In fact, just the other day, I was walking from the kitchen into the dining room and hit my arm on the door trim. Just thwacked it.
In her book, Make Room for What You Love,
Melissa Micheal's talks about a home being able to help us move gracefully through our days.
Isn't that a lovely idea?
I stub my toe at least once a week on this chair.
Of course we'll be clumsy if we're tripping over things on the floor, grumpy if we're late again, because we have to root through the piles.
Having my dresser cleared off and displaying only what's essential to me to get my day going is vital to achieving "poise and grace," as Melissa would say.
And she's right. The bedroom, I think, should truly be a sanctuary--a place where we can go at the end of the day and not see anything that nags at us to be taken care of.
It doesn't show up that much in pictures--but,oh, the dog hair on this thing! Definitely not sanctuary-like!
I am grateful I've developed a great morning routine which keeps this room mostly picked up and presentable every day.
But I still trip over myself!
The next challenge is all about making it easy to pamper yourself.
This last week, the challenge at A Bowl Full of Lemons was to declutter and clean the master bedroom.
It was basically a free week.
I cleaned the room within an inch of its life during the January Cure--rotating the mattress, changing the linens--I even took the curtains down and washed them.
Since then, I've been following the 20 minute task for 30 days cleaning schedule from AT: and because of it, I've cleaned the mirrors and the inside of the window. I've also changed the sheets, dusted and swiffered twice. Each. The bedroom has never been so clean! The only thing I did especially for this challenge was to wash the sofa cover and pillow covers on this couch. (It's essentially the dog's bed.)
But I also have a daily routine which I've developed over time--and it keeps the bedroom humming along pretty well.
It starts when I go to bed--and it starts with this chair.
I love this old chair. I found it almost exactly like this at a flea market. Chris has had to reglue the legs back on more than once.
The purpose of this chair might surprise you.
It is not for sitting. It is much too frail for that.
This chair is for my clothes.
I usually just drape my clothes over the seat. I'll hook my bra onto the back. My PJ's are right there--hanging on the back of the bedroom door.
In the morning, after hitting the alarm, I put on my slippers--and leave the room. I don't come back until it is time to get dressed--and that's when the magic happens.
I make the bed.
I really enjoy making my bed. It's a simple thing to do: it's quick and it makes me happy twice over: Right when I make it, of course--and then when I come back to it hours later and crawl in.
After I make the bed, I get dressed. (Sometimes it is the other way around--like when I'm wet and wearing a towel after my shower.) Either I put on the clothes on the chair--or I put on new ones. But I tidy up the chair. The clothes have aired--either it is time to put them away--or throw them in the hamper.
I have one drawer in this chest.
and all the drawers in this chest.
Then, I putz about and pick up any trash on the floor. (The dog pulls it out of the basket.) I hang up our pj's (unless, rarely, hubs has hung his up already).
I put in my earrings.
My daughter made this colourful piece and I love it! This is the best way I know how to make it useful.
Then, I gather up any extra water glasses or other dishes, grab my socks and book if I'm working that day, and then leave to do my make up.
It's a little tidying routine--kicked off by making the bed.
Unless my husband is in it.
My husband has been home since January 11th with vertigo. He's often still in bed when it is time for me to get dressed. So, I can't do my little bedroom routine.
In fact, that's how I became aware it is not just a routine--but a habit. I haven't been able to do it --and I've noticed! I've missed it.
I'm not sure when I started this little routine--it's been years--so I can't tell you how long it has been since it became a habit. I am just grateful it is--and I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been prevented from being able to do it.
Funny that it works that way.
Next in the series is the Master Closet. Again, thanks to AT, I don't have much to do there, either.
Turns out, I am taking this challenge much more seriously than I thought I would. I have not been able to get over to my Mom's as much as I should--whenever I've been free, she's been sick or otherwise unavailable. So I have a bit of time on my hands to focus on my own place--and I don't want to decorate--so cleaning it is!
The "launch pads" --or entryways-- are such practical spaces. They are the spot for all things coming into and out of the house. I have a small shelf in the front entry hallway for letters and casserole dishes and such. The bucket beneath it is for library books.
Around the corner, in front of the coat closet, I have my communication centre.
