I did these not too long ago. Looking back, I see, to my shame, that I didn't even attempt to clean the shelves. I was probably rushed.
I was a tad rushed doing these, too.
The upstairs bathroom cabinet.
Those prescription bottles were empty.
I had to use my scraper to get up the gunk on the bottom shelf.
It was quite nasty. But it is all gone now, thank goodness!
Downstairs didn't take long.
You know how the organizing advisers always say to sort and keep "Like with Like"? They usually mean things like all the bandaids and bandages, etc should be kept together. But not in my cabinet. "Like with Like" means things of similar height will be grouped together.
I also did the cabinet beside this one. It took a little longer.
I forgot to grab a "before" shot!
This is all a precursor to the weekend assignment coming up, of course: cleaning the entire bathroom! I'll focus most of my efforts on the one downstairs. I need to clean and seal the grout.
For now, my plan is to remove the cabinet and the card table and set up some shelves. Since I can't really build anything right now, they're going to have to be those black resin shelves. She has a few of these units throughout. Here's one on the porch--wouldn't you know it? It's already holding some tools.
I actually bought another one--I wasn't going to even attempt to extricate this one! But I might use a few of the baskets on it!
This porch needs to be torn down and replaced--another reason to get the tools into the house!
I've also bought some plastic bins and I'm going to try and use them to wrangle some organization out of the mess that way. The goal is to make the tools accessible--easy to find--easy to put back.
But first, I needed to get that cabinet down and see what's going on with the window back there.
What a chore! It took me probably twenty minutes to find a screw driver. Then, I had to spend another ten looking for a work light so I could even identify the screw head! I will be so happy once this is done!
Anyway I got it emptied and down. Then I brushed the walls with a corn broom. Her old dryer used to sit here and the area was just caked with lint.
That's a seriously boosted photo, folks. No way is that area that well lit. It might be when we're done, though.
My Mother had an addition built onto the side of her house about twenty-five years ago. (It's the area with the little shed roof to the right of the front door in the photo above.) That addition totally blocked this window--it no longer had any access to the outside. However, she had used it for two things:
1) Her outside tap ran through the opening, and
2) Her dryer vent also ran through it.
The animals who worked on her house decided to run the heating duct through the opening. And I suppose that would have been OK--except they never sealed it back up.
Never. sealed. it.
In a climate where it can go forty degrees below zero. In a climate where it is below freezing five months of the year.
So, I have to seal it up. Obviously. But it isn't all that obvious exactly how I am going to manage it.
I first organized this closet--I call it the Cleaning Closet because it holds most of my household cleaning supplies--as well as other essentials like lightbulbs and hand towels and vaccuum cleaner bags--back during the Spring Cure of 2011.
It has been working well for me all these years--and I hadn't touched a thing, since.
So, as you can imagine, things were, ahem, dirty. Namely, the carousels, or lazy susans, if you prefer.
This project was only supposed to last 30 minutes. Didn't matter if we didn't get done, Janel said. Just start.
So I started at the top. Emptied everything out. Wiped down the shelf paper. Washed the carousels.
After 30 minutes I had this:
and this:
and this:
I couldn't very well leave it like that, now could I?
So, I swept out the bottom and then, carefully, put everything back.
I managed to fill one bag with trash (doorknob) and two bag with donations (floor). It was mostly stuff related to the dog we don't use anymore--including two stuffies. The animal shelter should enjoy them!
One of the best assignments of the January Cure is to make up a list of projects we want to complete around the house. I love doing these--they set the tone for the whole year. Last year's list was quite extensive--and we got a fair bit of it done too. Some of the projects we did are linked to blog posts and some we've done and haven't posted yet. I have carried over some of the items I didn't get to on that list to this one, so this will replace that one.
Outdoors:
There are a lot of weeds, there, right where I want some decent plants. But you can appreciate how shady it is. This is July. Noonish. Maybe one shrub this year. I may give up on deciduous. A low growing cedar, perhaps?
Front Entry:
Replace ceiling fixture. done, not blogged.
Wash lower walls and baseboards.
Paint the wall to match the back hallway? done, not blogged.
Stairwell:
Finish staining the handrail and topcoat
Touch up paint nicks on stairs. (Yes, already! We only finished in September.)
Sew new curtains for window.
Make or buy and install screen for window. (summer breezes!)
sand and remove resin topcoat on table. Replace with a matte topcoat or rebuild table top?
attach legs to the top of the table.
Kitchen:
Touch up paint on cabinets.
Scrape up paint spots on the floor. done.
Put up hook for pendant light cord by plug in.
Downstairs bath:
Clean grout
repaint walls
make hole for fan bigger and/or buy a better fan. Chris made a bigger hole, but it didn't seem to solve our problems.
figure out why the toilet isn't flushing properly and fix it.
Redo ceiling panels. (Scrape and sand off peeling paint, prime and re-paint or varnish.) Chris re-sealed with a shellac based varnish, but they are still yellowing.
Wash ceiling in tub/shower area. Re-paint?
