"My Tree House"
My "tree house" of stuff, photos, memories & creativity
My house is filled with personal & professional collectibles of various types: photos, books, cds, video tapes, audio tapes, toys, etc.
view from up the street of my house Spring 2007
view of my house from the street Spring 2007
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Winter......................................Spring...................................Summer
180 degree view from my deck Spring 2007
These are the floor plans of my house (schematically to scale--1700 sf + 640 sf creativity studio)
This is the first of my Holiday Cards. Click to see the collection from 2000 to the present
Welcome to my TREE HOUSE OF STUFF & BOOKS
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LIVING ROOM
bookshelves in front of inactive fireplace. Beyond is the bookcase with travel books, many cds and tapes in my dining room
this is my dining room with the hanging that I continually change what is on it all year around and the cabinet unit with travel books (not in storage boxes in my studio) and many cds and audio tapes. The large CD/radio/tape unit is gone and has been replaced by piles of cds.
DINING ROOM
Hallway of Photos (Living/Dining Area to MBR)
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Birth Family.....1st Marriage Family.....2nd Marriage Family
Merry, Jessica, Friends
MASTER BEDROOM
view of shelving units in Master Bedroom
the fabrics covering them come from Africa. The left unit has two shelves of African collectibles and books. Central one has storage boxes of magazines and files. Right one has nearly 30 binders of mounted printed photos from my 1st trip around the world in 2001 plus other trips prior to me buying my first digital camera. the bottom 3 or 4 shelves are all filled with video tapes.
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Library - Guest Bedroom
View of main bookshelf wall in my library (upstairs 2nd bedroom-guest room)
Office
this is door wall of my office which is to the left and behind me while I sit and work at my main desk on my laptops (stitched photo of photos)
this is the window wall the far left of this photo can be seen at the far right of the previous photo (stitched photo of photos)
this is the shelf area by the entrance to my office, which is all creativity books and filing cabinets with many files from my programs from the past 30 years.
Office Storage Area -The is the walk in closet - office supplies and books
left side is supplies and design/drawing books, rear is a bookcase w/ 5 or 6 shelves of motivational books and teaching books, the right side is files and some office supplies
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Cartoon/Writing Study (off guest bedroom)
this is the writing/mystery side of my small studio space off the library/guest room. it is mostly temporary storage now because I have my drafting/drawing table in my creativity studio, what was my 2-car garage that I had enclosed
this is the left side of the small studio with all cartooning and some of my drawing books
Walk-In Closet(off Guest Bedroom)
this is the walk-in closet off the side of the library/guest bedroom (the shelves with books are two rows deep each)
left side....sales/audio tapes of my of my speeches...from many years ago, boxes filled with 3 1/2 floppy disks and piles of games ..
right side - storytelling tapes, dresser filled w/ photos & negatives...some of Merry's New Age and health/counseling books
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Creativity Studio (converted 2-car garage)
in my Creativity studio I wanted no storage, no shelves or bookcases. But then I decided that things that were specific to some of my programs: props, metaphoric symbols, gifts, toys, etc. would go on shelves and be stored to the right of the adjustable shelves on the same wall.
The following 5 photos show my CREATIVITY ROOM from different perspectives.
Yes I have read a few books on organization and time management at least these 17. I have even created workshops for clients on time management and organizing over the past 30 years.
Remember the quote: "Those who can do. Those who can't do teach. Those who can't teach, administer or manage others who teach and / or those who actually do? "
Here are photos of most of my collection of books on Time Management and Organization
Two years ago I helped a client in Baltimore set up a new company called: GARAGEWORKS, INC. with the initial service they provided was clearing out garages, basements, attics. Once they got started the entrepreneurial owner became aware of the ORGANIZING PROFESSION, then he expanded their services and products. During the first year in business they expanded their services to organizing and installing various types of organizing racks and storage systems and flooring systems or surfaces in garages, basements and storage areas.
Yet as you can see I "file by pile" until the piles fall over. Then I put the piles in boxes by category or project. Then I "pile the boxes by category". When the pile of boxes falls over or grows large I designate areas in my office / home to specific topics or projects.
I cluster my clutter to minimize the amount of searching and design how the clusters look as much as possibled.
I tend to live by the philosophy once expressed in a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon.
"If God wants me to get this all done, I will never die."
After working at 47 jobs in 49 years in 8 different professions and my current one of the past 25+ years has been as a PERPETUAL STUDENT WHO GETS PAID TO LEARN. I live in a TREE HOUSE which is a LIBRARY and EXHIBIT HALL of my life of 64+ years.
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