Thank you Bonnie for you wonderful comments. It’s always nice to hear how organization can mean different life awakening events for each and every person. I’m glad that you’ve been able to make the most of a difficult situation and still make your abode a beautiful place for you to enjoy! Thanks again my friend. 🙂

i found that putting away all pictures — including those on my computer — to a type of graveyard was the best way for me. i have learned since that that’s very typical, but so is the very opposite — gathering all memories and building a “shrine.” for me, it was doing a clean sweep to elp alleviate too many continued moments of trauma.

a new sofa cover — a new bedroom something. it doesn’t have to be huge. something that helps to make a dramatic impact — take all framed artwork and move it counterclockwise around the house. as well, just a simple idea of painting all the moulding around doors and at the bottom of all walls — it’s a fabulous redecorating idea.

before you go out and buy a whole gallon of premium paint, as i did, to paint the moulding, check out home depot’s line of martha stewart 10-ounce paints. some are metallic, and they’re all water-based. fabulous! my golden knobs i’d painted upon move-in five years ago got a fresh paint of antique gold. oh, my how they shine!

i had often and long considered a move from our shared apartment since the death of my spouse in 2008. here we are four years later and i’ve made so many changes and rearranges of negligible cost that i don’t have to leave the location i truly love.

paint works wonders. i blotch-effect painted several storage boxes bright/light pink, and they fill a now-happy corner of my front room, not only brightening the area but giving ready access to my green coffee beans that i roast once a week, as well as fedex mailers, etc. you can do the same by purchasing two cans of premium spray paint (in my case both were pink of different hues) and avant-gardely spraying here and there til a nice, posh blotch effect — similar to fabric tie-dye appears. make sure you do this outside with plenty of ventilation. if you can wait one day to air out the articles before bringing them back in, all the better.

make use of your local charity’s hauling truck or van. particularly if your revamping is following a death of a loved one, this helps everybody — you AND the beneficiary of the items which only cause emotional grief.

what i did won’t work for everyone, but if you’re a single widow living alone, it may work for you. as well, i have found that my city’s university offers a wonderful program for those of us who’ve attained a certain age. it may well be that your local college or university does the same. mourn and grieve, as this is a necessity. but there is a point at which this will end and you will wonder what to do with the rest of your life. i’m starting to experience that point right now. my best to you as you go forward, too.