireplace mantel and put them up on the wall ABOVE the fireplace where they are supposed to be. I planned this gallery wall project months ago, got started, got overwhelmed because of my 13-foot ceilings and gave up. This month, it's ON!

I'm going to reorganize my kitchen cupboards and pantry and possibly take out the really ugly floral paper that's underneath them now.

My project is going to be decluttering my bookshelves. I did recently get rid of a number of paperbacks, but my bookshelves are just packed with old hardcovers from the library, cookbooks, binders full of contact sheets from when I used to do photography. Not to mention, the completely separate shelf full of board games. It's a complete disaster area. I'm thinking of getting a couple of the Expedit cases from Ikea to help me with this re-do.

Repurpose my daughter's spare (yes, she has two!) closet from random storage to an area where she can have her new cd player and karaoke machine and cds easily accessible (lower half) and also a place to store the games/craft supplies that still need supervision (upper half).

I am having a really hard time choosing so I am going to do the one that I really need done and that is the bedroom closet. The before pictures will be crazy as there are stacks of shoes, clothes, suitcases... just an all out space of yuck. I really need to stop thinking that if I can shut the door it's "okay". So the closet it will be.. I hope January is a long month because once I start this clean out, my outbox will be full.. and I mean FULL.

I swear this time I am going to set up a proper landing strip, hooks, shelf and ?????

I will be tackling creating an entryway in our apartment. I have wanted to do this for a very long time and now is the time to gather ideas and come up with a solution. I keep looking at a home tour on AT, which featured Sarah's apartment's fabulous entryway. It was an eye-catching zig zag pattern and just a mirror, small white table and magazine rack. It was adorable and very stylish at the same time. I do not have a wall, per se, to do the zig zag; we have 2 doors that open into a storage area, so maybe some removable wall paper on the doors? If anyone has ideas/thoughts, please let me know! Thanks in advance and happy Curing everyone!

Removing the clutter and reorganizing my work space! I use a secretary desk in my living room, the result being that when I'm tidying up before company comes over I often end up putting clutter on the desk and closing the top to hide it from view. Part of the organizing will require thinking through how I deal with the flood of papers I use for work, as well as mail - so creating a proper filing system and a place for paper recycling and/or shredding. I'll also need to streamline/hide cords. Decluttering/reorganizing the bookshelves is also on the list, but that may have to wait until February.

Selected Project: Entryway Upgrade
- Clean scuff marks off walls (just realized I don't have to paint to make this area look better)
- New console table (eyeing one but more research to do as I am afraid to go too narrow)
- Hooks for guests coats (hard part will be getting nerve to hang them)
- Obscure circuit panel box 
- Closet cleanup
- Towel racks in bathroom (to get towels out of entryway)
- Experiment with lighting 
- New tray/box for keys (partner's pick/indulgence for helping me on this journey)

Feels good to commit publicly. Good luck to all and thanks for sharing.

I must reclaim my office.

2 things I'm going to start with. First, I'm going to paint my entryway in stripes. Last week I started with the base coat (a pepto bismo pink), so now I need to mark the stripes with painters tape, choose a colour (chartreuse?) and paint. Second on my list is the dining room buffet (a dresser I found on the street) that we use mostly as art supply storage. The drawers are hard to open so I want to remove the middle drawer, replace it with a wooden shelf and have storage baskets that are labeled and neat. So excited!

I am tackling a much needed reorganization of my home office. It is visible from my living room so it must both look nice and be comfortable and functional since I use it everyday for both work and household tasks. I'm happy with the furniture (desk, bookshelves, reading chair), so my focus will be organization: purging outdated files, creating a new system for paperwork flow, reorganizing shelves and drawers to be more efficient, adding decorative images and objects that attract me to the space and help me feel productive, and improving the lighting.

I want to redo the dogs' landing pad inside our front door. It's partially done, but since we added a second dog their coats, leads, baggies etc. are piled up in a way too small basket. I want to get some wall hooks that I can put on the wall behind the door to hang the coats and leads. I also want to get some nicer baskets for the PAWZ and baggies. I already know that this is going to lap over into the closet where I need some new bins to organize the paw covers and hats for the human inhabitants of the house.

With the help of the kids we are tackling the coat cubby holder in our small kitchen. It was designed with smaller children in mind so there is a bit of rethinking to be done on it's purpose and arrangement. Thinking of raising the shelves and repositioning the hooks so more items can fit. Containers need to be purchased or repurposed to his the stuff we really need to store here. The outbox is going to be full by tonight!

I am going to clean and clear my kitchen counters. There will be many items going to the outbox and others I will need to find new homes for, either in the kitchen or elsewhere in the house.

The bedroom curtain. It has been up for years...it is too long so I "hemmed it with binder clops.

I'm either going to properly hem my existing curtain or buy a new curtain and hang it properly.

My desk! There are probably a dozen sub-projects in there: putting away my son's preschool artwork, adding some things to the baby scrapbooks, putting away portraits that used to be in frames, organizing tax documents for my freelance work, copying receipts, cleaning out cords and miscellaneous electronics stuff, getting rid of a pile of CD-ROMs, etc.

Years ago I suggested we paint the wall behind the bed an accent color, an idea which my husband has clung to, though I've moved on. Today we bought the paint -- Farrow and Ball's Reading Room Red. Wish me luck.

I FINALLY made a curtain rod and hung up some vintage curtains in our living room. We've only lived here two years! http://www.middleclassmodern.com/2013/01/a-nice-strong-rod-diy-curtain-hanging.html

ugh, have put off the bedroom closet and its broken doors for too long....committing to organizing and fixing it here will motivate me, and I may even enjoy getting dressed after this!

If I post my major goal project here, it's added motivation. Moved into a great apartment 4 months ago, and most of the space is in fairly good shape organizationally (kitchen, bedroom, bath, porch, pre-move clothing & book purge), EXCEPT...my so-called office/sewing area/living room/storage closet. It's pretty much a nightmare. My goal: hang shelving in closet and fill it; tame the paper; create a great sewing space. Overall all goal of my Cure: pare down all the stuff down, way way down - give it away, get in the recycling, just get it out.

And oh, Evita, I hear you about the dog accessory organization. Add the muddy paws, my own winter gear, and it's quite the busy little entry...

Well, I think I am going to have to choose to carve out a little multi-purpose room for our family. A crafting area for mama, a cozy reading nook for kids and a painting area for the whole family .... all in one room. So with the suggestion from yesterday, I will have to start by dragging all my furniture out of said room and start from scratch! Music for this task? A little James Brown I am thinking!

Slipcovers on my dining room chairs - some get washed, the ones that are too scratched (three cats who mistake chairs for scratching posts) exchanged for spare ones, and maybe I'll go buy one new as a treat at the end of the month... Ultimately, the chairs will need to be replaced, but that is long-term...

Oh, and I need to declutter my entryway, but I've already started so the rest can be done through the usual clean-up.

We are going to work on our "entertainment center" in the living room. It isn't an attractive corner, isn't quite baby proofed, and it is underused for the amount of visual space it takes.

I'm putting up new IKEA Expedit shelves in the living room and two IKEA tables that I will use as a desk/dining table. I already got these things last weekend.

Does anyone know how to put together these IKEA tables so they don't wobble:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/workspaces/18623/

I got two small tables rather than one very long one to increase flexibility--so I can move the tables around if I need to. But I put one together and it wobbles. I haven't readjusted it yet, so all input most welcome. I hate to have to bring these back and unsolve this problem.

Where to start....? Honestly, everywhere I look in our home there are projects large and small. With the Husband gone for work and me single parenting a 7 month old it seems like a project just to make it through the day.

My project will be.....making curtains for the beans room and hanging them.

Well... I think I will hang my large Elfa shelves in my living room space and get all my books off the floor and onto the shelves! I haven't yet painted the living room, but might not do that for a while yet anyway. Piles of books lining the wall are cluttering up my life. I will Outbox any books that I'm not still in love with - but I love books and have been pretty thorough in purging my collection throughout several moves, so that number may be quite small.

