Not Clutter, Good Stuff

It seems there is a push these days for everyone to de-clutter their lives. “De clutter your home! You will feel better! It will free up your mind!” Maybe for some people this all out attack is useful, but not so much for me. Sure, I like my home to be clean and organized, but I have plans for that so-called clutter. I am sorting through the filing cabinets and burning outdated, paperwork in the woodstove. When it comes to getting rid of all the random bits of crafty things I have saved though, I draw the line.

I am not a hoarder. I am an artist, a craftswoman, a collector of weird things. I keep my spare rooms useable for guests while also using the spaces for writing and sewing and growing fodder for the chickens. I save some things other people might see as trash and I repurpose them into usable goods. I will not replace my perfectly functional formica kitchen counter tops with newly quarried granite slabs, just because it looks nice. My idea of living green means using what I have as long as it still serves a purpose. My closets hold remnants of past and future projects that I will eventually use or give away to someone else who needs it more. The difference between myself and a hoarder is that I am not waiting for some future that never comes, I utilize what I have all the time.

I do not want to live in a house devoid of my homey things and the memories they conjure up.

Yes, I saved dryer lint from my old job. I still save my dryer lint at home. I have always thought to make paper out of it but never had the time or inclination until now. My first project was thick seedling starting quilts. They turned out to be very absorbent but I need to refine my microgreens setup. I hope to try my hand at fancy writing paper to write poems on next. I want to try incorporating colorful bits of leaves or threads or even feathers in to it and make it thinner somehow. It is a project for another day.

I have a hank of tail hair from my old pony, Ranza, that I saved when he died. It has been stored away in the hat cupboard in the mudroom and whenever I come across it, I think of him fondly. Some day I will make something cool out of it, maybe by braiding or macramé. Who knows? There are crafters, like Tail Spin, or Spirit Horse Designs,  or Horse Hair Art on the web who do this for people as tokens of their beloved companions. Someday, I will make a hatband to remember Ranza by.

I save lots of potentially useful things and almost always get around to using or even needing them someday. It is quite satisfying to search for a particular bolt or piece of metal, or a chunk of wood or slab of rubber, and find it, ready for reuse, right here when I need it. I prefer building with things that have a bit of history or memory behind them to spending money at the soulless Home Depot down the road.

My chicken house is constructed from bits of an old wooden-floored outdoor tennis court, from a favorite gardening client in Great Falls, Virginia. I think of her every day as I feed my chickens and horse. The heavy green wire and green painted 2 x 6 ‘s are continuing their life that began in the 1950’s. Extruded aluminum panels from discarded benchtops in a greenhouse where I once worked make fairly predator proof chicken yard fence. This was all destined for the dump.

Salvaged Cedar boards and coat hooks salvaged from during a friend’s house remodel, now hang my iron pots  in the kitchen. I also made some to hang backpacks and clothing. I have furniture and odd bits saved from the house I grew up in. My favorite chair came from a neighbor who lived by the dam on the boy scout lake. I do not remember their name but I remember the pine tree we used as a launching pad to jump into that lake. I made the cushion for that chair and some dog beds from an old futon mattress that we no longer needed.

I have an 8 gallon sauerkraut crock I bought at Starks hardware in Harrisville West Virginia. I will use it to ferment cabbage again, but currently it doubles as a plant stand in the living room. For many years I used it as a stool at my old treadle sewing machine. I kept sewing supplies inside and used a potters wheel bat as a lid and seat. Why would I ever want to get rid of things like this? Plus, it did not cost me much back in 1975 when I bought it and would cost a fortune today.

My father used to call my decorating style early attic. I call it just what I need. I have a corner cupboard that my dad’s mother made, canning shelves and a cedar chest my ex made, a crocheted blanket my first husband made, a wood cook stove I got for cleaning out a root cellar. I have a whole set of little wooden boxes filled with assorted hardware pieces that came out of a neighbors’ workshop on Mimosa Lake from when I was a kid. All very useful stuff that I go through whenever I am searching for just the right thing.

I do not save everything forever. The grandfather clock that was handed down in my family could not stay with me because I had no safe place for it. It passed to my mothers late husbands daughter, who takes good care of it. The potters wheel I bought in Greenwich Village in 1973 will most likely be passed on to someone soon, since it takes up space in my studio that I need for other things. However, I may save the round slate flywheel from it since it makes such a fine porch table when laid across the iron legs I found out in the woods.

So no, I will not stop collecting things that I can foresee using later in one of my many projects. I enjoy being creative and re-purposing old stuff way too much. I will not feel guilty for cluttering my life space. I will continue to dig into my closets, sorting and coming up with new ideas. I finally have more time to implement ideas that have been on the back burner for years. It would be such a shame to hold on to things and then get rid of them just before you finally retire and have more time to play.

-Edgewise Wendy