Zone 2 CONVERTed: The Cheery Back Entry Way

Not only am I thrilled to have this done: but I am very happy with the way it turned out.

Last spring, during Anti-Procrastination month, I started spiffing up in earnest. I was going to leave it as is, but this summer I was inspired by the book The House that Cleans Itself, by Mindy Starns Clark. I decided to use the approach outlined in the first edition to CONVERT my house into one that, if it doesn't clean itself, is much easier to maintain. The first step was to divide my house into zones. The back entry way was zone 3. You can read about my efforts with the book by clicking on the label HTCI.

What this area needed was a thorough cosmetic lift. Think Nicole Kidman. Essentially, all the rough spots needed to be smoothed out, the holes and cracks patched, and the walls and trim painted. I started in September. I finished the last step on Wednesday, November 21st.

CONVERT, is, of course, a pithy acronym. Here is what it stands for and its relevance to my back entry way.

C- clear out the clutter

There really wasn't a lot of clutter in this zone. I change out the seasonal items as it makes sense.

O- open up and clean

Always a good idea.

N- neaten, organize, and solve problem spots.

For organization we have:

1. The pocket organizer.

yay! my husband got a new lunch bag! You can see the old one hanging here.

2. Hooks on boards, now all of them silver.

3. A boot shelf with the magazine holders hacked into flip flop and sandal holders with a new curtain rod mounted above from which to hang things, namely, the rubber boots.

Problem Spots:

This eyesore:

yep, that's the electrical panel for the house. Yes, we need to upgrade.

When I saw a Ribba frame mounted to the wall on a piano hinge in the IKEA showroom, I knew I had my solution.

those are peel and stick magnets on the wall to help keep the frame closed (eta: we had to replace those with 3M command velcro fasteners.)

Many years ago, I had put up a paper towel bar to hold towels for cleaning off the dog's paws. Somehow, it got taken down and lost. I needed to put something back up.

installed during the Spring Cure 2008

installed Fall 2013

The spray bottles are there because we received complaints about the dog barking. We spray him with water and he stops.

V- verify rabbit trails and set up stations.

Not applicable in this situation.

E- examine sight zones

According to Clark, sight zones are those areas which you see first when you enter the area. If the first thing you see, as she says, is a messy bookcase, your impression of the room is that it is messy. If, on the other hand, you see something neat and organized, say, the made-up bed, then your impression is of a clean room--even if when you turn your head you see a cluttered dresser. To you, it will still be a clean room with a messy area.

She identifies four ways in which this all important first impression can be made--two of which concerned this area. They were

1. the sight zone when you entered through the back door and
2. the inevitable invisibles--the nicks and cracks and nastiness you just stop seeing after a while but which leave you with a sense of disorder and disrepair.

This was the sight zone as you entered the back door and looked down the stairs, straight ahead:

This is what it looked like today:

Admittedly, not a whole lot better. For this to dramatically improve, I need to paint the stairs (could happen), the basement floor (not going to happen), and do something about the stuff on the basement floor (will happen from time to time).

This next little area of the entry way is a great example of the nasty nicks, cracks and general groadiness that becomes more and more invisible as it builds up over time.

But we dealt with the nicks and cracks handily--and by "we" I mean my husband. He did a fabulous job in here.

R- record future improvements needed

I'd like to figure out a way to remove the old lock properly--both from the door and the molding. That will have to wait for the Spring, though!

We put all the weather stripping on the door we could. (The door is so uneven in its frame we had to use two different thicknesses.)

what is sunlight pouring through through the crack in August is frigid air in November

T- take steps now for ongoing maintenance

That rag on the towel rack isn't just for the dog's paws, of course, but for messes tracked in by other wet and dirty paws, ahem. I used to keep a rag in the kitchen drawer--this is so much easier.

A new rug and the area is done. It is a thousand times more pleasant than it's ever been. Finally, I feel like it is part of the house, instead of just an area to get through quickly on my way to somewhere else.

that photograph in the frame is one I took of some flowers we had on the kitchen table

Is there an area in your house that might benefit from a little cosmetic face-lift? Let's hope it won't take you six months!

Day 11: Accept Help

It may seem as though we took a small detour from dealing with perfectionism, but we didn't. Not really. Sometimes, problems with finishing things have nothing to do with perfectionism, and sometimes they do.

But there's no doubt in my mind that finding it difficult to ask for help is definitely a symptom of perfectionism. I have a terrible time with this one.

In fact, I almost couldn't even write this post because with every single example I could think of lately where I asked family members for help, all I could think about was how poorly they did the jobs I asked them to do.

And I don't want to talk about that on a public blog.