I completed two big To-Dos last night - buying my first earthquake kit (I've been intending to make my own for EIGHT YEARS and it never happened) and hooking up my Roku (I know, it's really an anti-cure project).

I'm going to make hanging artwork my project this month. I have about 10 pieces to hang. I ordered white picture rail hangers yesterday. I will visit the hardware store tonight to get wire - and will paint it this weekend to match the walls.

I'll also continue to work on my long term project of moving back into my bedroom. After stripping 105 years of paint, wallpaper, and plaster from the walls and woodwork I am ready to repair the walls and woodwork.

And if I can swing it... I'll hire someone to insulate around my windows. In theory I know how to do it, but I'd like a professional to oversee my work.

I'm going to organize a utility closet. I will organize the tools and clear out items that are no longer needed.

Oh, and I need to create an earthquake kit for my dog.

Project that I would like to do is get rid of TV in living room. This doesnt sound like a big deal but the TV is of the old type and very heavy and therefore requires co-operation of a strong friend / relative to help. Difficult to co-ordinate schedules -- so it has been sitting useless on its shelf for a year now!

Hi everyone, this is my very first commment on here, I just joined just so that I could shre my progress in the January Cure with you :)
I'm in themiddle of moving in to my very first all-mine apartment. It's a really tiny (250sqft studio with a lot of nice details (big window! Big hotel-y bathroom!) and a few flaws (ugly floors and noisy fridge...). So basically the only thing on my day one-list was to move in all my stuff and actually make this a home. Which is kind of a massive (not to mention unclear) project. So to break things down and choose something for today's assignment I've decided to paint my bright red bookshelf (which my grandpa made for my mum when she was three) in a more neutral tone to match the rest of the interior. When I figure out how to share pics on here I'll post some before-pics so you can follow my progress!

Finally finishing a bathroom update that got stuck. We're going to paint over the spackle around the medicine cabinet, install a nice chrome shelf above the toilet and two new towel bars on the back of the door for the new towels I just ordered! Can't wait.

I'm going to be tackling the repair of our media console. I need to hack saw off the back ends of knobs that are too long. Then, I need to reattach the hinges so they function more smoothly. Lastly, I want to switch out one of the Anthropologie knobs for another one (different color/same style) to get a more eclectic look. This task has been waiting for me for, oh, let's say MORE THAN TWO YEARS. Yikes. Pumped to conquer it!

There are so very many things to tackle, but I think I am going to focus on the kitchen shelving and the pantry. We have open shelving in both and they both require a purge. The other areas that are screaming at me will have to wait...

Is "rebuilding the kitchen" too big of a project to finish by the end of the month? ;) I guess I'll just settle on "be ready for drywall"--which means getting plumbing, electrical, and HVAC squared away by January 31st. And as a side project: maintain my sanity. No big deal, right?

Gallery walls! We took all the artwork and photos down months ago with the intent to repaint frames (did it!) and rehang. They will get hung!

It was easy to choose a project since I HAVE to paint my studio or the rest of my life will be on hold. My husband and I are empty-nesters so we are moving things all around. We expanded the bathroom (almost finished), using part of my future practice studio (I'm a musician) so that room has to be completely painted so I can move stuff into it. After that we can empty my current studio so the closet can be re-vamped because that room will be our new bedroom! We've been living in the basement for 12 years so I'm looking forward to a little more light and believe it or not, quiet. The January Cure is helping me feel more optimistic about my ability to cope with all this, and even excited about all the changes. I'm glad to have discovered Apartment Therapy. Keep up the good work!

I am going to refinish (stain or paint) the two mismatched old dressers in my master bedroom. I have been neglecting them for years, hoping that we will invest in a full set, but it hasn't happened yet & may not for some time.

I just bought a pot rack to hang pots over my stove because the current storage system is a total disaster and makes me not want to cook. I'm also buying a couple of baskets to wrangle 1) my husband's shoes and 2) my dog's towels. We live in Seattle, so keeping a basket of towels by the doors for the dog is a necessity, and I'd rather have them look decent than always having a semi-wet towel draped over the paper shredder in my office.

I also really, really need to go through my closet, but that might have to wait a little while. I'm not sure I have the stamina for that yet.

I have some photographs that I've taken which I'm going to buy frames for and display them in my hallway, as a way of brightening it up and reminding myself of places I've visited.

I have the expedit cases. I like them a lot.

I want to declutter my kitchen nook and reupholster the kitchen chairs.

I have had a lot of work stuff come up that is taking me away from most of the Cure, but my goal is to rearrange/choose new framed art. My apartment is so small, I only ever see the same walls when I sit, and am tired of everything I see. I also want to find a bathroom wall cabinet, but finding one that is black, with no mirror, max 8" deep, not overly traditional and formal, that is also inexpensive is proving to be incredibly difficult.

I'm reclaiming the bedroom after months of using it as a repository for other people's stuff. (Documents & items I had to hold onto until two dif family members' estates were settled). Quite an ambitious project as I had just completely emptied the two closets to reconfigure the spaces when I took possession of the boxes. In the process, I moved all of my & dh's clothes to a mobile rack in the laundry room, thinking I'd put back only what we actually wore & send the rest to Goodwill.

Sounded like A Plan at the time, yeah. Bad news is the boxes prohibited the completion of my lil closet revamp. Good news is, this chaos made us view our space in a whole new light. Turns out we like utilizing the laundry room as the master closet. Clothes actually get 'put away' in a timely manner now. The two closets will be repurposed in a more functional way. And I'm energized as I wave goodbye to the boxes and make room for more fun projects down the road. Good luck everyone!.

I'm going to do an overhaul on our bedroom closet situation. Purging, a thoughtful storage system, and paint will go a long way towards improving my mood when I get dressed each day!

I'm going to tackle the pantry/laundry room shelves this month. They are probably the single biggest disaster area in my house. There are two big challenges to overcome: 1. I can't reach any but the lowest of the shelves without a ladder or stepstool; 2. This is my husband's favorite place to dump stuff that he doesn't want to or know how to deal with. Since I can't change either my height or my husband, I'm going to have to come up with something pretty clever to keep this space usable. But fo this month, my goal is just a one-time clean-up and organization.

Back hallway and back stairs to attic - totally cluttered with tools, plant supplies, paper supplies, paint (I have a full basement!). Been in this house 10 years and this area is a major catch-all. Oh and I collect 60 watt lightbulbs against the day they are banned so I have a whole shelf of those - hope they don't expire. Will Apartment Therapy address the issue of how not to let cleaned up areas re-clutter (major problem for me)??

Clean and organize everything along one bedroom wall. Currently it stores all the molds, paint and tools from when my boyfriend made an Alien costume for Halloween and I'm taking it back as a creative place we can share and is functional for both of us!

My "Before" photos:

http://s1211.beta.photobucket.com/user/ttiot8/library/January%20Cure%20-%20Before

I love reading about everybody's projects!

I'm nervous about committing to this but I think my project will be making a headboard. I know exactly what I need (beyond what I've already bought) and what to do, I just need to make time to do it.

I suspect all the purging, organizing and donating I need to do will take much of January, is the problem.

I am going to (finally) re-paint the cover for our in wall air conditioner so that it matches the walls and hang new curtains in the living room.

TatianaT -- thanks for your comment on Expedit. It'll help me through assembly.

I successfully declogged the sink with some elbow grease, vinegar and baking soda. I spared you all from the before photo.

Next, hem the curtains.

The two shelves in my cooking space are my first project - I want to organize them so they both look better and are user-friendly. I live in a tiny studio so they are always visible!

I'm actually going with a big project, because it's on my list, and I need it out of the way to be productive with the rest of the cure: Operation Xmas Removal. I usually do it on Epiphany, but wasn't able to get to it on Sunday. So, today's the day!

I've struggled to figure out which project to commit to. There are several that wouldn't take too long. I'm leaning toward reclaiming my basement office from my cat. I worked in this office for several years before getting one outside my house and then working at a job-job downtown. The poor room is covered in cat hair and needs a deep cleaning. There are also tons of papers and things that need be purged. And I've had an air purifier sitting there in its box from Amazon for months. While this room is out of the way and no one ever sees it, it's the one that will help me get some personal projects organized and help my work.

