Gerald R. Lucas

I’m on spring break this week. Usually, Autumn and I pick a destination and go. Spring Break usually means the motorcycle and a beachy locale: something sunny and warm to remind our bodies what that feels like after a grey and cold winter. This year, however, we paid off some bills (yeah!) rather than travelling (boo!). So, while some of this week has been an adventure, we have also been using our at-home time to do some much needed spring cleaning.

Making the middle room upstairs a workable space has been a project we’ve been meaning to get to for the three years we’ve lived in this house. Essentially, it’s been storage for that time — a place for random crap that we’ve seemed to accrue for no other reason than to save a bunch of crap. We decided that this room should be more like an office-library-den: a corner of the room for the computer and officy stuff, a couple of book shelves, and a sitting area, complete with couch, coffee table, and comfy chair.

We originally had other designs for this space. The one I was most enthusiastic about had it as a photo studio, complete with props, sundry lights, backdrops, and other studio stuff. I would still like a studio, but it seems that my style of photography is fairly anti-studio. I’ve a more photojournalistic approach to photography that doesn’t really jive with the formal studio. Besides, this room is on the second floor, so bringing clients into our personal space just didn’t seem like a good solution. We had even discussed turning our first-floor, front room into a studio, but that never really went anywhere. Autumn was receptive to the idea, but I knew she wanted to keep it a more formal space.

Another idea was to turn the upstairs room into a home theater. It’s carpeted, so it would make a comfortable and acoustically appropriate place for a surround audio system. The walls are already painted a dark blue, so all we would need is adjustable lighting — maybe even some recessed cans in the ceiling. The room is sizable, and almost a perfect rectangle: a perfect accommodation for the flat screen and multiple speakers. We could even wire the speakers through the ceiling, since the attic is directly above. There were two drawbacks to this plan: we had just installed ventless gas logs downstairs, and we figured if we moved the television upstairs, we’d rarely use them — a waste of $1200. Also, Autumn works nights at the hospital. This arrangement would be fine when she was at work, but having the Dolby Digital sound system right next to the bedroom is probably not the best idea for lasting peace and serenity.

The room has therefore languished for three years as the collect-all place for junk, crap, and more junk. It became Anna’s room for a while, since she and Apollo decided not to be friends anymore. I put her food and litter box up there, but Autumn’s look told me this was a temporary arrangement. Since that situation has been worked out, the room was once again free to consider using.

Yesterday, we made it so. We went through all the junk and overstuffed both the garbage and recycle bins. It’s always so cathartic to declutter my areas. I wonder why I let it get so cluttered to begin with. Just the act of getting rid of years’ worth of kipple makes me breathe easier and even impresses upon me an urge I rarely get — to smile. Empty, usable, personal space. The potential. The possibility.

I’m usually a bit more zealous when it comes to decluttering. Autumn is meticulous and deliberate. What is this? Do we need to save the vacuum cleaner receipt? Why do we have two copies of The Cocktail Makers Handbook? You’re not going to put that there, are you? I need some space on the shelves, too. Would you, please, clean up this poo. You’re going to vacuum here, right? After several hours of work, we managed to reclaim some lost space. The trick is not to junk it up again.

Standing on a ladder at 16mm.

The reading area. I'm standing where I want a chair.

Sitting in my office chair. Yes, I need a new computer.

The fireplace and corner shelves. Sf geekery on top.

Another 16mm view toward the office.

Office and corner book shelf.

Next, we need some furniture. We plan on getting rid of the futon that I’ve had since graduate school and replacing it with a couch. I’d like a coffee table and a reading chair with an ottoman. We plan to start combing Craigslist soon. Anyone want to buy a futon?

Along with literal cleaning, I’ve done some virtual reorganizing, too. I’m resurrecting Big Jelly. I purchased this domain name a few years ago, intending to use it with some friends as a group blog about science fiction, futurism, and technoculture. What’s changed, other than my friends’ apathy? Well, more on that soon.