But, working on the back entry way, today, I realised I did have a recent example of asking for help--and it's working out wonderfully.

On September 23rd, I wrote a post as part of the HTCI (The House that Cleans Itself series--which I haven't forgotten about!) about our back entry way. In it, I mentioned we were going to look after all the scratches and nicks and cracks in the walls and ceilings in order to spiff it up.

Then, I posted this:

My husband is meticulous. He's careful. When he wants too, he can hyper-focus on detail. I am so grateful he took over the project. It was a lot of work--and it needed his patience.

Let's get re-acquainted with the back entry way shall we?

Here is what it looks like standing outside on the stoop. To the right are the stairs to the kitchen.

Straight ahead? The stairs to the basement.

The bottom edge of those walls were in rough shape.

Someone drew this flower on the wall ages ago to indicate where the pull cord was for the light in the laundry room. I coloured it in last Spring.

So, too, was the outer corner where the stairs to the kitchen meet the stairs to the basement.

The wall beside the door needed a lot of patching. Look over the door: that was a particularly nasty spot.

The door itself would swing open of its own accord and give the wall a bang.

I found something for that right away. Fortunately, it was peel and stick. I'm not sure there was enough wall left for screws to work!

I also found a plastic "short L" shaped piece of molding--it was made just for edges like these. It came with its own adhesive strip, fortunately, because I wasn't able to track down any liquid nails.

Here's the outside corner with its new edge:

It looks wonky here--and though it might be wonky, I don't think it is as wonky as this!

And the bottom of the wall:

 

You can also see the disk I stuck on the wall to protect it from the door knob.

Yesterday, 16 days after he started patching and sanding, he told me it would be OK to start painting, Only -- would I sand "that little bit in the corner."

I sanded, but obviously I had no idea what he meant because when he got home--after I had washed the place down and cut in-- he told me the area he'd mentioned hadn't been sanded!

So, last night, he sanded, again, (though this time by hand) and left me to do the rest.

But who cares?

All it needed was a quick once over with the vacuum, a quick swipe with the cloth and I was ready to resume painting.

It's kind of unfortunate that the best example I have of accepting help has to do with a large project. Staying organized is all about doing the little things--and asking for help with those things (and accepting it cheerfully and NOT with a critical, judgemental spirit) are what will help you stay organized. All I can say is: I promise to keep working on it.

 

 

ETA: You can catch all the posts in the series here.    



Day 3: Integrity: Honouring Your Comfort Zone

Integrity: Being true to yourself. To honour your own needs.


Do you know your tipping point? You know, that point where the mess goes from "OK, I can deal with that later," to "omigodwhathappenedherewhatamesswheredoIbegin?"

Aby Garvey calls this knowing your comfort zone. It is a continuum and it can be different for different areas of the house. It can be different for different seasons of our lives. (Bionicles and Polly Pockets used to throw parties with Lego in my living room. Used to. No more! (I was sitting here thinking how great that was when I glanced over into the living room and saw jackets, shoes, backpacks, and various bits of electronics.....)

The continuum ranges from "very cluttered" to "magazine ready." Let me illustrate, using my own kitchen table.

Very cluttered:

This is so bad, there's no possibility of eating together as a family tonight. It would take far too much time to clear off. This was my table on Sunday. It made me sad.

Slightly Cluttered:

This was taken sometime this summer. This would probably take about 15 minutes or so to clear off. We ate outside a lot this summer, though, so I got into a bad habit of letting things pile up here.

Real Life:

This is how the table looks this morning. (Those are chips in the laminate--not blobs of chocolate!) These things are here because we're sanding and painting our back entry way which is just to the left of this photo. Hubs and I ate together here last night. The kids ate in their rooms. (sad face.)

Company Ready:

This is a photo from the Home Tour in June.
There's one more spot on the continuum: Magazine Ready.

There's no photo of the table "magazine ready" because unless a magazine actually comes to my home to shoot it, it won't ever be "magazine ready." And that's totally fine with me. I don't need that kind of pressure on me. (No one does.)

My personal comfort zone? As far as the kitchen table goes, somewhere between "real life" and "company ready" is where I like it to be.

There is another area of my kitchen, though, where my standards are higher. Unfortunately, it is also more difficult to keep clean and tidy.

My counter. Specifically, the area beside my kitchen sink. (We don't have a dishwasher.) When this area is out of sorts, it can cause me to feel paralysed. Quite quickly, I can fall into the pit of thinking "there's no use cleaning up."  (When my kids were littles and my whole house looked something like this, everywhere, all at once, it was difficult to believe it would ever change. The paralysis and hopelessness were intense at times. I have, fortunately, learned to cope with those feelings and I'll talk about that later in this series.) But when this area looks like this: I can still get anxious.

