I'm in the midst of a cleanse. My living situation is inexcusable. I'm a working actor in Chicago. It's going pretty well, but like anything else I have to climb the ladder. And, like anything else, the lower rungs of the ladder are not financially secure. I live in a one bedroom apartment with another "starving artist." He's my best friend and we get along perfectly, but our apartment is overcrowded, cluttered, and quite frankly unbearable at times. When I live by myself, my apartment is usually spotless. There might be a mess in my bedroom, but that's it. Well, I'm in a situation now where the living room is my bedroom. I'm an actor, my mom's a fashion designer, and I'm a girl. Needless to say I have a lot of clothes. One might say I have an obscene amount of clothes. With no bedroom guess where the clothes go? Everywhere! We also have no dishwasher and RIDICULOUS water pressure. It can take twenty minutes to fill the sink. I am not kidding. It can take over an hour to do a normal sink of dishes. The water pressure in the bathroom is fine, so sometimes I wash dishes in the bathroom sink. Considering that both my roommate and I are actor/singers there is also piles of sheet music and scripts everywhere. We also run a small not-for-profit theater company. So this apartment is also the home for costumes, props, paint, lights, and small set pieces. Add to all of this my roommate's full grown long-haired cat that is not declawed and has a tendency to make a mess everywhere it goes. So basically we are talking about an apartment covered in clothes, sheet music, dishes, and random theater paraphernalia. It's very easy to get discouraged and despondent about attempting to deal with this problem. I don't want to paint too awful of a picture. I have a wonderful social life and a swiftly rising theatrical career. I get paid (albeit not enough) to do what I love. I just think my living quarters should match the rest of my life. This month's theme of renewal has really inspired me to do something about it. I can't move yet, but in the meantime I CAN make things more livable. I'm using this blog as a measure of accountability for myself. I have to get my apartment under control. It shouldn't control me. There is a really cute apartment hidden under all this STUFF and I'm going to find it. Stay tuned for after pictures.
The Living Room.
The Living Room.
The Living Room.
The Living Room.
The Hallway.
The Dining Room/Kitchen.
The Dining Room. (Some of the sheet music I was talking about)
The Kitchen.
The Bedroom. (That's the cat.)
I know it's been a long time since I posted this. It turned into a BIG job and still isn't finished. I started off treating the problem. I was straightening every area instead of getting everything out, sorting it, getting rid of stuff....etc. Well I decided to join the cure at apartment therapy. http://www.apartmenttherapy.com
I'm still not done...but here is SOME progress. 
Cheers!
New Dining Room
New Dining Room
New Dining Room
New Dining Room (looking into New Kitchen)
New Dining Room book shelves (w/new turquoise accent wall)
New Apple Green Kitchen w/ a happy sink
Happy Sink (w/ environmentally friendly dish soap)
New Hallway "landing strip"
New Hallway "landing strip"
-I'll keep you guys posted with more pictures. I also periodically blog about my process at http://www.harmonyfrance.wordpress.com
(teamsugar: I thought it would be okay to put this link here, but if it isn't I'll take it off )
Rick Owens
As I was reading your post I was imagining a dingy little hellhole! But your apartment is very cute and colourful. Really it's just untidy so storage is your biggest issue. I'll definitely be back to see the "after" pictures.
Good luck!
1Best of luck to you!! I can't wait to see what you do with the place. It does look awfully cute under there.
2I wish you a lot of luck. It can seem overwhelming when things get out of control, but they can be set right, and you will feel so good!
3I'm hyperventilanting looking at the pix - Hi my name is Shiloh and I'm a neat freak
- but I can understand how cleaning can be so overwhelming. Pls keep us posted of your proggress and good luck! even the cat will be happier 
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4and we think to ourselves, what a wonderful world!