And I won't be able to stomach posting before pix. It's just too gross. (:

I think you should post that picture, thiskat. We would all be amused and grateful.

I'm going to get rid of the piles of "stuff" on my master bedroom floor. In two corners of this room I have a mix of old baskets, clothes to give away or repair, hatboxes with misc. trinkets in them, etc. Every time I look at these piles I think to myself "I need to go through them" but never have (and it's been years!). I have a feeling the majority of things in this pile will end up in my outbox!

It's time to admit that we never use the desktop PC anymore and the desk itself is just a dumping zone for everything that doesn't have a home somewhere else. We need to clean the computer of any personal info, take it to be recycled (along with a ton of other e-waste) and try to sell or give away the desk. Then, I can finally organize my sewing and crafting area that shares the same room.

I am going to go with re-organising the kitchen pantry as my January project. Its such a mess, full of plastic bags and junk. I want to clear everything put, clean it and start again. As it quite dark in the evening when I get home I'm going to wait until the weekend to do my 'before' pictures. In the meantime I'm going to set up a Pinterest board for my ideas. If anyone is interested I'll post a link to it.
I find it very funny how quickly 'curing' and 'outboxing' have slipped into my daily vocabulary! How about everyone else?

de-clutter, deep clean and decorate certain rooms

Well, my house is already pretty decluttered, so I joined the Cure, to learn some tips on how to do things better. Love the 10 minute exercise, but flowers are out as our two cats consider bouquets to be buffets! My project is to remove art from the walls in the LR and DR, and to live with it "naked" for a couple of weeks, then decide what I really love, and put that up. We have art we "collected" from 30 years ago, that is no longer our style. So this will let us really think about what we love, and why we love it.

It's 4:30 pm and I finished my Tueday project. And ... while I was walking back to the kitchen with the duster, I dusted all the pictures, mirrors and furniture in the living room and dining area! I'm rather proud of myself! Bedroom looks neat and the rest of the apartment is almost sparkly with the shiny glass on the mirrors and pictures!

Kristy from Spain: I am doing the cure project on my entryway too. I always say I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to leaving the house on time because I tend to scatter all my stuff around. I'm hoping that I do it because I don't have a place for my stuff to land. I just bought this:
http://www.amazon.com/Umbra-Cubby-Mount-Organizer-Espresso/dp/B001MWSQZ6/ref=pd_sim_hg_3

(I hope the links work, I've never posted here before)

and I really like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Magazine-Storage-Pockets-Organizational-School/dp/B0019S20CS/ref=pd_sim_hg_5

Good luck!
Nicki

The only problem with my list is I can't fit in all I actually need to do for each room! Almost every room in my house is worth a substantial tackle.. Having said that I'm pumped..! It's my closet or lack of.. (Victorian houses are beautiful but impractical..yes) Overflowing in all it's colourful glory. I need to cull & re-organise. There. I said it.

Ha! The cats that deign to let us live with them like to nibble on flowers. (Example: Cat hops on counter. "PIXIE! Get down!" Other cat hops on counter. "KILALA!!! Get down!" Repeat ad nauseum.)

My solution was a bowl of citrus fruit on the counter. It's bright and cheerful, and on the plus side, I'm eating more fruit - I always grab a few mandarin oranges on my way out the door in the morning, or I use the lemons and limes when I'm cooking dinner. And the cats ignore them.

Once I made my list, I started. No plastic containers w/o lids and vice versa. Re-organized 2 kitchen cabinets. Threw nonfunctioning items away. This summer we did a purve of the attic and made a dozen trips to Goodwill, which helps with the purging habit. We ordered new living room furniture Sunday so living room plans need to wait until we see how everything looks. 2 yrs ago my daughter's family moved in. We repainted the dining room furniture. I bought fabric 1.5 yrs ago but my daughter has no idea where she put the screws to hold the seats on. That will be my project--to find screws that will fit. Painted the furniture black, got b&w fabric. New furniture in LR is gray. Using burgundy for accents.

Alright, I've finally decided. I'm going to finally organize the kitchen drawers because they drive me crazy and use them all the time as I'm cooking. I've already pulled an incomplete set of measuring cups (the mates to which have been lost) out of one drawer and put it in my outbox, and it's just one of way too many things all jumbled together in there.

It's been hard to organize those drawers because they're a weird, squarish shape that drawer organizers just don't seem to be designed for. Will probably have to get the individual little holders and puzzle piece them together. Definitely a job for the measuring tape!

Enjoying reading other people's projects!

I'm going to tackle my "vanity" aka night table with a mirror hung over it. It's a mess of makeup, jewelry, and stuff that I took out of my pockets. I need to clean the mirror, pare down and organize makeup/jewelry, consolidate my BF's stuff into one drawer so I can use the other for storage.

I sorted through all my kitchen utensils and small kitchen items yesterday. I took everything out of the drawers, separated the things I use daily from the things I only need a couple of times a year (turkey baster, cake decoration stuff, etc.), then washed everything. Then I washed the drawers, put in clean drawer padding, and reorganized. A lot of things I don't use, or have multiples of, went on the landing pad. The drawers look beautiful. I had already reorganized my spice and flavorings cupboard and was so pleased with the results I was inspired to move on immediately to the messy utensil area. On to the cookbooks.

Ack! I love this (am I the only one talking about 'The Cure' to friends/family/coworkers??' I'm pretty sure everyone thinks I've joined some cult or something.)
I already tackled a big task on my list - sorting/OUTBOXING a ton of art supplies. It was necessary but a GIANT job and one that benefits only me, as I'm the only one who sees the studio. So, for my official January Project I think I'm going to stick to something small and highly aesthetic and get my entry way undercontrol. Currently there is no entryway and my usual post-work progression goes something like 'mail on side table, all bags and coats on the chair and/or floor. It's a) messy and b) the first thing one sees when entering so I feel like it will make a big difference to have some sort of system.
So excited!

With each day of the cure my list of projects grows. However, like another poster here, I am going to finally make my headboard. I have everything I need. The bedroom is the room that is closest to being "finished". Of course during my floor cleaning frenzy I realized that the nightstand in the guest room is a better size for my room but it needs to be painted a dark red lacquer. Still the headboard has the most bang for the buck and makes reading in bed more comfortable as well so the headboard it is.

Now I just need to finish painting the bookcases so I can get them out of my project area...

I'm clearing out the Firetrap Closet from Hell. If I get through that, then I'm clearing out the Mold-Attracting Storage Locker from Hell. Interesting that all of my storage opportunities are hellish!

My enclosed front porch/entryway, aka the 'mudporch', ( thanks for naming it, Maxwell). My coats, shoes, & storage bench are already in good shape, so I'm going to 1) obscure the glass on the house door with glass frosting spray (already bought, just waiting for a 50o day, which is forecast for this weekend), 2) finish installing hooks for my dog obedience equipment (jumps, freestanding gates, scent articles, etc., stuff that needs to be undercover, but doesn't need to come inside the house), 3) move stray bits of space-consuming agility equipment to the shed,4) decide what stuff on the storage shelves really needs to be there, & what could be stored elsewhere, & move it there, 5) move tacky--but useful--plastic storage shelving to basement, replace with smaller chrome unit on castors, so it'll be easier to clean behind, 6) replace plastic trash can with metal, & 7) hire electrician to replace indoor & outdoor lights with motion sensor lights,8) figure out curtains for 2 very large windows, a source of major heat gain in the summer. Some of the things I can do right away, some will require a couple more paychecks.

I'm tackling the back wall of my living/dining area. It's become a catchall for random stuff. There's a table in the center of the wall with our fish tank on it and under the table is pretty much everything you could think of - a trash can, plastic storage containers, a bucket for changing the fish's water. It looks terrible, to say the least. The plan is to find or create a place to store those items. We've also recently added new cabinetry in our kitchen, replacing a freestanding cart from ikea. So now the cart is in the dining area and it doesn't look too pretty. I'm still deciding if I want to craigslist it or hang on to it.

