Redoing My Bedroom - Phase 1: Cleanup and Shift

Not gonna lie, I'm an insanely messy person. I find it incredibly difficult to keep my own living space clean and tidy, and the main reason for that is that I do pretty much everything in the same tiny bedroom.  It's basically a tiny apartment of my own, except that I do walk out to the kitchen and bathroom every now and then.

....And that's how clutter starts to accumulate. I don't really do it consciously, but I often let dishes and food packaging pile up in there, along with clothes I forgot to take out to the laundry basket (I sometimes end up bringing out a two full loads of clothes when I decide that I need to clean my room), books I didn't bother to put back on the shelves, papers stacked and strewn everywhere. It was a mess.

I would never show what my room looks like when it's in a mess, but here's a picture of what it looked like when it was clean(ish) (I apologise for the crappy quality of the photos; I had lost my camera amongst the clutter under my bed at the time and used my phone):

This is what the room first looked like when we moved here a little over 4 years ago. It made the most sense at the time to set it up that way because you tend to just place everything facing away from the door, which is in the corner. Within a week, my room was already cluttered with things I didn't even realise were in my room. I had to do a massive cleanup every month or so, and it just got really tiring.

Then one day, I got bored, and I had time. I also didn't like that everyone in the house completely ignores closed-door policy, and just barges in...yes, I'm still in that state of mind where I feel guilty for procrastinating if my parents are at home. So I moved the desk to face away from the window. I did figure it was a bit of a problem to have that ratty plastic chest of drawers blocking the window, though.

Clutter rose again, and I couldn't figure out why. It's not even that I consciously do it. But the arrangement of my room was causing me to clutter up my entire room without even realising. When you live in such a tiny space, it's hard to recognise that allocation of space according to it purpose matters a lot, too.

I kept it this way for about 1 year before I finally got fed up with doing a massive clean up every month or so that I wasn't living in a garbage dump, basically. 

This is how my room looks now:

It's kind of hard to see everything in one go, especially with my cork board in the way, but I'll elaborate.

STEP ONE: DE-CLUTTER

I took the week that I had off from school to rearrange my room. That involved:

• Throwing out everything I didn't need anymore. 
• I had boxes and boxes of papers and old school materials that I honestly don't need anymore. The process is actually kind of fun (well, not really, what with all the dust, but) because it's like taking a trip down memory lane. I went through cases and cases of paper consisting of Maths, Bio, Chemistry and Physics quizzes that I failed miserably in high school; old handwritten essays that I wrote for English Lit; sheet music that I had multiple copies of from when I lost mine all the time after choir rehearsals. 
• I threw out things that I never use or are already not of use to me anymore. Pens that ran out of ink, empy makeup packaging, paper used on both sides, expired shoe polish and random knick-knacks that nobody in the family even recognises. 
• I still have to go through my clothes and the top shelf of my epoxy shelving system to see what else I can clear out, but it was so satisfying to clear out so much more space. Difficult to let go of some things, but definitely worth it.

The mindset I kept when I was picking and choosing what to keep and what to throw out was pretty systematic:

       
Do I know what it even is?
          No --> Throw it out
          Yes --> Proceed to question 2

         
Have I used it in the past year?
          No --> If you don't have any use for it in the forseeable future, throw it out.
          Yes--> Proceed to question 3

         
Would your world come crashing down if you didn't have it anymore?/Does it have a significant  amount of sentimental value?
          No--> Get rid of it
                    Yes--> Okay, you can keep it.

STEP TWO: REARRANGE

Because I cleared out a lot of stuff, I now had a ton of space to put actually useful items. So much space, in fact, that I decided that I should get rid of my desk, because it was unnecessarily taking up too much space. That desk was way too big considering that I only use it to put my laptop and a few other things on. 

Slightly blurry photos, but this what my desk setup looks like right now. It still looks a little cluttered, but I'm still in Phase 1 of re-arranging my room. I'm not really done de-cluttering yet. What I did, basically, was clear out the bottom two sections of my Epoxy shelving system and adjusted the height of the bottom shelf to table height. I put a painted wooden board on top of it, lined the back with card, and this has become my makeshift desk. 

I now have immediate access to my books right above my desk, making it easier to focus on working. The head of my bed is nowhere near my desk chair, so I don't feel the incentive to just sprawl onto my bed and take a nap, nor to put used dishes on the mattress. I'm not sure if you can see it so clearly, but there's a short table underneath the 'desk' where I keep things that I use, but not on a regular basis. I find that if I keep everything on a surface that I can see, it's less likely to fall behind something and be forgotten or lost until I move things around to do some hoovering.

Next to my desk is what used to be the bookshelf-type-thing that was attached to my old desk. Again, a little cluttered, but I still needed a piece of furniture to put my things on before I move into Phase 2, so this is what I'm using. And yes, that is a jar of Nutella in the corner. 

