trimming the fat

My parents came down to visit for a few days last weekend. They didn't stay with me, as my apartment is tiny; they stayed at a B&B over by the National Zoo. They had to check out before noon, but their flight wasn't until around dinnertime, so they metroed over to my place to leave their bags here while we were out. They had been to my apartment before, but it had been a while and my mother was horrified when stepping through the door.

I have a bit of clutter. One might call this a packrat, but I am not sure it's the same exactly. It isn't as though I have an excess of things, it is more like an excess of room to keep my things. I live in a studio/efficiency. I don't know the square footage, but it isn't much. It's fine for just me and my bamboo plant, but two people here wouldn't work. Even a corgi wouldn't work too well (hence the reason that I still don't have one).

I really need to do something about the clutter. I guess I hadn't realized it, since I live here every day and don't see it the way my mother did, stepping in for the first time in a while. My sewing table now takes up a large spot, which is pretty much the middle of the floor. It is actually blocking a bookshelf, though the shelf is also blocked by piles of books on the floor, because the bookshelf is full. In front of the radiator, there is another huge pile of books. I have three bookshelves; one tall and two short, all of which are full. There are piles of books everywhere else.

I need to go through my life and decide what I actually need to keep. Books can be donated to the library and clothes can go to Salvation Army. Let's be honest; I don't wear all of them or the shoes! I may get rid of the ugly blue love seat that I acquired from the girl who lived here before me. I don't need all of these things, I really don't.

I don't have people over, with the exception of Steve, because, honestly? I am embarrassed by my apartment. The building itself has certainly seen better days and my apartment just doesn't have the space. The love seat is usually piled with magazines, Vera Bradley bags and random pieces of mail that I decided not to open that day. There is really nowhere to sit, other than my bed. I don't have a kitchen table, because the galley kitchen is too small!

It's a cute little place, and it does have some nice features (large windows that face the front of the building, two closets with built-in shelves and a large built-in cabinet in the kitchen), I just need to figure out how to work it to my best advantage.

Do you live in a small space? How do you decorate it, to make the most of it?