Mine is terribly exciting but it needs to be done. Some of the electrical wiring in our dining room and bathroom has been broken for years now. I'm finally going to call someone and have them fix it so our sconces and bathroom fan work again. I hope that qualifies as a project.

Mine is terribly exciting but it needs to be done. Some of the electrical wiring in our dining room and bathroom has been broken for years now. I'm finally going to call someone and have them fix it so our sconces and bathroom fan work again. I hope that qualifies as a project.

I'm turning our bedroom closet into a storage closet for all of the outdoor gear that has taken over the rest of our house. Our living room is like a mini-REI. We currently have a small (overflowing) closet dedicated to gear, but it's impossible to find anything in it because it's so small and dark and cluttered. Neither I nor my boyfriend have a need for anything more than minimal dress clothes, and our coats pretty much live on our coat hooks, so the bedroom closet isn't being used to its full potential right now anyway. It'll kind of be a double-project, since I'll first have to figure out what to do with the few things that are in our closet, but I think it's doable.

Hello group! I am committing to finding a more comfy couch. We spend most of our time in the livini room and my current one is giving me backaches. Every time I've found one on Craigslist that might work, I dont have the cash till someone scoops it up. Need to find a big cozy leather couch in black or brown.

This is fabulous!

My project is going to take much more than a few hours, but I'm going to do it anyway: convert a closet into a desk/bill-paying area. In addition to adding shelving, I need to refinish the woodwork in it, repair some holes in the plaster walls and paint it.

I planned to do this project before I joined the Cure so I'm hoping AT will keep me motivated! I'm blogging about it on my houseblog too!

At the very least, I am planning to focus on our family/tv room including a better placed wall gallery and a spiffier arrangement of furniture and throw pillows.

I'm going to tidy up the dogs' area with hooks for their collars, organized baskets for toys and leashes, new artwork, and (heaven help me) a storage solution for our numerous pairs of shoes that seem to pile up there.

I'm going to clean out the living room closet, so that I can temporarily store my excess clothing baskets in it, along with the vacuum cleaner, and brooms and mops.

It'll take more than a few hours, but I wanted to pick a project that I have no interest in doing so that my enthusiasm for the Cure will carry me through! A while back I painted my living room and left the ceiling and trim edges messy since I knew I'd be repainting the trim and ceiling soon as well...except that was three years ago and I've been living with (and hating) those sloppy edges (not to mention the chipped, scuffed trim and the patched, blotchy ceiling) ever since. Finally, finally, finally, I will paint my ceiling and the trim in my living room!!

I'm thinking I'll be tackling our kitchen pantry. Organizing that will actually take care of a few things on my list. The pantry is an unorganized mess partly because of bulk purchases from Costco. So, I'm planning on separating the Costco stuff into usable portions and getting the pantry usable. So 2 birds, 1 stone!

Today, I gathered all the towels that were in use and washed them in hot water and bleach (I do this occasionally to really disinfect the towels which are all white);
Ran a cycle with white vinegar only;
I then attacked the huge mess in the utility room:
Jim took the tool bucket to the basement;
I gathered the bags of rags, and after washing them, folded and placed them all in the unused cat food safe;
Washed the floors in our bedroom and the upstairs hall.

My chosen task is to paint the bathroom.

My project is The huge closet that runs the length of my apartment. In the font it's coats and shoes that need to be decluttered. Then clothes racks and several pieces of large furniture (including a desk currently serving as my outbox) and then a collapsing pile of boxes saved for my next move. My goal is to deal with the boxes first (loaning a few out to a friend who is moving, which is a start), and then to work my way forward to the part that connects as a front hallway closet. I just wish they would have done away with 2/3 of the closet and given me a bigger kitchen instead!

My project is to reorganise the bookshelves in my study/drying room/music room, so I have space for books, DVDs, sheet music, laundry basket and pegs, sewing kit, tool kit. Maybe a stand for the guitar too. Everything visible, organised and easily accessible.

Leaving rearranging the living room till Saturday week when my sofa arrives - a whole month earlier than I was told to expect it. So excited!

we bought 2 pieces of restoration hardware furniture for our den/homeoffice we are redoing this month.

Our bedroom closet. Although we invested years ago in a closet system, it was never painted, and it is so stuffed to gills with stuff it is unpleasant to view( and some stuff is buried so deep I consider it lost!).

I plan to get some electrical work done -- add a vent fan to the powder room, an additional outlet in the kitchen and hard-wiring a lamp in the office.

I think it is time to purchase a bookcase and or TV stand. I'll move the TV off an antique chair and get piles of books and stuff off the floor. Feels good just to write those words.

I have a lot of little projects on my list, but I'm going to make "add more storage in the kitchen" the priority.

I'm going to install a couple shelves around the stove (there's lots of open and unused spaced). I'm also going to either hang a curtain wire or install a few hooks over my sink so I can hang some my larger kitchen utensils.
I also want some better knife storage, but that may just be buckling down and buying a knife block. :)

I love cooking, and I love trying new recipes, but my kitchen isn't well organized for finding, using and properly enjoying my recipes... the goal - figure out a better configuration for my cooking needs and deal with the "storage" area that my fridge top has become...

So excited to be part of this. I have been forcing myself to take pictures of my apartment everyday. Just the fact of framing the shot makes you eager to rearrange the furniture and shelves. My big challenge is to get rid of everything that I have sitting in shopping bags waiting to be dealt with. That means going out the house and dropping off the recycling off at the right place. Here is the list: Nespresso pods need to go the Soho store, styrofoam peanuts have to be carried uptown, old CDs and ink cartridges have to go to Best Buy, textiles to the donation site, clothes for a future swap, magazine pile have to be dropped off to a friend, number 5 containers to Whole Foods and the bag full of cork to the wine store. This have to get done this month now that I have said it in public!

I have quite a few projects on my list but I really need to re-caulk my bathtub. That's my priority for this month.

I'm going to hang some framed photos in our guest room -- something I have put off for a while because they are more "complicated" frames. The photos are very important to me so I will be happy to have them up and ready to be enjoyed. We also have everything on hand to do it...

I'm also blogging my experience/process/photos. I am loving the January Cure.

The dining room area in my small one-bedroom apartment has been the staging area for 21 months for my ebay, craigslist, and consignment items waiting to be sold. Kind of hard to have friends for dinner with no tabletop. I will rid myself of the items and obtain two more chairs to add to the table. Voila, seating for four this way, please.

I am going to clean out the entryway closet. I know that it will go a long way in helping me to declutter and organize other parts of the apartment.

I'm going to fix my hallway linen closet -- meaning replacing the broken door and rearranging the contents to take better advantage of the space.

I am going to deal with the wall behind my tv. And possibly do something about the black hole formed by the fact that 2/3 of said wall is made up of dark wood closet doors.

But mostly it means- picking a final position for my tv stand on the wall and arranging my record crate/record player/ etc to suit. - framing art to hang - reframing family photos - arranging it all in an interesting but tidy way

I think its going to be hard for me to complete this mostly because I am wondering if there's a completely different, better way of arranging my room, and that maybe I should consider rearranging things before putting anything new on the walls.

After completing the introspection yesterday, I am going to tackle several problems in the living room and entry that create stress for our family everyday:
-get overhead light working (call manufacturer for parts or call electrician to fix or install a new one.) This has been off for years (although the fan part works) and may take all month. But it would be worth it!
-One of the two coat hooks is loose and dumps plaster dust. A larger fastener won't fit in the hook's hole. We plan to add dowels and glue, but failing that, will need to drill a new one in brick.
-Look for somewhere to hang two messenger bags, without fighting with the brick walls. Ideas?
-Outbox kid's shoes so there is not a battle with preschooler to try on toddler stuff that doesn't fit.
Look forward to seeing everyone's before and afters. Off to photograph.

Just noticed the faint smell of almond in my bedroom after the floor wash. Lovely.