Paint the back of the bathroom door. Done!
Install hook or towel bar on door (or both).
(There's a one room challenge starting April 7th. This just might be a candidate!)
Upstairs bathroom:
Wash walls. Walls washed and painted. Almost. We've been at this bathroom refresh for a month!
Remove wire shelving? done.
Remove clog in toilet plumbing we bought a new toilet! Post to come.
Basement:
Organize paint supplies. Done.
Paint stairs and re-tack stair mats
Declutter basement storage area with the recyclables and the bottles and cans.
Other:
Scrape up paint in hallway and dining room
Call phone company to install jacks on main floor
Sell/Donate the boxes of books in the garage. Done. Begin the process to wire the house properly.
I'm also involved in a few projects at my Mom's this year. It's going to be a busy year!
Organizing my Mom's tools is something I've been looking forward to for a long time.
I am quite excited about it even though the task is daunting. Currently, it is beyond frustrating trying to get anything done at her place. We can never find what we need.
She has duplicates of duplicates--three drills, for example. Countless screwdrivers. Oh, and drill bits and driver sets. Wire strippers. But a simple pair of needle nose pliers? Well, I think I saw them here, somewhere. One day last week.
And the tools are all over the place, most, dangerously, in the unheated porch just outside (outside!) the back door.
Want to break in but forgot your hammer? Oh look, here's one right here.
Sometimes, I am astonished she is still alive.
Anyway, every day I worked on her dressing room, I brought my own tools (except for the drill. I did use one of her drills) because I could not bear to be slowed down by the hunt. But that's obviously inconvenient in its own way--not to mention impractical. So I've been collecting ideas for simple and inexpensive ways to corral her tools and make them accessible.
The first step in any organization project is to gather inspiration. Seriously. You need to have a grasp on what you want your space to look like--and how it will function--before you begin.
I love this to pieces. Everything is out and accessible. Unfortunately, unless a tool is put away immediately, there's no chance you'll ever find the spot for it again! It needs labels or a schematic of some sort nearby.
Mom loved this workshop, right down to the shiny floor.
This a different sort of organizational system. Stuff in bins and on shelves may work for some things.
But, I told her we just didn't have room. Not for a lot of shelves--and not for a lot of bins.
This.
The area is not anywhere near this bright. I had to boost the photos substantially so you could even see what's (not) here.
This is where we're going to attempt to store her tools. It's to the right of the bottom of the stairs. (I was standing on the bottom step when I took this.) You have to pass through here to get to the laundry room. (Turn right at the snowflake mat)
It is going to be quite a challenge. As you can see, the space has nothing. That's the concrete wall of her foundation, folks. No studs. No drywall. Mom set up the card table and started gathering what tools she's found around the house. There's that cabinet. The water heater. (helpful?--um, not so much.) There is a set of shelves and filing cabinet to the side.
I am taking out the cabinet and the card table.
sorry about the blur!
Right beside the stairs are these shelves. Mom cleared off whatever was on these shelves before--and put all of her paint cans here. It's a good spot.
I think what I would like to do is set up some shelves where that cabinet and card table are now (tricky because there all all sorts of pipes and drains and what not in the corner there). And then mount some plywood (or pegboard from the porch?) onto the wall. Of course, then I'd have to frame out the wall.
I have no idea when I am going to be able to do this.
It's not like I can just work on it when I have a spare moment. As it is winter after all, I can't build anything, really. I have tentatively scheduled myself to be over at her place for a full day, once a week.
It is going to be slow. But getting the tools sorted, at least, would make her life--and mine--so much easier.
The outbox, as Maxwell conceived it, was intended to be a temporary home for things you weren't sure you should keep or let go.
My outbox has become a permanent fixture to temporarily hold items which will leave my house when I get around to taking them.
My outbox is in my laundry room underneath the folding table. It's a holy mess down there right now.
As we do the Cure, I just might press the original function of the outbox into action.
That blue box with the bagged creche stable on top is full of Christmas decorations and the clothes piled on the other side are clean. I am anxious to get in there and tidy up.
I'd like to think I don't need a dithering spot--that I am that decisive--but I suspect that the entire basement is my dithering spot. I am itching to get in there and deal with it.
Woot! It is the annual January Cure. We started with buying flowers (or a plant or bowl of fruit) on Friday and washing all the floors on the weekend. I didn't quite get all the floors done--but I plan to keep at it until they are done properly. Today's assignment was to clear out and clean the pantry.
I really did not think I had time for this, today.
But I set the timer and tackled it with a cloth and a bucket of hot water, one cubby at a time.
On the thread at AT, I'd said the oldest thing I found was an unopened bag of rye flour from 2007.
Turns out, no.
Going through my little toss bag while writing up this post, I found a can of vegetable broth with a date stamped on the top.
April 2004.
ahem.
Here is my small pile of donations:
After 30 minutes I had just one cubby left to do--so I did it and called it a day.
I was motivated to keep going, to keep cleaning, but I had to go to work.
Oh well.
