Hiya Tally Sue and all - I doubt if anything I did is so different from what everyone else has done. What worked best was - one box, one shelf, one whatever at a time. ANYTHING (clothes, dishes, linens, books, etc) I hadn't seen in 6 months, worn in awhile, if it needed repairs, didn't like it anymore, couldn't recognize it - goes right into the trunk of the car for donation or the trash can. Anything I knew my daughters wanted to inherit, if I didn't have room or wasn't sure it meant much to me, they got it now. Things like jars, bottles, etc that I had to sort beads or store whatever - I kept ONE to sort beads, the other 1000 went to recycling. No wanting til I had "enough" - I would take a small box and drop it off on my way to the grocery store, or a car load - just get it OUT! The folks at Goodwill knew me "here comes that crazy lady again". I don't care, they don't understand. Took me 10 years. But I think it's paid off. I don't believe in throwing away anything that has true meaning. Sentimental stuff can be important. But there's this thing about WHAT's sentimental and what's just trash. I went through the whole house 3 or 4 times before I got to where I am now. One little bit at a time. One box, one bag, one drawer, one step at a time. Drove me nuts! But too much at one time was too hard for me, so slow and steady is winning the race. Virginia

Marie, You will find your "House Diary" as I call it, invaluable! I have referred to it so often that I can't imagine what I did without it. Like yours, it's in table in a Word document. When I make a major purchase like the oven, I keep all of the information relevant to that purchase in the House Diary. Magazine subscriptions are helpful to as I have seen a trend that the subscription comes due before it should. I keep appliance repair notes too. I keep it by the year with the following columns. DATE ITEM MERCHANT PAID NOTES

Since my husband and I are both avid readers, we have bookcases all over the house. And yes, we keep our books separately. He would be willing to mingle but I have a keen sense of book ownership. It is related to my reluctance to lend books away from the house. Each of my bookcases (or in some cases, just one shelf) has a subject -- general fiction, SF, garden, textiles, travel. This year we built in a window seat and bookcase in a niche of the bedroom. My DH and I both keep out TBR books there. There is a shelf for library books so I don't have to go looking for them. Also I keep a collection of my favorites that I read over and over.

You don't show a drawing of your kitchen, but I planned my storage around work zones. My kitchen is NOT open concept so I have 4 walls, and 3 door openings. On the sink wall, there are no uppers as there is a huge bay window over the sink and a door to the outside. My dishwasher is on this wall to the right of the sink. The counter is a short L shape. On the short wall, there is a 3 drawer stack - drawers are not very wide. In the top, is everyday cutlery and small kitchen tools, middle gas dish towels and small cutting boards, bottom has oddities and small watering cans. Next to this is do space for a stainless trash can - I don't like built in ones. On the upper wall at right angles to the window wall, is a custom cabinet that holds everyday glassware. It does not go the the ceiling as I wanted to display antique copper that my mother collected when I was young, on top. Then there is the swinging door into the DR. Then a long wall with glass front cabinets for dishes - everyday in a double, good in a smaller cabinet, and one that goes back into the blind corner for good crystal stemware. Underneath the end cabinet is a doorless cabinet with a dog bed with shallow drawer above for one set of sterling flatware (the one I use everyday). Next to it, are 3 wide drawers, two are deep - bottom one gas drawer within a drawer for canned goods like soup, and flat pie plates. Mixing bowls, various cake pans etc are in the middle drawer, top drawer had odd utinsels that are not used that often. There are canisters for flour, sugar, confectioners sugar, on the counter at one end. At the corner is a 4 stack of drawers for tools, more dish towels, napkins etc. At right angles to this wall, is the back wall. It has a double upper that is used to hold baking ingredients, extracts etc - also cereal. Under counter is a shallow drawer for rolling pin, cupcake papers, food coloring and waxed paper (it us in this drawer as it's right beneath the small microwave on the counter). In the middle drawer, is a custom made stainless steel liner with sliding lid - it's for dog kibble. Bottom drawer is for smaller cake pans. This large L- is my dessert/baking prep area. My KA mixer is in the corner of the L, small microwave up against refrig cabinet. Refrig is next to this - counter depth with built in side panels and a cabinet above. It holds my Cuisenart (which I now rarely use), blender, rice cooker - big roasting pan - odd shapef items which are used rarely but still needed. The next wall starts with the doorway into the back hall - this is the entrance used the most. Next to it is a 5ft long countertop with my vintage range at the end. Above, is a double cabinet that holds ingredients for main course/side dishes. It holds rice, pasta, condiments, broths, etc.. Underneath, I have a shallow top drawer for foil, zip locks, plastic wrap etc. underneath are two deep, wide drawers for cookware. Between the upper cabinets and the big Vent-a-Hood is a pot rack for my most used pots and pans. Underneath, next to 3drawer stack, is a Rev-a-Shelf 9" pullout with stainless canisters for my most used utinsels and spoons, and on the bottom shelf, for olive oil, vinegar, dry vermouth for cooking. Between that and the stove, is a shallow drawer with a built in rack for all my spices to lie down. Under that, is a cabinet with a shallow pullout drawer for pot lids and pot holders. In bottom of this cabinet, are dividers that hold silver trays, reg trays, baking sheets, cookie sheets, cooling racks. Toaster oven is at door end of this counter. ALL of this was planned before I ordered the cabinets. I did have DGS rearrange the glass doored cabinets about 3 times until they looked right. Other than that, everything has worked perfectly. My kitchen is only 11x15 so no room for an island and too wide to be a galley kitchen,. So, I bought a 17" deep island cart from Ikea - think it's about 42" long. It has a butcher block top, 2 drawers that open from both sides ( one for appliance manuals, one for oddities/band aids etc,) below are two slotted shelves for dog stuff, cookbook, dog towels, basket for potatoes and onions. Is it a "Barrier Island"? Some would say so, but for me, it's a place to set ingredients taken from the refrig, plates for meals. My kitchen is in a 1948 house- no way to move walls for innumerable reasons. Thirty-two yrs ago, I moved the sink to be under the window and replaced double windows with the bay - prefer a sink in front of a window. Stove must be where it is for external venting. I'm an organized cook so having the sink and refrig at opposite ends of the kitchen is no problem and it's the best place for the "elephant in the room". Putting dishes away from the dishwasher is only a few steps. What I like best is that three people can be working in this kitchen and a 4th taking and clearing dishes from the DR and no one is tripping over another - one at sink, one at stove and 5 ft counter area preparing food and plating it, baking area is for salad and dessert assembly. There is room on one side of the sink for dirty dishes which are rinsed and put in DW below, and on the other side, there is room for what is handwashed. Island cart is multipurpose- serving and clearing, holding glasses to get filled with ice. This kitchen works when I'm alone or entertaining. It took me a long time to plan this kitchen and much thought about where everything would go. I got it right for me.