I'm going to tackle the toys in my basement. I have two young children and their toys take up a ton of space.

I have a huge list to go over. But, first thing is declutter the basement, then the garage and finally the bedroom start painting the walls.

I am removing all the old, outdated electronics and recycling them. Our under the stairs closet is a man-cave/office that wound up buried under piles of stuff we no longer use. I want to transform it into a functional office again.

getting some minimal organization to my endless piles of 'paper work'
(my outbox also has to be dealt with.)

Someone else mentioned picking something on their list they were afraid of, and I'm going to go this route as well. I generally leave all things electrical up to my husband. However, we have lived in this house for 8 years and we still have a hideous looking ceiling lamp at the entrance to our home. We have hated it since we moved here, yet neither of us have dealt with it. I just watched a youtube video about how to replace ceiling lights and can't believe how ridiculously easy it looks. I'm pretty pumped to get rid of the white and purple heinous beast and surprise my husband in the process. Watch out....I might get real crazy and even turn one of the can lights into a pendant light!.

My mate is tackling the cabinet in the kitchen that cannot be practically used because the original design is uselessly vague. Why would anyone suspend a tiny MDF shelf on pegs at the back of a full base cabinet? No one human being can reach it without master yoga skills and if in naive faith you place something on it you will be alarmingly enlightened by the clatter of kitchenware.
Needless to say I am designing a pull out tray to put my beloved stainless steel pots and pans on so they will glide out like prima donnas on center stage. Further obsessive compulsive organizational projects will follow of course...

I guess I'll ask a friend to come help me hang a 7' tall mirror on the wall in front of my dining table and to place a 5' long beautiful, wood carved screen onto its base. On my own I'll hang a second clothing rod above the standard one in my bedroom closet, hang a light fixture over the dining table (brought more than five years ago), and add lights to my bedroom closet.

This list will morph as soon as I press 'submit'.

I am going to finally cover two lampshades in my bedroom with some beautiful fabric I picked up during the summer. If I am feeling extra motivated, I will also hang some curtains up behind my bed.

So I'm new to apt therapy, and boy do I need the therapy! In addition to making a cleaning routine that is more 12-hr work days friendlier than my previous one, I've been making my list and have a lot of projects on there already... But I think the one that I'm going to focus on first is the black hole monstrosity that is my "home office". I use quotes bc I live in a one bedroom apartment and my "office" is actually a corner of my bedroom. When u see the pic you'll see how it can be an eye sore and not very umm... Sexy bedroom-like. I have files from past years stored in other corners of the bedroom, a pile of papers to be filed, shredded, scanned, old books and pprs from college and old jobs, you name it! The goal is to scan everything into my computer and store it on the external hard drive, shred anything that can be tossed, therefore eliminating all paper files except for the ones for this current year. Ultimately, I'd like to get a new desk, or at least make my current one more eye-friendly. It's going to be a LOT of work! Wish me luck!

How do I post a pic on here?
Anyone use the neat desk scanner? Thoughts/reviews? - - I need a scanner in order to tackle this project.

@ebrown:
What do you use with an almond scent for your floors?

I'm going to reposition 2 pictures on my foyer wall.

I think I'll try to decide on a color (off white or light grey) for the living room (after 3 years of indecision) start the prep work for painting, also need to clean and paint all the dingy trim in the living room and kitchen. Picking a wall color will be a major accomplishment for me!

Hi, all! Too many projects! Really need a new coffee table for the living room, but not sure I will have the $ or time to pull it off this month (I can at least attempt to get all my BF's magazines and junk off). So, back up plan is to organize the entry room. Clear and declutter bookshelves, move plants into new planters, and find a rug on which to place our work shoes.

Hi, all! Too many projects! Really need a new coffee table for the living room, but not sure I will have the $ or time to pull it off this month (I can at least attempt to get all my BF's magazines and junk off). So, back up plan is to organize the entry room. Clear and declutter bookshelves, move plants into new planters, and find a rug on which to place our work shoes.

SO hard to pick one when there are SO many to choose from. #1 focus is half of my living room is not functional. There are random tables and desks I have brought from previous apts that have no use here. I dream of creating a reading nook in some space that I free up. Closets in this section of the room also need a serious breakdown, lots for the outbox and organization. I have some mini projects I'm keeping in mind on the side, but this one requires the most work. Is anyone tackling a crazy magazine collection? Do you have ideas/thoughts on how to save the articles/recipes you don't want to lose? Is a binder the only way? Plastic sleeves?

I plan to repaint the built-in bookcases to either side of my fireplace, and replace the single, sagging shelf in each with two new shelves.

I am painting my living room! It sounds ambitious but I've already got the paint and the help and the date set...This Sunday!

I'm going to tackle the little shelving unit by my front door. It's a Billy bookcase from IKEA, and despite my usual IKEA wizardry, I put on the backing with the brown side facing the shelves... oops. Although it serves its purpose of making a defined "entry" and giving me a place to put my keys, it attracts clutter. Mostly mail and outerwear. So, getting mail and outerwear containment installed is important. Also, I use the bottom shelf for my boots, and although it's the perfect place for them, snowy muddy boots make for a muddy shelf! I'm going to line it with... something.

I'm going to finally create the files needed to store all my paper clutter hanging out in my living room!

I decided to tackle my bedroom closet, well to be honest one of two. The second one is on my list but I fear it more than anything.

I have a set of bookshelves spanning a wall of living room which has become a catchall for toys, pictures, office stuff, random objects, and lots and lots of books! As my friend diplomatically said, it's indeed "busy". I also have a gorgeous hand-carved mantle that is eventually going to become the central focus of that wall space, but in the immediate future I'd really just like to clean up and organize this space. It drives me nuts every time I look at it!

We have a small built-in desk at the entry to the kitchen that is a catch all for everything. A small filing cabinet is underneath, which only makes it worse. It's a source of stress, aggravation and embarrassment since I pass it every day and regularly need to find what lands there.

I'm going to get some new plant life into three lifeless planters I currently have (one empty, two with dead herbs in them).

I am just cleaning up the living room. Too many items with no place to go. Paper, electronics, magazines, catalogs, files, projects, the last of Grandma's stuff and .... etc. Not quite sure where to begin but that outbox and the trash will get full.

I am going to clean out my hall closet. It's become my dumping ground for everything from extra files, to ski boots, to wrapping paper and the like. When I looked at it for 10 minutes yesterday, I could see that most of the stuff was not being used, and just taking up extra space. I'm pretty excited. :)

The most important project on my list is to turn an unused area of the master bedroom and a closet into an office area. It'll involve my husband purging a ton of old clothes (not looking forward to that!), along with getting rid of 2 rarely used pieces of furniture ... plus converting a hallway table into a desk and relocating a chair. I really feel I NEED to have a central place to organize my work for my job, a new career I embarking on, and a new home we're planning on building! (Plus, of course, there's stuff for my family, myself, and our current home to keep up with!)

Tame my beautiful bookshelf gone wild

I know it's a long shot, but does anyone know where I can get the shelves in the upper right of that picture?

Tackling my desk! I need to sort through unnecessary office supplies, greeting cards, blank cds and stacks of books. I aim to find proper file cabinets and recycle old cell-phones and cords that have collected dust on the desk. It's such an eye-sore right now--am anxious to get it cleaned up and organized!

Holy moly, this was hard for me. I have been hemming and hawing all day about what to choose. There is so much that I want to do! But, at last, my gut says to re-upholster the dining room chairs. I have the roll of fabric sitting there and I think this will do a lot to spruce up the room. We did a major remodel on the living and dining rooms this summer (they are connected) and while the living room has been carefully and thoughtfully put together, the dining room still feels unfinished. The table and chairs are in place and the buffet is there, and one piece of art, but otherwise it just feels kind of...bare. It's a tiny space (8' X 12') so I really need to think long and hard about what objects go in there. So, it seems like the chair seats are a good start - right now they are an ancient brown pleather, cracked and nasty. I bought a roll of fabric with a colorful, mod-ish pattern on it with fun colors. Once those are in, I think I will have an easier time deciding on a floor covering, possible window coverings, a light fixture, artwork and a "feature wall" that I have been dreaming up. Having never upholstered anything before, I am a little dubious, but it's only the seats, which can be removed. Then it is just a matter of adding new padding, cutting the fabric and stapling it in place, right? How hard can it be? <<famous last words! ;~D

Last night I spent some time rethinking what to do about our tiny entryway to turn it into a landing spot. I've got a coat rack by the door already and a small catch-all basket on the nearby entertainment center, but it's still way too cluttered for my taste and the keys and mail are all the way in the dining room. I have a nook by the door that would fit a small console or accent table, preferably one with drawers to hide my mess. I found a really cute table at World Market already--I just need to convince my husband that it will fit in our space.