When it is "company ready" all is right with the world and I feel intense satisfaction. I smile. I'm cheerful. (But don't ask me to make you a sandwich.)

Mary Starns Clark, in her book, The House that Cleans Itself, calls an area like this: one that causes an intense emotional reaction, your Home Based Zone. It could be anything. The area under your bed, perhaps. A bathroom. Papers.

It helps to know what it is: that way you can prioritize your time and effort. Looking after it honours yourself and your standards. Looking after it is a way of looking after yourself. And that's important. More important than a "magazine ready" house.

What's your "home based zone?"
Do you know your clutter comfort zone for each area of your house?

PS: This series is roughly based on what I learned in a course called "The Secrets of Staying Organized" by Aby Garvey at Simplify 101. It is being offered again in November and it is currently on sale. I am not being compensated by Simplify 101 for this series--in fact, I doubt they even know I'm doing it. But I just wanted you to know in case you're interested.

ETA: You can catch all the posts in the series here.    

Mom's Study: HTCI, Part 3

This is part of a series of posts on The House that Cleans Itself by Mindy Starns Clark. I will be recording what I'm doing to transform my house into "one that cleans itself." I will also be helping my Mom work on her house and she has graciously given me permission to blog about her transformation, too. You can find all the posts in the series by looking for the label HTCI. Today we're talking about Mom's place. Part One is here. Part Two is here.

Getting Sidetracked

Honestly, I don't know.

Is it better to declutter first, then try and fit your stuff into the furniture you have?

Or, is it better to figure out what furniture you want and how you want it put into the room--and then keep only what will fit into the furniture?

Monday, My husband and I went over to Mom's. Me to choose colours to paint her front entry way and him to install her baseboards.

What we found was Mom is the throes of cleaning out her study--a room she had told me she wasn't going to tackle until "next year."

But, she said, she was so sick of "looking at the mess" that she just had to do something about it--and she had an idea what she wanted to do.

One of the things Clark talks about in both editions of her book is sightlines--what you see from the doorway of the room. She has several suggestions about how to deal with them to give people a first impression of a clean home.

This is what you see when you come in Mom's front door (and look to the left to the study).

Sorry for the blurriness. I had a lot of trouble with the camera that day, it seems.

Apparently, it was all that stuff behind the piano and against that far wall in the study which was driving her nuts. The pictures on the wall were fine, she said, the pictures could stay.

So, while my husband worked on baseboards for the front entry, Mom and I moved furniture and cleaned walls. This is what we ended up with.

However, Mom hasn't really decluttered yet.

I honestly don't know if this is good or bad. On the one hand, there's only so much space and whatever she wants to keep in here will have to fit in it--and no more. It shifts the question in her head from: "what do I let go of?" to "What do I need to keep?" It may be a helpful exercise in self-limiting. (And that's a good thing).

On the other hand, there may end up being no room for all this stuff so it may stay right here. She may get tired of all the decisions which need to be made to deal with it--and everything will stay right here.

I don't know what's going to happen: but the sight-line from the front door does look better!

Converting Zone 2: My Back Entry

This is part of a series of posts on The House that Cleans Itself by Mindy Starns Clark. I will be recording what I'm doing to transform my house into "one that cleans itself." I will also be helping my Mom work on her house and she has graciously given me permission to blog about her transformation, too. You can find all the posts in the series by looking for the label HTCI. Today we're talking about my place.

I just got my own copy of the book and it is the second edition. The information is essentially the same, but Clark restructured it entirely. The whole CONVERT approach has been sidelined into a chapter allowing her to focus on elaborating the principles behind the concept of a house that cleans itself. I am glad she did it: things are much more clear in this edition. However, I loved the approach of the first edition, sectioning the house into zones and converting the house zone by zone , so I'm going to continue it.

My back entry way has been the bane of my existence ever since we moved into this house. I am tired of being tired of its dinginess and disorderliness. In May, I set about to make the area more functional, washing and repairing the pocket organizer, painting the boot shelf, making a flip flop holder from magazine holders, painting and reorganizing the baskets which line the stair well, even installing more coat hooks, and yes, painting the boards which hold them.

But it is still hard to keep clean.

Why?

Short answer: I still hate to be here.

Reading the second edition of Clark's book, part of the reason why became crystal clear. In the chapter titled "Create a First Impression of Clean" Clark mentions four ways to do that:

1. Control your Sight Zones
2. Corral Your Necessary Messes
3. Utilize Camouflage
4. Eliminate Inevitable Invisibles

That was it. I hadn't looked after the first or the last. In my very first blog entry about this area-- way back in 2008-- I'd mentioned my husband had been patching and sanding the walls for me.

