before

I don't normally post at the weekends and I don't normally post pictures of my giant mess but I'm hoping that it will character building. Or at least shame me into actually doing something. I hope therefore that you will excuse this slight diversion from all the cake.

My flat is pretty much a rectangle with all the rooms coming off a central corridor. On the right you have the kitchen, the bathroom and the main bedroom. On the left you have the spare bedroom/study and the living room.

I spent some time sorting out the master bedroom the other day and there's only a few bits and pieces to be done in the bathroom so this weekend I will be concentrating my efforts on the kitchen, spare room and living room.

The kitchen, as you can see, isn't huge (as a side note, a 50mm lens is really not ideal for taking pictures of a fairly compact flat). The first picture is taken from just outside the door, standing next to the bin. The second picture is taken from the reverse angle and shows the hell that the breakfast bar has become. There used to be a couple of stools here but as we had never used them for anything other than hanging washing out to dry, we decided to get rid of them and ended up buying a couple of cheap plastic shelving trolleys to provide some extra pantry storage as I only have one cupboard for food. There is also a radiator under there that I've turned off so nothing melts or goes funny. The top of the counter has just become a dumping ground - you can't see but my stand mixer and a cake stand also reside here. 

There's also quite a big mess to the right of the oven/stove which is a mixture of bowls, some pasta that fell out of the cupboard the other day and various condiments. You can *just* see the handle of the fridge on the left hand side of the picture and there's a freezer below it. The kitchen isn't much wider than the width of the sink and on the right you have the dishwasher and washing machine under the counter, a large cupboard containing the boiler and some open shelves.  Although it looks like there's quite a few cupboards, the one under the sink is completely taken up with a gas meter and only one of the drawers (the one to the left of the oven) actually work, the others are just for decoration. 

The spare room is probably the messiest room in the whole flat not least because there are several boxes of my boyfriend's stuff in there that he still hasn't unpacked. As you go in, there's a desk and bookcase to the right and then a sofa/daybed to the left. 

Behind the door is a spare dining chair covered in stuff and a wardrobe that contains our coats and some overflow clothes. Because of all the boxes, it's hard to get into the wardrobe so the sofa has become home for all our coats and scarves. And a load of other crap by the looks of it. 

At one point in time, all the bookcases were lovingly organised. There are a couple of shelves above the desk which contained cookery books and the large bookcase was all fiction organised alphabetically. Then we bought more books. And then some more books. And then I bought some cookery books. And then some more books. And now it's just a big fat mess. We've also dumped various electronic goods there as well - I know there are at least two laptops on the top of the shelves for example. 

The living room itself isn't too bad. The top picture on the left is taken from the door looking diagonally across. There's a big bay window with a dining table (and the products of my accidental shopping spree the other day - a couple of galvanised steel drink buckets and a tray. The plant isn't going to live there permanently either, at least not if I have my way). The other pictures are then taken from each corner of the room looking diagonally. I admit that I didn't even bother tidying up before I took these pictures so you can see the detritus of my Saturday morning.

All I really need to do in here (apart from tidy it obviously) is find a place for the stuff on the dining table and sort out the shelves which are in the corner between the sofa and the armchair. The top shelf is mainly booze and booze-related equipment, the second shelf is just a real hodgepodge of coasters, placemats, boardgames, candles and goodness knows what else. There's also a drawer right at the bottom. I know that the drawer is full but I honestly have no idea what's in there. I've bought a couple of brown leather storage cubes (which will double as extra seating) and I'm planning on moving some of the stuff from the shelves into the cubes and then maybe moving some of the prettier crocker from the kitchen in here. I take most of my photos on the dining table so it makes sense to have everything in this room.

Although the main bedroom looks pretty sorted (no pictures because boyfriend is still asleep), it's really only surface organisation. Under the bed has become a black hole and I'm going to need a stiff drink before I even think of tackling it. 

There are also two cupboards in the hall that I need to sort. They mainly contain towels, sheets, suitcases etc. I didn't take any pictures though in case my mother reads this because she'd probably never speak to me again if she saw what they looked like. 

I have some family commitments this afternoon but I'm looking forward to waking up bright and early tomorrow morning and getting started. If you don't hear from me again, I've probably been buried under a pile of Edith Wharton books. Wish me luck.