My first KonMari assignment (books) finished!

Nothing like a Seattle snowstorm and being housebound for a few days to help me complete my first KonMari assignment!

If you are following along on my KonMari process is the studio, be sure to read the previous post to see where I started. I am going through my entire studio, one KonMari category at a time, with the help of Tricia Fidler of Heywood Park Collective.

The first assignments were clothing and books. The clothing category is easy. Studio clothing is a few aprons and a sweater. Books, however, is a large category! In total, it took 3-4 hours a day for 3 days to get through all the books and complete the entire category.

 

I am thrilled with the result!

bookshelves after

Things I learned

  1. Going through that amount of books is a physical process as well as mental one. To pull them all from the shelves, go through them, reshelve the ones to keep, loading the car with 3 donation trips… that is a lot of work!
  2. When you’re that tired, “inspiration” becomes more tightly defined. I went into this realizing that now every single book I’ve acquired inspires me. In the past I could often talk myself into keeping those anyway. The process allows consideration of each book. It gets easier to make decisions as you progress. Questions like “do I want to take this into the future with me?” “Is this the person/artist/maker I want to see myself as?” “Does this benefit me?” The answers come quicker and more clearly as you move through the process.
  3. Smaller groups of books equals more inspiration. In Marie Kondo’s book Spark Joy, she writes something to the effect of when you are left with one the books that truly spark joy, the quality of information you take in changes noticeably. I do feel I now have a clearer picture of the type of book that I find interesting, beautiful, and inspiring.
  4. These books all have a prominent home and aren’t lost in a sea of books I didn’t read. I can grab a beautiful book without wasting time searching for it. I appreciate the books I still have, they make me happy.
  5. This process with definitely change my book buying habits. Audio and digital feel more appealing than a physical book for some categories. But nothing will ever take the place of a beautifully photographed, inspiring book.

Here’s the result of my tidying. My next assignment is coming this week and I will continue to document!

 

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