I plan to get a 4-level bookshelf to put my...well, books on. I'll leave one shelf for my makeup/hair/skincare stuff though, because I clearly have an insane amount of it. The reason I didn't chuck out a lot of my makeup is because I did work hard to earn money to buy that stuff, and until I use it all up, I don't see a reason I should throw out a perfectly good product just yet. I'm contemplating whether I should get one with doors. I like the polished look of furniture that doesn't expose what's on it, but at the same time, the open shelves make it so much easier for me to reach things easily. 

I now even have space to put my guitars the foot of my bed! I keep my banjo, ukulele and recording mic between the 'desk' and the bed; it saves me a ton of space. 

I've still got a ton to do, this has just been the first part. 

What I still need to do:

Finish clearing out any unnecessary clutter, especially on the top of the epoxy shelf, and my clothes.

Get a new bookshelf and chest of drawers. The plastic one I use to keep my clothes in right now is extremely unstable and is falling apart. When I use the printer that sits on top of it, the entire thing sways violently from side to side! Time for something more sturdy. Speaking of the printer, it's completely broken now, so I should probably get rid of that. 

Take down anything that's stuck to the wall and find a way to organise the various bits and pieces. I'll probably need to repaint the parts that have peeled off, too. Or I'll get some wallpaper.

Move the epoxy shelves upwards once I've de-cluttered it, because the shelf above my 'desk' is at forehead level, and I keep bumping into it. 

I'll probably keep doing more to it as I go along, but for now, I'm satisfied with this plan. I wish I could make more permanent changes to my room, but I do live with my parents, after all, and we rent this place, so I need to keep it simple. 

If you read this far, well done! You are very patient with my wordiness! Haha I'll eventually learn to keep it short and sweet, but for now, you get word vomit...

Llamas and rainbows,

Evelyn

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Rise of The Guardians: Jack Frost Hoodie

I'm a wee bit of a geek, especially when it comes to animated films. My mum is slightly embarrassed by my collection of Disney movies and how much time I spend watching them in my spare time. However, as it is nearing Halloween, I thought I'd share a little costume item that I was working on about a month ago. It's not entirely a costume, so to speak, but it is inspired by the hoodie that Jack Frost wears in Rise of The Guardians - adorable movie, by the way! I'm a sucker for those feel-good fuzzy stories...

This is the hoodie that he wears; I did intend to go for something that isn't so blatantly a costume, so that I would have an excuse to wear it on a regular basis, and this hoodie was perfect. I got my hoodie from UNIQLO for 149 HKD on sale - it sounds a bit pricey, but I did want something of decent quality because I'd be wearing it more than just once.

I chose to go with a zipper hoodie rather than a pull-on; I have a rather embarrassing habit of forgetting to pull my shirt down underneath before lifting off my hoodie - zippers just work better for me. The material of the hoodie itself is 92% cotton and 8%nylon, with a cotton/nylon ribbing on the sleeves and hem.

WHAT I USED:
Heritage Permanent Fabric Paint in 02 White
Sakura Pen-Touch Fine Point Paint Marker in White and Silver

I started with the neckline of the hoodie, because I figured it would take the most time. I wanted the frosty effect to be more exaggerated and purposely patterned rather than more accidental, like Jack's original one. 

I used an old eyeshadow brush to apply the fabric paint- don't glare at me just yet! This particular eyeshadow brush is really stiff, and I have no use for it because it would simply stab me in the eye and not pick up any powder pigment, so I figured I may as well use a terrible makeup brush as an excellent fabric paint brush! The small amount of paint that it picked up due to its size made it easier to fade the paint out into a gradient against the fabric of the hoodie, as well as draw fine lines for the frost.

This is what the upper part looks like; I lined the white paint all the way around the hood and around the neckline. The frost comes down a little past my chest, and down the sides onto my shoulders. After drawing the initial outlines of the frost with the fabric paint, I went over them and highlighted certain parts with the silver and white paint markers, which brings it a subtle glisten. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Not. I live basically along the equator.

I didn't put too much emphasis on the frost along the hood - I don't generally wear the hood up that often, so it doesn't get seen much, anyway. Plus I kind of like the contrast between the neckline and the hood. 

I didn't manage to get pictures of each individual part, but as you can see, I did the same sort of pattern on the sleeves and pocket. For the hem, I just did a simply gradient without frost because I didn't want to overcrowd the hoodie with frost patterns. 

Oh ho ho! Mirror selfie time! This is what it looks like with an actual person wearing it. My face is not in it because the picture was landscape and that's all I could fit in without missing any of the details. 