Just take one room at a time, and you'll get it together. In the meantime, don't let your roommate screw up your clean area. Also, he needs to pitch in, too. After you all get it the apartment clean..just do a little cleaning every day. That way doesn't become so overwhelming..but you can totally get this place clean and cute. Also, I would throw out stuff that's of no use to you..think like you're moving out. You could also give some of it away. If, your dishwasher doesn't work, and the water pressure is horrible..I would get it all clean..then, start using paper plates. Silverware shouldn't be too hard to clean. Oh, first, off I think...I would just go around with a bunch of trash bags and throw away anything that is trash. Then, I would start room by room. I wish you the best of luck. I know you can do this.
5don't feel too bad - my bedroom gets like this way too often. i totally understand how overwhelming it can get. sometimes just looking at my mess exhausts me, and i feel unable to take care of it. this is making me want to clean up my living space too! maybe we should keep each other accountable.
also, what is the print on the wall in the first photo of the red haired girl in purple with a yellow background? it looks interesting...
6Thank you everyone for the support! I really appreciate it. I'm making progress. I tackled the clothes first since it's the biggest problem. I filled six garbage bags with give away clothes. It took me all day. I went through every single clothing article I own and tried to be really discerning about what to keep and what to get rid of. Once I put it in the bag I wasn't allowed to take it out again. Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the dishes and random "kitchen things" around the apartment. I usually try to clean room by room instead of item by item...but this method seems to be working better.
Jasi:
7Do it! Clean your space too!
It's a Salvador Dali print called Female Figure with Head of Flowers. You can find it on barewalls.com
Okay! I think I'll start on my room tomorrow after work. Yikes. And thanks for the information on the print. Maybe that can be my reward for cleaning my place up...
Nice progress on your place! You should be really really proud of yourself. I can't wait to see after pictures! Keep it up!!
8Great job! I've always liked the problem by problem method of cleaning, rather tnan the room by room. Make sure to get rid of those clothes give-away bags soon, just so you don't feel tempted. Well, maybe that's just me
9My bedroom is also a DISASTER.
Every attempt I make to clean it up only makes it worse because I never have time to finish it.
I would, however, be happier when I'm in my room if it was organized.
I'll try to get to it tonight too... see what sort of dent I can make on the mess!
I'm impressed with your progress.
10It must feel nice when you can turn around and see some improvement!
The real-life Monica Gellar!
11Shi! You are so funny.
12I've been hitting the pavement trying to find a day job. I found one today! Anyway, the apartment is coming along really well. This is taking so much longer than I anticipated...but I'm sticking with it. I'll have photos soon!
13Are there some "after" pictures? This is scary - hopefully you've been able to get somethings picked up, but if you are still working on it...please think about what would happen (god forbid) like a fire or something.
Looks like there are a lot of clothes. First things first - get them washed and hung up. Don't worry about getting nice hangers, use the wire hangers from the cleaners, or take from Mom, your friends...people are usually excited to get rid of their wire hangers.
No money for a fancy closet? When I was living in a den, I bought a wire shelf unit and only set up the very top and bottom shelf and hung my stuff there. It was tall enough for dresses, shirts, and pants. Skip Ikea - Home Depot works just fine.
I am a cluttery person, I save up my mail for a couple of weeks/months at a time. I get upset that I've created such a backlog, I just toss it all out. The other side to this is that my boyfriend is the Monica Gellar. He's a neat freak, and the cluttery/messy thing is a we argue about the most.
Good luck.
14Hey guys! This has turned into a mother of a project. Instead of just cleaning up I've decided to part with 1/3 of my belongings. Because...honestly the problem is I have too much stuff and nowhere to put it. I need a REAL solution. It's also been really difficult to get my roommate on board. I've made a lot of progress, but there is definitely more to be made. I'm really hoping to be done by Sunday. I promise that I will post "after" pics at that time.
Thanks for all the support!
15Thanks for the update. You're doing great!
16We didn't QUITE make our deadline. We are so close though. It's looking so good and less cluttered and MORE peaceful. I can't believe how much stuff I've gotten rid of. It's amazing. We are both really happy at how it's turning out. A couple more days of work should do it. I'm so excited!
17Here 14 weeks later are FINALLY some after pictures. Thanks for all the support guys!
18It looks fantastic!! Well done you
I love all the colours you've used and the asian influence. Really lovely
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