Hiding the Clutter

I just couldn't take it any longer...the clutter of the CD, DVD, and VHS collection. It started many years ago as Disney videos on the cheap wooden shelf, and then expanded onto another inexpensive wire shelf. And then it started piling up and spilling over. I decided it was time for a better solution, especially since we keep this collection in the formal living room. Not that it's incredibly formal, but it has a nice chair and a secretary's hutch, a deacon's bench and a baby grand piano in it. So, this look wasn't cutting it any more:

And thus began my quest to find a suitable storage device, preferably one that would hide whatever was inside. I found just a few that I liked, that would be big enough with room for expansion, and that fit my price range. This particular model is from Target, but I promise you that you'll find it on every website that you google for "CD DVD Storage". I have to admit that its better made than I expected it to be. I would have preferred something a bit better built, but unless you want to get into something custom (think four figure$ - not in my budget), this was the best option for me.


The poor UPS guy tried to deliver it yesterday, but the snow- and ice-filled 300-foot driveway kept him away! It came today, so I filled it up:



You'll note that there aren't nearly as many VHS cases in there - we have so many of the Disney animated classics on VHS that they wouldn't fit without cluttering, so they will go onto the wooden shelf in the finished attic. Somewhere...you know, with everything else that is in my Everything Else Room up there (K's work desk, our filing cabinet, treadmill, sewing machine, cedar chest, library card catalog, and a queen sized futon).

You'll notice that the doors appear to have a slight separation in them now that they're weighed down with CDs. I might have to consider reshuffling this weekend and putting the CDs in the center section since they're the heaviest part of the collection.

I did learn one thing about our CD music collection. It's pathetic. Music is just not something that K and I have ever spent serious money on. Many of these CDs were purchased in one of those music clubs where you get 10 CDs for a penny and then buy two more in a year. Honestly, if iTunes would have existed back then, 80% of my collection would be outta here. In fact, I'm thinking that some of these CDs (or the one song on them that I'm really interested in) are getting uploaded into iTunes and then tossed. Seriously, we have everything from the Violent Femmes to Vanessa Williams (where did that come from?!?!). We have some good classic stuff that we don't listen to nearly enough (Eagles, James Taylor) to things that I might have listened to once (Verve Pipe). It's pretty bad. I'd be embarrassed to disclose what some of the titles are (although after disclosing Vanessa Williams, could it get worse?). Oh well, that can be a future project to "streamline" the collection.

There are some CDs that I will never part with, despite the fact that they are in my iTunes collection - my complete Billy Joel collection and my favorite musical soundtracks fall into this category.

EJ and Sophie have quite the collection of children's CDs, and all of the DVDs are kiddy-approved. That's something else that we don't spend money on...we're so busy that we rarely go to the movies unless it's with EJ, and we honestly don't even rent that many. Maybe 4 or 5 each year? So, the DVD collection is all kid movies - five Harry Potters, four American Girls, (soon to be) three High School Musicals, two Eloises, at least a dozen musicals, and a partridge in a pear tree.