Friday, I spent cleaning up the front hallway. I washed all the walls, the door, the trim and the baseboards with a weak solution of T.S. P. (Tri-sodium phosphate.) Then I vacuumed the floor, washed it on my hands and knees near the door and then mopped it. I washed the entry way rug--and ruined it.
It didn't come completely clean and the edges started to unravel. I had had a bad feeling about it. Next time, I'll listen.
I had to fold it to get it to fit in the machine. If it weren't for the chewed up edges, I'd throw it back in. As it is, I now need to buy another one. sigh.
Saturday was the back entry. It is a terrible place to get pictures of.
So much more work!
I wanted to declutter this pocket hanger--so I googled to find out when the mosquito repellant expired. Turns out, it doesn't. These are from at least a couple of years ago. Last summer was so odd: no mosquitoes, no butterflies and no bees. The only insects we really saw were some wasps at the end of August. (They made a nest in our front eaves.)
So, again, I washed the walls and door and trim. I vacuumed the carpet on the landing. I washed the stairs to the kitchen and the stairs to the basement. I tidied the baskets going down to the basement and washed the boot shelf on the other side. Somehow, it took me all day. (I also cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen, but that's another post!)
The floor underneath the carpet still needs to be painted.
I felt good at the end of it all, though. The area doesn't make me scowl anymore--so that's something.
I have joined yet another on-line cleaning challenge. This one is from A Bowl Full of Lemons. It is a fourteen week program to thoroughly clean and declutter every single room in your house. (Even though it is called a home organization challenge--it really is a spring cleaning challenge.)
You know how you know that you are going to clean something soon--and so it all just sort of goes to h*ll right before you clean it? That's kind of what happened here.
I broke it up into several days--all of which have blurred together on me. But here's what I did:
1. Unloaded the Expedit and washed
every
single
cubby
There was some weird film of greasy dust in each one.
2. sprayed spot cleaner on the spots on the drapes.
3. reconsidered and rearranged items in the china cabinet.
yep. There's a box of Christmas crackers on top of the coffee cups in there. I remember telling myself when I bought these that I really must remember to use them! Blast.
4. Wiped down the printer cart and tidied the baskets.
5. vacuumed the window screens and washed the insides of the window.
6. vacuumed the baseboards.
7. emptied the room--and washed the floor with Murphy's Oil soap. Then, I rinsed it. (I never, ever rinse it.)
8. Put the chair cushions into the washing machine.....and.....
9. Threw the drapes into the washing machine and hung them up wet to dry (so I could avoid ironing!) Didn't work.
But here we are. So lovely.
(I have it set up for every day--as a quasi home office. It coverts to a room for dining quickly and easily.)
still have to mount that picture properly
funny how one thing can pull everything together and make it look so coordinated and deliberate. That black and white buffalo check table runner which I bought for my Christmas table does that for me.
The first day of Spring--as it looked in my back yard!
I made up a schedule for a twelve day cleaning blitz for this merry month of March. I devised it to fit into the time I had available on my days off.
For Days 1-5 I followed my schedule like a good girl.
From Day 6, onwards, though, the schedule was shot to smithereens--and I just cleaned. The Mattress: (You know why)
My daughter also got in the act, doing a huge purge of stuff from her room. While she was at it, I asked her to vacuum her mattress.
The Kitchen Cart:
Some days I started a project--and finished it that day.
The White Shelves:
Underneath the Stove:
Do not do this at home: that wiring is probably not in accordance with the Building Code.
Others, I spread out over a few days.
The Oven:
Hooray for self-cleaning ovens! Even though we bought the stove in October, this was my first time using the self-cleaning feature. No one told me I should have cleaned the glass before I ran it, though! No worries. I went back to making a thick paste from baking soda and Dawn dish detergent and left it on for a few hours. It did its usual magic.
Linen Storage:
and some of the stuff decluttered:
Some tasks I didn't stop to photograph like scrubbing the stove top, cleaning smudges in the back entry way while talking on the phone, wiping down the front door and cleaning the walls and baseboards in the downstairs bathroom.
And some, I'm still not finished:
I haven't touched these railings in all the years we have lived here. Until now!
,
Melissa Micheal's talks about a home being able to help us move gracefully through our days.
