Some semi-annual projects carry over. Progress without completion in the first cycle but visions on an end point with just another six months. Repurposing my son's bedroom to another use twenty years after he vacated it has gotten my attention. It's a big project, though one that probably could go to completion with some professional input. It would not be fair to call him a hoarder. He accumulated stuff gradually over a long time. I had tried to make his room function for him, providing him a desk, workable chair, adding shelving to his closet. But organization never captured his attention. My father transported my dresser, nightstand and bed when he moved south in 1988, his grandson reaching the transition from crib to bed at the time. Now I find myself not only with the furniture but a cluttered floor. Over six months I hacked away at surfaces. Thrift agencies got generous donations of clothing, though I separated things my son might find sentimental. Those went in a drawer. Paper got recycled. Awards and correspondence from people and agencies important to him went into a secure case with a zipper. Some drawers got purged. Nothing has yet been relocated to a different part of my house, nor has anything been transported to his rather spacious home some five hours away.
His bed served as a flat surface to put things as I worked. Eventually, though, that would become the centerpiece of the room, even if nobody else ever sleeps on that bed again. Its mattress was my mattress, now 70 years old. The mattress and box spring probably would not be sold today as too shoddy for a good night's sleep. As a teenager, my father had to place a sheet of plywood between the mattress and box spring for support. The bed frame had moved from its wall, needing to be repositioned. The plywood and box spring had also shifted from their best sleeping position. And what might have come to rest beneath them challenged my imagination.
Moving everything seemed a two-person job, though perhaps a younger, more muscular he-man could have managed it. I made a date with my wife to do this. Mattress moved into an adjacent hall. Slight slit in my left pinkie but no splinter moving the plywood. Box spring had a plastic coating on its upper surface, a wise addition for the two year old who slept on it. Its lower surface had a gauze covering stapled to the wood frame, now mostly separated making the inner coils of that box spring readily visible. They seemed intact. That ant the plywood also took their place in the adjacent hall. Then I removed the three supporting slats, screwed their by my father after many episodes of my childhood where they dislodged. leaving one side of the mattress and box spring to slide off the frame.
With the floor exposed, likely for the first time in 38 years, I could see what accumulated. My son had a feather comforter. Earlier in the project I had harvested this. Its duvet cover removed for washing, I could see considerable feather shedding from the blanket. After washing the cover, I inserted the comforter back in with some difficulty, not noting any torn areas that might allow feathers to escape. The floor beneath the mattress, though, looked something like a white bird mixed with a lot of other things. I separated the objects into three basic categories: paper, cloth, other. The following day, I went through the paper, recycling most, tossing some, saving the photographs, letters from dear people, greeting cards. Textiles mostly went into the trash with a few items harvested. I found water and soda bottles suitable for recycling, writing instruments, an obsolete disposable film camera, coins, two light bulbs, a plastic cup from a casino, and a CD Walkman that probably still works. Some to trash, others put in a plastic bin for later sorting.
Now the vacuum. The upright Shark worked fine, though it sucked up its share of coins hidden within the feathers. This machine does not do edges well. I could not find the vacuuming toools but my wife did, so I can finish the job shortly. The bed frame now sits flush against a far wall and a side wall. Replacing the slats, box spring, plywood, and mattress remains a two-person job. Then install the new mattress cover, make the bed with one of several twin sets that I came across. The feather blanket should be tossed. I have extra pillows. Then buy a new bedspread. Finally, declare that surface off limits for piling stuff upon it. I probably have twin blankets somewhere, but if not, I can buy one of fiberfill. Better to just discard the feathers.
Some projects need an inflection point. My son's bed, inherited from me, provides that key element of his room's restoration. It is unlikely anyone will sleep there, as my daughter's old room has remained tidy. It contains a much more functional mattress, though no headboard. My son's bed in position and declared off limits for clutter, the remaining contents of the floor's surface, less that feather-shedding comforter, should organize more easily.
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