My husband and I will be decluttering and paring down in our bedroom. We started a redesign of the bedroom this summer with a lovely friend who helped us start to reclaim the space, and things have just been nuts since then. It feels so on the verge.... It will take a while, but purging the clothes, storing all the miscellaneous things, and getting me a 'real' nightstand will make that room much more soothing.

The January Cure comes at such an opportune time for my family. We have been living in a chaotic mess since I went back to work after three months of maternity leave. My partner and I ripped apart our main living space this weekend in an effort to rethink the way we use our space. We came to the conclusion that pairing down and creating an office out of our dining nook will help control clutter and moving our seating area toward the lightest part of the room will create a more cheerful place for resting and conversation. We recently discovered that it is unsafe to use our fireplace, so we no longer feel bound to a traditional layout... hooray! We have also decided to swap bedrooms with our daughter. We will give her the small cozy room and take the larger room for ourselves (and our giant wooden sleigh bed). I just couldn't bear to leave the LO in a big room all by herself as we are soon going to be moving her portable crib out of the bedroom. Aside from improving efficiency and flow in our house we hope to rethink decor and placement, keeping only what we love and what works in our space. Wish us luck!

Big Project: The Great Room Swap
Little Projects: reorganize kitchen, minimize clothing, decor and furniture..., and rethink interior aesthetics

Hey Rebecka, you post really spoke to me, reminding me of a studio apartment I had when I postdoc'ed at Cornell. I could list all sorts of details - it had a window that went around a sunny corner, a nice bath/closet, sat on a well-tended courtyard and backed onto a beautiful gorge, but none of these really express that the place was just right for me then. Enjoy your apartment!

Random and unrelated question: the clogs that are being worn in the picture are very cute.Where do you find them?

I am going to paint my bedroom, and then hang pictures.I also want to reorganize the closets, and maybe rearrange the furniture. It's the last unfinished room in the house, and we've lived here for three years, so I think it's time.

I painted over an intense Smurf blue color shortly after we moved in, because I just couldn't live with it any longer. I never loved the new color though, and now I am sick of it. I also have a stack of pictures I never hung up (I think there are two in there now, and there is a lot of wall space). We still don't have proper curtains, just sheers, for privacy, and I bought new bedding last winter, but we never use it because I don't like it with the current wall color.

Can't wait.

Also, @laurenrenee, I don't know where those clogs are from, but they do look a lot like my daughters' Hanna Andersson clogs.

I'm going to finally get the leather chair repaired that my dog damaged a few months ago. And I will sort the garage which is all helter skelter after we moved everything in it willy nilly to one side to accommodate putting my new electric car and its charging station in it.

This was easy, since I did yesterday's assignment today. I sat in my front hall, made everyone else sit in the front hall, and it was a no-brainer that the project for the month was organizing the dumping-ground that is our entry. Already started pulling stuff out of the closet so we could turn the closet into a little "nest," with a bench, hooks for coats, bins for shoes and shelves for bags. Since no one in my family hangs their coats on hangers, why fight it? My husband actually supports this project (which is good, since I'll need him to build the bench-extravaganza I design.

I'm tackling the home office area. Its a desk in the corner of my living room that I try not to look at. I want to make things easy to find and not such an eye sore.

Started with a simple list, but since I'm enjoying a couple of days off this week, it quickly commenced to "I'll just move this over here" and after an afternoon of that I ended up with a completely revamped kitchen and a complete lack of "before" pictures. What I do have, now is a more functional flow, and the table that was my desk (really a resting place for piles of papers, etc.) is now gone and replaced with two comfy chairs that will be a nice place for folks to hang out while I cook. Since I moved just about everything, I also cleaned everything. In one happy accident, I managed to switch the direction the table/island faces and now I have a place to set down groceries and not have to move them again to put them into the fridge! I still had time to clean out the hall closet, too! Staycations rule!

I am going to finally hang photos along my hallway stairs. This blank wall is in need of color.

I am gong to track le my office/puppy room. There are two bookshelves that are catch all for objects , books, CDs , paper, electronics, etc. I think I will be able to de clutter by reorganizing so I can donate the smaller bookshelf and open up room.

"Since no one in my family hangs their coats on hangers, why fight it?"

This is the key to effective organization....LET THE MESS DETERMINE THE METHOD. All the *pleasing to the eye* organizing in the world is doomed to failure if no one uses it.

(gotta love that username)

I just spent about an hour going through my linen closet and doing some organizing and purging. We had a lot of expired vitamins/medicines that needed to be tossed. I was also able to condense some of our products and refold our linens. Looks MUCH better!

I love reading everyone's plans. So inspiring.

I'd also like to know where to get brackets like those holding the shelves in the photo. Anyone recognize them?

I've decided to reorganize my closet! I really wanted to reorganize my desk too. Maybe I'll be able to do both? Didn't want to bite off more than I can chew so I'm committing to my closet only for this month. I have before photos here on my blog: http://living-with-lemons.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-january-cure-day-5.html

I'm going to gather, sort and organize my important papers. Hopefully my desk will thank me.

I'm doing a makeover for the office. We need more space for books and stuff, and I want to have a little reading corner with an armchair, so if the living room is occupied with me and my friends for crafting (or my husband and his guys with gaming^^) there is a quiet place in the apartment to read books, listen to music or just cuddle up with the cats. I will share photos on my blog, after most of the project is done!

After reholstering my sofa (first time ever) into a periwinkle blue velvet, change up our toddler's room into my husband's man-cave, I think we are ready to tackle to spice up my home office!

I am going to makeover our hallway. And that entails a few little tasks like putting up names on my kids' doors, hanging up photos/artwork. And hang a mirror at the end of the hallway. I thought this might be better since the kids can't destroy it in 5 minutes!

I meant to do this in December but I got sidetracked when I broke out the sketchbooks to design a graphic to paint on it's double bi-fold doors: the hall closet. I've done lots of totally unrelated sketching since, but the graphic can wait: it's the only closet left in the apartment to organize, and it seriously needs doing! It's the last of my catch-all spaces, too, where everything gets stuffed in when it has no other home - vacuum and buckets and brooms (oh my!), gardening supplies, extension cords, painting supplies, sewing machine and fabric and supplies, project leftovers, project wannabees, laundry supplies, holiday decorations....etc. I also want to paint it inside. I painted all the other closet innards, and that is something that helps me KEEP them organized. Possibly charcoal grey, as I have a lot of that left over.

There are a few hotspots in our house where stuff seems to get stuck, but the most problematic spot has got to be the mitten/ hat/ child shoe pile in the front hall. There are two baskets there already, which is clearly an organizing attempt that failed. Can't wait to find a solution! No more hunt for the second shoe!
Since this project won't take a few hours, I will also pledge to rid my back hall (which is really an oversized outbox) of outgrown baby gear.

I'm going to make curtains for our big living room window. We've been living in a fishbowl since we moved here in May. It's time to reclaim our privacy! I'm also going to organize all of our bills/paperwork thanks to an attractive file cabinet that was on sale. So excited!