I love how it turned out; it makes a nice casual statement piece in comparison to my fairly minimalistic wardrobe (Pretty much everything I wear is black, white, grey, or brown). It's also super cozy, and handy to have when some of my professors like to turn up the air-conditioning to penguin mode.

Funny story - I was wearing this hoodie one day, and I was standing in line at Starbucks. The girl behind me keeps staring at me - or my chest, rather - which I found to be slightly creepy. Then she taps me on the shoulder and asks if I made my hoodie. I told her yes, and she asked if I had an Etsy store! I wish. I would never have the time to hand-make enough hoodies to sell, and to be honest, I don't know the first thing about shipping stuff...anyway, that small incident made me a happy llama for the rest of the day (:

I'm probably going to be pushing through school assignments at the end of this month, so I doubt I'll be able to get my Halloween fun in this year! What will you be doing this Halloween? 

Llamas and rainbows,

Evelyn

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Grilled Salmon and Avocado Pesto Sandwich & Prosciutto Salad

This isn't actually new, seeing as I made this back in June, and have featured it on my more personal blog, but I thought I'd share it here anyway because it is relevant.

My last day of summer freedom before I started my incredibly intense summer job was spent cooking and baking a bunch of yummy stuff with my friend Adrienne, so that we could 'inaugurate' her new oven. I'll just be talking about the sandwich and salad that we made, because even though we made cupcakes, too, they aren't by any standard presentable as blog material! I mean, they tasted good, but they just look really amateur.....I will do a separate post on them if someone asks, though.

Anyway, we adapted a recipe by Helene DuJardin at Tartelette, because I honestly would have no idea how to make my own pesto. We followed the recipe as closely as possible, but because our trip to the supermarket was rather disappointing (no arugula or apricots!!), we had to make a few improvisations and replacement ingredients, and then carry everything back to Adrienne's kitchen, which wasn't so pleasant in the 33 degrees celsius heat! We also weren't terribly concerned about whether it was gluten-free or not, so this is a more...simplified version of the original recipe.

INGREDIENTS (Makes 2 sandwiches):

For the pesto avocado spread:

• 1 cup of fresh basil leaves
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 avocado (the original recipe said 1/2, but we had a pretty small one)

Pulse all the ingredients together in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Our pesto didn't turn out that way, because we couldn't find any ripe avocados, but it was nevertheless still very good!

For the Sandwiches:

• 120g/4oz of salmon fillet with skin on
• basil, parsley and thyme
• lemon slices
• 1 large loaf of whole wheat bread
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• tomato slices
• handful of arugula (or rocket, in our case)
• pesto & avocado spread

Heat a grill pan to medium heat, and place the salmon fillet on the pan, skin down. Lay the lemon slices, parsley, basil and thyme on top of the fillet and leave it cook for 8-10 minutes, or until it is completely cooked through. Let it cool down for a bit until it's bearable to touch, and then flake it into bits.

Lightly brush the bread with olive oil and toast in on the grill pan until all crispy and toast-like. You don't have to brush it if you don't want to; we didn't. We just used the remaining olive oil from the salmon because gurlll olive oil be expensive here! We also didn't use whole-grain or gluten-free bread like the original recipe; we just used what was fresh out of the bakery that morning, which happened to be a large whole-wheat loaf, which we sliced into half and through the middle to create sandwich pieces. Like so:

Spread a thick, even layer of the pesto onto one slice of bread. Assemble the tomato slices, salmon flakes and rocket/arugula onto the toasted bread. Like I said, we couldn't find arugula, so we ended up using rocket instead...I don't know if it really makes the world of a difference, so do what you like (: 

Place the last slice of bread on top, and your sandwich is done! We had a good 10 minutes of just being social media geeks, snapping photos, trying to find the best lighting and angles to take good pictures....of a sandwich. Yup. Looks really good though, doesn't it? 

Moving onto the next part, we made a salad to go with it, just as the recipe shows. However, we couldn't find any apricots, so we ended up just skipping those altogether and making it a prosciutto and mozzarella salad.

For the Salad:

• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large ball of fresh mozzarella
• 8 slices of prosciutto
• handful of arugula
• salt and pepper

Slice up the ball of mozzarella. The recipe said to slice them thinly, but neither of us are particularly skilled with knives, so we decided it was better to have thicker slices than severed fingers. It turned out just fine, anyway.

We layered the salad ingredients together on the plate, then drizzled olive oil and sprinkled the tiniest amount of salt and pepper on top. This is possibly the fanciest lunch I've ever made for myself, and it was so worth the effort. I kid you not, if I had the time, I would make a proper lunch every day. Unfortunately, being a full-time student and having a part-time job doesn't really allow for that, so I'll have to wait till holiday season again!

Anyway, I hope that made your mouth water, and I'll make sure to take pictures next time I'm cooking (:

Llamas and rainbows,

Evelyn

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