Now that I have my chest, it's time for a nightstand.

 

Having taking the better part of 8 hours to assemble a chest, you'd think I was b--s--t crazy to order a nightstand and go through this again.  However, I want something big enough to hold a lamp, my CPAP machine, and CPAP equipment cleaner.  This means that I will again go the DIY route, so that I can have something that goes along with the furniture in my bedroom.

Putting this nightstand next to my bed will force me to retire some of the furniture I inherited from my late wife.  Unlike the chest I threw away last weekend, the nightstand I currently use is solid - as it was made by my late wife's dad.  Too bad that I can't ask someone to refinish two chests I own, as I hate the idea of retiring solid furniture.

One of these days, I plan to get rid of a 30+ year old computer desk, as it no longer serves my needs.  Will I go cheap and buy something from Ikea?  Or, will I buy something solid and pay the price for it?  Either way, I have time to think.

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The way I see things, I'm getting back to what I started 15 years ago - refurnishing my apartment in a style that pleases me.  None of my relatives would be interested in any of the furniture I own, so why buy anything that would be considered an heirloom?  I already have the emotional problem of disposing of 80+ year old china, as well as some crystal cut glassware that is older than that.

Given that I'm getting close to 70, I don't think that anything of heirloom quality makes sense for me to own.  My niece lives in a small flat in London, and my nephew lives in a small flat in Seattle.  Neither would have any use for the furniture in my place.  Yet, if they want it in a few years, they can have it.

Right now, I'm getting ready to sell my vinyl collection.  I'll be lucky if I get $1.00/album.  But it will mean that I have more space in my storage compartment that I can use to keep the things I want to keep around.Once this is done, I can think of getting rid of my entertainment center and have more room in my apartment.  The way things are, the more space I can free up in my place, the more I can do with the things I have left in it.

I got some things done this weekend.

 

Every time RQS comes up here, we spend a little time cleaning out the clutter in my apartment.  This weekend was the first time we attacked my downstairs storage compartment, and we got a lot done in less than an hour.  From not being able to make it in to the compartment, we made a path which allowed me to reach the back shelf of the compartment. This may not mean that much to some, but I have over 600 vinyl LPs in the compartment that I want to get rid of, and I have someone willing to buy them when I'm ready.  All I have to do is make a path, so that I can get all of the vinyl out of the compartment and into the record dealer's truck.

To say that my record collection reflects a sometimes eclectic taste is putting it mildly.  I have a CD of music which was played as the Titanic sank (not original, of course), Ernie Kovacs' music collection played on his TV show (including Solfeggio, or the theme for the Nairobi Trio), Orson Welles' recording of the Begatting of the President (about Nixon's election in 1968), Glenn Miller movie music, Gershwin's piano roll recording of Rhapsody in Blue, Carl Stalling's sound effects and music for Looney Tunes cartoons, and others too numerous to mention.  For all I know, I might be sitting on a gold mine.  But I doubt it very much.  My vinyl collection is in very good condition, and I hope it beings me enough money to pay for a long weekend away from home.

There are some things I plan to transfer from vinyl to digital storage.  For example, I have an alternate version of Jim Croce's "Age" which has never been released on CD.  Other vinyl recordings may be treated the same way - transferred to digital first, then disposed of.  But I intend to find out about a pressing of John Lennon's "Imagine" album that has two stampings of one side, and never should have gotten out of the factory.

So much cleanup to do, and so little energy at one time to do it....