In the furnace room of the house we bought last September there is this cool 50′s storage unit. In the rest of the basement there are several boxes of kitchenware and small appliances yet to be unpacked. Since kitchen remodeling is in the plans in the near future I need to clean the storage unit and the furnace room (I think the furnace room was built around the unit and getting it out would involve taking it apart completely!) so that I can use it for storage. While unpacking I will be choosing what to keep and what to place in the outbox. You can see the Before photos here.

http://villalaluna.me/2013/01/09/january-home-cure-day-5/

And one more thing, tho I have to convince my husband of the value of this, is to find a way to line backs the glass cabinets in my kitchen with a fabric or paper, so that it is temporary. The kitchen is white shaker cabinets, grey tile flooring, and a white/grey/cream/gold granite countertop called "white galaxy" because it looks like the Milky Way! I made a valance of napkins with a large paisley print, that is the same style print but different than the utensil holder and canisters, with red, gold, green and yellow. I want to line the glass door cabinets with a red fabric or paper, to really pop the white dishes inside. I need to shop for the red material, some removable double sided tape, and measure and cut to size. hubby is skeptical, but we'll give it a try.

I'm de-cluttering and re-organizing my bedroom closet. Two months ago, I downsized from my own apartment to a bedroom in a house shared with four roommates. The closet is my only storage space, and it contains all my clothing, jewelry, toiletries, art supplies, outdoor/exercise gear, bed linens, homebrew/fermentation equipment, and a few boxes I have yet to unpack. To reach things I use every day, I have to play Tetris with crates, bags, and loose items. There are a bunch of things I never use that need to be gotten rid of, and a number of things that would be used more often if they were stored in the right place - the pizza stone living under my bureau belongs in the kitchen. My goal is to have the floor cleared, the bureau immediately accessible, and the rarely-used items organized and stored on the shelf, out the way but handy when I do want to use them.

My project is going to tackle the little pile of crap that's been sitting in a corner of my living room since I moved in --- in June! It's terrible, I know. You know that box of random things that just ends up moving from place to place with you? That's what I've got. One box of professional and design magazines I keep meaning to "go through" and one box of old documents, photos in ugly frames I need to change, and silly little keepsakes and gifts that I don't really need but feel bad throwing out because it was a gift. It's oddly stressful having that stuff there, and I'm excited to make it all go away!

I cleaned and organized my kitchen drawers. It was definately needed and I freed up some space by findings things that could go in my outbox!

Cleaning and organizing the kitchen closet. There. I said it. It has to be done! It's been a wreck since the day we moved in and I don't even know what's in there anymore. And that's not cool.

I recently finished my Master's Thesis and my project is to clean up the messy pile of files and papers related to my research, which are haphazardly stacked next to my desk in a corner.

I'm going to clear out my bedroom closet. Our closet space is not being used efficiently, and my husband is obsessed with keeping some of our clothes in old red milk crates, which he kept from the time he was in college. I will do a donate/trash cleanout of our clothing, then measure out the new space to find shelving or drawers that will fit and contain our stuff in a more beautiful way. I want to look into the closet each morning and feel happy, not frustrated that things are just piled up and jumbled.

I walked around our condo and picked up everything washable in the dishwasher; glass coasters, pencil cups, display dishes or bowls, soap dishes, sink strainer-stopper, shower hanging rack, washable drawer dividers (yes, you have to empty your drawers), etc., and ran one big load in the dishwasher - really clean!!
Next, china cabinet!

I'm going to get me and my mom new kitchen furniture. We need to order it, wait till it's ready to install and oversee the installation. Sounds way easier than it is in real life.
I know it's not small, and a lot in it doesn't depend on me per se, but... that is something I REALLY want to do! need to do and I'm at that point when I can't put off any longer sooo... wish me luck! And good luck and lots of energy to everybody else!

this post threw me for a loop! Pick one?! I thought I'd already done quite a few...and blogged about the one that ate up the weekend: http://thewritespace.tumblr.com/post/39947475200/hooks-anchors-and-anagrams

Reading what everyone else is/has been doing pulled me in from the ledge. Next up, I'm going to tackle the wine rack that I ordered. Ordering was on my project list, tho I think I was in denial about the fact that I'd have to assemble it. All part of the organizing the storage room project. Though I already started cleaning it out before the directive to take before pictures.

I am posting my project so I am accountable to complete it and will motivate me. My project is to get rid of my Dell Desktop PC & CPU Tower! It is over 8 years old and is not being used. I have old files & pics on it I need to back up on an external hard drive. I keep putting it off because it is very time consuming. Once it is done - I will have more room on my desk to put my laptop and more space in my living room with out the bulky tower and cords!

I'm going to choose "storage in my living room and dining room" which is vague, but I have some specific ideas. It's a large room but since there are 4 of us it fills up pretty quickly--one of us is a gear head so there's his second set of car tires and one of his bikes, two of us are bibliophiles and there are currently some precarious bookshelf substitutions (which involves the tires). Add to that the various printers and computers, coolers, pet supplies, water that we bought for the hurricane, and day-to-day detritus... Having better furniture that fits our storage needs will make a huge impact on our home.

Hanging my Sydney Opera House picture is my January Cure project.

This is not just hanging 1 picture, it's hanging 16 prints that are parts of the overall picture.

I am "deathly" afraid of putting things on my walls. I've lived in my home for just over 4 years and there are still bare walls. I'm afraid I'm going to screw it up. I'm afraid of the nail holes.

Here's my game plan (2 tasks per weekend):
-cut the prints to size (I already have prints.)
-frame the prints (I already have the frames)
-buy Command hangars for the frames (thus avoiding nail holes)
-measure/mark the frame placement
-hang the frames

I am going to take a big risk ... and paint my bathroom an olive green with paint left over from another project. I have been looking at the test spot on the wall and I think I can do it in a half a day this weekend .. I have several pieces of my own art that I will have framed and promise to share before and after photos!

All of the comments are so motivating! My project is creating a mudroom space for the kids coats and shoes. With 3 school age children, the amount of stuff coming home and going out each day is only going to increase and the mornings searching for shoes and gloves must come to a stop for my mental health. We desperately need a dedicated area in the house where we can always find these items. It will also relieve my banister as the coat rack which drives me nuts on a daily basis. I have the vision and have planned it on a Pintrest board. Now it's go time. So excited!

I will prepare the way for a new stove. Last year my husband's New Year's resolution was to make pizza for as many people we know as possible. We almost hit 60 guests for 2012, and the oven makes a groaning sound at times. It came with the house when we moved in 8 years ago. I have been putting off shopping for a new one, as well as clearing a path through the mud room for bringing the appliance in. My husband wants to make more pizza for 2013!

Hi TeaMaltese. I did this to a china cabinet that belonged to my dh's great-ma which he [originally] refused to allow me to refinish. Respecting his wishes but nonetheless determined, I cut cardboard to size, wrapped it in fabric duct-taped on the back & carefully tucked/pushed my new panels into place. It was a tight fit so no tape or other adhesive was necessary to secure it to the back of the cabinet.

I will add here that I did this while dh was out of town. (did I mention I'm determined? - or maybe stubborn is more appropriate here). Upon dh's return, he commented how nice the cab looked 'all cleaned up' & sporting our china. It was a full 2 or 3 wks later that he noticed my fabric panels. Just sayin....

Woot! Woot! You go sueiowa! This is one of my fave 'cheats'...tons of stuff accomplished with very little energy expended.

I'm going to clean off and organize our desk. Long overdue!

i'm killing two birds with one stone and bust my yarn stash by crocheting a puff flower floor rug to replace the nasty rug in my bedroom that is stained, gross and too small.

@katiejean I used method squirt + mop wood floor cleaner. It cleans very well and it smell wonderful.

I have decided to start small and tackle the top of my bedroom dresser. It is completely covered so I want to clean it off and get rid of all the makeup, hair stuff and items I don't need. I know it is a small task but once it is cleaned off, will have a huge impact on the overall feel and look of the bedroom. I am pretty excited to get it cleaned up!

I am going to organize the nook behind our bedroom door! Currently this is where we stockpile grocery and reusable bags, as well as our laundry basket. Each time I do laundry, I have to remove the bags and other random items from the basket to use it. Each time I internally declare my desire for shelving and hooks to make that space more functional. Time to do it!

