A few weeks ago, in fact, almost a month to the day, I posted about my desire to have a spring clean in my bedroom, in the house, and in my car. Well, Spring is now officially upon us and I’ve had a week off work, so I’ve tried to sort some things out in the house (with some help along the way!) Nothing is perfect yet, we’re definitely still a way off yet, but it’s generally looking a lot better so I wanted to fill you in on a few of the things I’ve been doing.
Let’s start downstairs shall we? OK, I didn’t tell you much about the downstairs in our house because the downstairs is usually alright. The dining room still needs work, because we still use it a little as a dumping ground. It’s been sorted a lot recently (mainly thanks to Emma) but we still haven’t quite finished it. A lot of the stuff that is in there simply needs to be sorted into a home, but finding said home is proving a little difficult when it comes to some of the things. The kitchen still needs work, and I think this might be my next project room. My Mum kindly assisted with the washing up today, and some of the surfaces are clean again too, but the floor and the table need a thorough clean, as does the oven. It’s a series of pretty crappy jobs, but once they’re done, it will look great.
Now, I’m sure those of you who frequent my blog, or Emma’s @ The Terror of Knowing, will be well aware that we like books. We like to show off our book and DVD collections. Both of us had a grand sort out, and between us we probably got rid of 30 DVDs and about 50 books, which is a large amount for us! It made me think about my shelves and how they’re ordered, and made me think about what I do and don’t need. So with a little jiggery pokery, and a lot of shunting books up and downstairs, I think I’ve come to a balance I quite like. Yep, there is a shelf above my children’s books that is still quite cluttered and unsorted, but we’re in a better place than we were at the beginning.
Taking a look outside, the yard and front need weeding and require a good spray of weed killer. Now that the weather is on the turn and, hopefully, it’s going to be getting warmer, we’re probably at the right time to think about it. The outside of the house could probably do with a lick of paint on the window ledges and on the back wall too, but we’ll see about doing that a little later. Same with the back gate, probably sufficient for now, but in the long run we should really look at it. I’m not ready to face the shed/room we have in the back, and if I am honest I am not sure I will ever be. I don’t even really know what’s in there.
Upstairs has probably seen the most work. Emma’s room is lovely, really lovely, and it is pretty much always clean and tidy, so nothing needed doing there. The landing it the landing. I have tried to clean some of the rubbish from it and take the books that we don’t want to the charity shop that were piled on the top of the stairs, but other than that it didn’t need too much work. The bathroom needs cleaning again. We’ve both done things recently, but I’d like to do another deep clean again and see if I can tackle some of the longer standing unpleasantries in there. I discovered some hooks on the wall today. I am not quite sure that they were used for before, but I did think that it might be nice to try and put something on that wall at some point, obviously that is bathroom friendly.
The spare room is mid-upheaval. There was a big wardrobe/drawer set in there from when I moved in. My Uncle kindly donated it when I was first looking for furniture, and it was great while I was finding my feet and decorating my room, and then when Emma moved in and was sorting her room out. Sadly, it was a little large and domineering in what is the smallest room in the house, so with the help of my parents I dismantled it completely last week and it went to the dump. Until we replace it and work out what will go where, the room will remain a little bit of a mess, but once we have a plan, hopefully that room and the stuff from the dining room will finally have a proper home.
I don’t know if you read my original post, but, if you did you will probably recall the mess that my room was in. Yes, even though I showed pictures I was pretty embarrassed about it and actually found that the post was the catalyst I needed for sorting it. I did a basic tidy up immediately, and have kept it relatively tidy since. This week, however, a slightly bigger set of changes have happened. I’ve acquired an old bookcase from my parents to ease the load on my existing shelves. I’ve sorted through all of my stuff and got rid a lot of clothes and shoes that I no longer used, as well as made better use of the storage that I do have. My under-bed storage finally sits full, rather than forgotten and unused, and the surfaces and shelves have had a good sort out.
Today, I set about hoovering and cleaning bits of my room. I hate hoovering, so I was pretty glad to get the first vacuuming out the of the way. I haven’t finished cleaning yet, and know that once I have, it will need hoovering properly again. The surfaces are finally clear and tidy, and I have changed my bedding so that we I crawl under the covers tonight I will get to look at my clean and tidy room from fresh sheets. I re-hung the picture above my bed so it hangs centrally above the headboard, and I began work on my gallery wall. It’s by no means finished, some items are yet to arrive and many of the frames are wonky, but it is started and I am really happy with it so far.
I can’t tell you how much of a difference my room has made already. I know it was just a hard days work from being fixed, but now as it is almost done, I feel a lot better.
My car is still a work in progress. I have sorted a lot of the rubbish from it, and the boot is pretty empty of things I don’t need to be in my car. I could really do with it being cleaned properly, so I think once I have been paid I am going to go to the car wash. Once I have tidied the interior a bit more than I have done already, and the weather turns, I might give a go at hoovering and cleaning the inside. Alternatively, there is a great car cleaning and valeting place near where I work, and another near where I live, so I might just pay to have it done properly. We’ll see.
So there we have it. The house isn’t done, but it’s getting there. The spring clean that I thought about a month ago is well under way, and I already can feel the difference. I want to do more, and know I probably could have done a little more than I have, but it’s progressing, and once finished it should be easier to maintain. Sorting my room and starting the gallery wall, as well as rearranging the spare room has made us think a little bit more about downstairs and the space we have on the walls. There are a lot of spare frames, and some mirrors, so we’re looking at how we could use those. There are big plans ahead, watch this space!
Have you had a spring clean in your house?
Are you re-decorating or buying new furniture?
Travel in Retrospect 