Patching and sanding cracks, nicks and so on is, in Clark's words, "eliminating the inevitable invisibles." Repairing that sloppy grout or caulking which is impossible to keep clean, removing those stubborn stains, and cleaning the curtains are other examples.

I've decided it's time to finish the job already!

Thing is, we could be here a while.

Mom's Front Entry: HTCI Part Two

This is part of a series of posts on The House that Cleans Itself by Mindy Starns Clark. I will be recording what I'm doing to transform my house into "one that cleans itself." I will also be helping my Mom work on her house and she has graciously given me permission to blog about her transformation, too. You can find all the posts in the series by looking for the label HTCI. Today we're talking about Mom's place. Part One is here.

Clearing out the Clutter and Cleaning.

I think that at minimum you need about three things to declutter: a bag for garbage, something for donations and something to hold items that belong somewhere else.

Mindy Starns Clark thinks you need far more than that: and she was right.

1) Trash bag and something to put the bag into to hold it up

2) Garbage bag and something to put it into to hold it up

3) Laundry basket or large plastic bin with handles

This is for things which have an assigned place in a different room. Every time this gets full,  Clark says, stop and carry those items to where they belong and put them away.

Here are the three important ones. I saw an idea on Apartment Therapy to use collapsible mesh laundry holders to declutter. They are holding up the bags.

4) Cardboard boxes with flaps cut off, in a variety of sizes for sorting.

These are for items which you will keep but do not currently have an assigned home.

5) More cardboard boxes with flaps.

These are for “Maybe” items. Put them away when full, put a date on them, and record in your day-timer a date 6 months from now to re-visit them.

6) Disposable plastic cups and tray (for sorting tinies)

7) Permanent marker

8) Blank stickers or label maker

9) A blanket

This gets tossed over it all when you aren’t working on it.
 

She hadn't though she would need a "maybe" box, but she did, so we set one up.

Yeah, it's a little full! Clark recommends shutting the box up and storing it for six months to re-visit later. I think it will function more like Maxwell Ryan's Outbox. 

We got everything out of the closet and the doors off.

I got the carpets off the floor. I used an ice scraper to remove the stuff the bottom carpet left behind. Neither of us are quite sure why the plastic/foam backing on the carpet stuck to the floor like that.

 

 

 

We washed the closet, the walls and the floor. And that's where I had to leave things. 

 

To be continued....

Mom's Front Entry: HTCI Part One

My Mom's front entry way is laid out poorly. Effectively, her front door dumps you right into a wall with the coat closet behind the door. Either you step to the left and enter the livingroom or to the right into the kitchen before you can even close the door.

 I am standing in the kitchen looking back to the front door. The closet is to the left, behind the curtain.

Because of that, we set up this little "entry zone" in her living room. It helps demarcate the space.

We have done our tour and taken our pictures. Here are some of the problems we saw:

sorry for the blurriness

 

This is the wall that faces you when you enter. Notice her purse on the floor in the kitchen. Living room is to the left--as is the entry bench set up to receive the purse. However, she's always on her way into the kitchen side, especially in summer when you don't have to stop to remove your boots.

For winter, my Mom wants a proper boot tray here for wet boots. However, we agreed that anything here makes moving in and out of this space awkward especially when more than one person comes to visit (like me and my family). We want to see if we can't make room for on in the bottom of the big cubby above.

There are two rugs on the floor. The one on the bottom is apparently stuck to the linoleum.
There are too many things on the floor.
Some of them needed to go into the closet.
Some of them--items leaving the house--need to actually leave the house, or find another home while they are waiting.

This is why things which belong in the closet aren't in it. It's blocked. These things should be in the trunk of the car to be delivered.

This is another reason why things aren't in the closet:

We converted the bifold doors into "regular doors" last year. The problem, of course, is that they won't stay shut, so she has put this elastic over the knobs. The problem with that solution is that there are now too many actions required to open the doors. It is too complicated.

In spite of that, the closet is too full.

(Those drapes by the door are drawn across it in winter to keep out the drafts. She did not take them down during the summer.)

Two people live here--my Mom and my five and a half year old nephew (N).

The entry way has to accommodate everything associated with their coming and going. The car is parked outside at the front.

In addition to solving the problems we saw, we have a few things we need this entry way to do.

• space for drying winter boots
• space for drying a snow suit
• landing spot for N's backpack
• landing spot for N's swim bag and gymnastics bag and items for music class.

We've brainstormed some ideas to help improve this space. In the meantime, Mom is to declutter the closet and remove the closet doors.

I'll let you know how it goes. We are doing this in real time.