I'm so glad I'm doing the Cure! I love the momentum it ensures we keep in our apartment without being overwhelming at all.
We're working on our entryway a bit at a time, to make our apartment more pleasant to come into and set the tone.
Best of luck to everyone!

http://shoesoffplease.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/our-first-project-of-the-year/

I'm going to finish putting up the shelves in my..um...office? den? nest? .....and load them up.

I'm still unpacking from moving in, and my list of projects is so very very long, especially the innocent sounding one "unpack the boxes" because I have an onsite storage unit full to the brim with boxes, and I haven't completely figured out where to put the piles that came out of the boxes I've managed to unpack.

Shelves .Start with the shelves.

I wish I knew what the name of this room should be. One of my friends who was helping me just kept calling it That Room, and I'm afraid it may stay that way if I'm not careful.

I dont' work at home, so it's not an Office. I'm not Ward Cleaver, so it's not a Den. I spend a lot of time in here, so it's kind of a Nest....

sigh. This is how my mind tries to keep me from getting this room done. By making me focus on the name, which makes me define the purpose, so that I can put the exact right perfect things in here.

ohhhhh. Maybe I should tackle a different project. Since I moved in, I've tried to get my bedroom into shape as soon as possible, and no matter how many times I let the room subside into chaos, I continue to get it calm again.

So...project: unpack and/or get rid of any boxes still in the room or the closet. Attach shelves to the walls on both sides of the bed. Get the reading chair into position to see the view I want to see. Put the rugs back down somewhere different now that I've moved the bed.

Create a peaceful sanctuary

Hello - long time reader, almost first time commenter here.

My project will be cleaning, decluttering and organizing our "office". We lived in our house for more than two years, and it was only ever used as a dumping ground for boxes and stuff that needs to go into storage. Both my husband and I occationally need a workspace at home. AND I walk past the storage area/office many times a day - every time it steals a little bit of energy, so this is really something that will make a huge difference.

I think I have the materials I need. Maybe except a rug for the floor and some allergy medication. Everything is so dusty!

Really happy about joining the cure. I works :-)

I'm going to make my closet decent and set up some longterm storage of old photos and sentimental stuff on the top shelf. It's frightful right now. Clutter all over the floor and a bunch of clothes that don't fit anymore. The top shelf is totally empty though.

A bit late, but am going to commit to finally cleaning, listing and selling the appliances we took out when we renovated the kitchen - a year ago! Also going to re-caulk the shower stall, which is only getting worse. Other un-cluttering will likely happen as the month goes on. Bonus - dh found Groupon to print photos on aluminum, we are going to put up 3.

My goal is to de-clutter every surface in my studio apartment. Before photos to come...

I have been following along to the cure, just late to post-- this month I want to finish organizing our craft room -- I'm planning a ladies crafting night for February so this task will play right in to my plans! Huzzah!

That huge pile of cardboard that keeps us from using our back stairwell will be GONE!

Well, let's see, I have a lot of closet- and cabinet-cleaning-out to do. None of them on their own seem like a big enough deal as a goal, so I'm going to say I will clean out all the closets and cabinets that made it onto my master list. Keep in mind that I got a jump-start on New Year's Day by attacking several of the kitchen cabinets at once. Still to do:
-remainder of cabinets and drawers in kitchen
-two closets in my room
-linen cupboard in hallway
-linen cupboard in bathroom
-medicine cabinet in bathroom

Ambitious, perhaps, but I will get as much done as I can. I don't know about posting before and after pics though; I have a tendency to clean on impulse which doesn't really allow for making time to take pictures.

I am going to finally hang the curtains I bought for my living room and buy new throw pillows for the couch.

I'm posting late because I need "catch up" days due to my job. I have been brainstorming and finally decided to reorganize my study, especially my desk!!! It has become clutter city and is in desperate need of an upgrade! I plan to finally throw away old papers from college (yes I'm THAT bad) hang my boyfriends and I's diplomas and awards, and finally frame some cool anatomical illustrations I've collected (inspired by one of the tours on the site). My study will no longer be my dump hole but a place I can actually study!

It will come as no surprise to anyone that read my first week diary entry http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/bethanys-cure-diaryweek-1-182382 , that we have decided to tackle our basement decluttering this month. True, it's bending the rules a little (in that it will take much more than a few hours), but it is the project that will make the biggest difference in how we live our lives, and the one thing we were determined to get taken care of this month.

I'm going to reorganize my pantry and spices so that when I cook it's no longer a struggle to find the right spice. I need to cook more for health and savings.

The grungy refrigerator door - it belongs to my landlord so I can't replace it - but I can certainly paint it!

I"m reorganising my jewellery storage. This unattractive heap on my bedside table just won't do anymore!

I'm FINALLY unpacking and getting rid of my boxes from my move 8 months ago and either finding a home for it or donating/throwing it.

I'm going to clean out our hall closet under the stairs once and for all. Since buying this house 3 years ago, my husband and I have cleaned and reorganized it 2 or 3 times. This time, it's getting done and staying that way dammit!

i am going to tile a bathroom backsplash

The minute my husband left the house with the kids I attacked my entryway, my project chosen from my list and completely forgot to snap a photo of the chaos until I was finished and thinking, well, that looks WAY better! Sorry! Will try to be better next task and shoot the bookcase before and afters! Now onto the kitchen clearing.

Also, Cheers Everyone! Large or small project, just tackle it—It feels great.

I moved to a new apartment in October & one corner of the dining room is a total mess. I have a storage bench where I stash my paper recycling, an overstuffed bookcase (fewer shelves here) a cat scratcher, 2 boxes of filing and a storage box of cat toys. Today I found cabinet space for the cat toys and started the filing sort. A friend is going to take the storage bench which really doesn't suit the space. Can anyone recommend a recycling container that can go outside and keep paper dry until collection day?

I am so excited - I finished my project this weekend! We painted our bathroom a nice, new fresh white, hung new towel bars and a shelf and replaced our old, dingy towels and bathmat. I'm picking up a plant today to add a bit of green life to the room, and then it's complete! I love the cure.

Better late than never, right!

I have decided on a project that really causes me to have keep too much stuff. That is my forever list (in my head) of craft/DIY projects. I tend to keep things that I don't need because I think I could make something with it. (I know, hoarder!) My project is to create a list of actions to take that will use the ideas and resources related to crafting & DIY. I have purged multiple times, but I still have some items left that I really want to do something with.

Tasks:
- Create a list of all resources
- Document my ideas for crafts and DIY projects
- Come up with rules for maintaining the lists for the future, such as when to get rid of stuff, rules for adding stuff, document why it is important to me and why I want to spend my time on it, how I will use it, etc.
- Follow thru on at least one craft or DIY project by the end of the month
- Share document with some family and friends to get reactions

I think I can do a before and after photo... before is showing all the crap that I keep related to my crafting/DIY hopes. The after will be the same thing but with an action plan and the resources organized by project.

That's my vision. If it fails, I will donate it all to a group that would really use it.

X ... (sign on dotted line) ...... Me!.....

I'm replacing 7 window top stops for windows I had replaced........13 years ago. I've never done finish carpentry before. Wish me luck.

I'm going to organise my sewing/work area, which is a corner of our main bedroom. Not only will it help my work, I'll feel much more calm, peaceful & relaxed when in my bed looking at an organised space.

I actually have three...

1) Find a way to use a large empty wall in my tiny, open kitchen to store basic supplies.
2) Upholster a bench or ottoman for my entryway.
3) Organize my walk-in closet (a true gift for a crafter, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by the volume of my supplies).

I'm going to tackle the wall where the desk sits in our home office. Chalkboard paint the wall, and reorganize the desk/storage to make it nice to look at every day. Can't wait til it's done!

I finished my project last week! Cleaning up my "catch all". It was tedious, but it helped to take it step-by-step.

Here is my blog post about my experience!

http://www.thetestnest.com/2013/01/january-cure-project-cleaning-up-my.html

Decluttering the kitchen counters. I think it will make a big difference in functionality of the kitchen and aesthetics since you can see the kitchen from many places.