Weekly Cleaning Schedule

THIS! Let me just tell you, when I finally decided to give the infamous weekly cleaning schedule a try, I fell in love.

One night, my husband and I were talking about cleaning. Well, actually, I was venting about how I have no clue why I can’t keep up with the house work (yes, the hubs does help around the house!). Anyway, he said he was shocked I didn’t have a weekly cleaning schedule. I agreed, because, well, schedules and lists are just part of my personality. Lol.

So, I decided to give it the ole college try about three weeks ago, and boy am I glad I did! It’s amazing! Take a look at this one I found…

Weekly Cleaning Schedule

I’ve stuck to it about 85%, and even that has been great! I like it because it’s simple and doesn’t seem overwhelming when you look at it. I switched dusting to Monday and vacuuming to Tuesday. I was always taught to dust before you vacuum so you can vacuum up all the dust. Was anyone else taught that?  I also love doing one load of laundry per day. Our laundry has stopped piling up and it’s not as overwhelming now.

I read a blog from one woman (not sure what blog it was, sorry!) where she explained that the cleaning schedule helped her feel less stressed. She knew that if, for example, she saw her microwave was getting grubby, she didn’t need to take care of it right then. It was on her cleaning schedule and she knew it would get cleaned soon. I have found this to be so true!

Happy cleaning!

Oh, by the way, our kitchen table is STILL a no-clutter zone! This is one of the best changes we ever made!

The No-Clutter Zone

Take a really close look at that picture below. Can you tell what it is? Any guesses?

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A kitchen table? That’s correct! Now, where might you find a kitchen table as clutter-free a this? Only in a stage home? Yah, that’s exactly what I thought, too. UNTIL, I declared our kitchen table a NO-CLUTTER ZONE. So, that kitchen table in the picture, that CLEAN kitchen table, that CLUTTER-FREE kitchen table, that would be MY kitchen table! Guess how long it’s been that way? One day? Nope. Two days? Nope. One week? Nope, not even just one week, but SEVERAL weeks. I honestly can’t believe it.

For the past year plus, I’ve been on a quest to declutter our home. I’m going at a snail’s pace, but, hey, at least I’m moving forward, right?! Anyway, one article or book or something I read suggested to start small and declare one space in your home a no-clutter zone. We chose our kitchen table as our starting point.

Because our kitchen is a no-clutter zone, nothing can be placed on the table that doesn’t belong. If you bring mail into the house, it needs dealt with right then and there (or placed somewhere else in the house, preferably the mail pile…Don’t get me started on the mail pile. Sigh. This is another area I need to work on!). If you use your laptop on the kitchen table, when you are finished, the laptop goes back to its home on the desk. If you bring home groceries and unload them on the kitchen table, the groceries do not stay there for days, they get put away (preferably) immediately. You get the idea. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, stays on the kitchen table! It’s genius ;).

Now, on to declare the next no-clutter zone!

What will be your no-clutter zone?

A Granny-Inspired Stocking

I adored my great grandma, affectionately know as Granny, and known to me as Grandma NeeNee (I couldn’t say ‘Granny’ when I was younger; it came out as ‘NeeNee’). In fact, I think everyone adored her. She was just fun to be around and very adventurous.

She would play teacher with me, and, of course, always be the misbehaving student. She would wade in creeks, play in barns, climb in fishing boats on land, and walk in pastures with me. She would write letters-in-a-bottle and throw them in the creek with me, allowing me to believe the letter would actually make its way down the creek, someone would find it, and said someone would call us back using her phone number I included in the letter. She did all of these things well into her seventies. Granny was just, well, Granny! Continue reading »

Kitchen Makeover

Back in mid-May I began our kitchen makeover. It was quite the project, with the DIY pieces taking over 55 hours to complete. Yikes :/. I’m so happy with the finished product, though!

I’ll give you a quick before and after photo before explaining all the changes we made.

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I just love it :). Ok, now for all the changes…  Continue reading »

Kitchen Project: Sherwin Williams ProClassic Paint

I’ve now completed two cabinet painting projects. The first one was our bathroom vanity. You can read about that here. The second one was our kitchen cabinets. This was a MUCH larger project than the bathroom vanity, but it was SO worth every bit of the 50+ hours it took to complete the project. Thankfully I had some help from a good friend and the hubs!

I used different paint for the kitchen cabinets than I did for the bathroom (per a recommendation from a friend’s mom who knows a professional painter), and boy, I’m glad I did!

I used Benjamin Moore Fresh Start primer and Sherwin Williams ProClassic paint. The picture below shows the primer in white, but I actually used the deep base version and had it tinted. My paint color was Stratus by Valspar. Sherwin Williams color matched it perfectly.proclassic paint

Ok, so the Sherwin Williams paint, it’s expensive (I paid $50 for one gallon, and that was with 30% off), but it was worth every penny! This paint is amazing. It goes on thick, pretty much self-levels so you don’t have to mess with it much, and dries without that tacky/sticky feel that some cheaper paints have. It also dries quickly. I highly recommend it for painting cabinets.  Continue reading »

Update: Brass Be Gone!

Two years ago at about the same time I started this blog (Wow – I can’t believe it’s been that long ago!), I spray painted the knobs and hinges on the interior doors of our home. In that post, I told you I would keep you updated, so here’s the update! Continue reading »

Bathroom Vanity Redo

A few months ago, my husband and I decided to redo the vanity in our guest bathroom. We already painted the walls and bought a new shower curtain a couple years ago, but we still needed to spruce up the vanity. I’ll share with you the process of painting cabinets Fallon-style (aka – I have no idea if I did this correctly, but I think the cabinets turned out great!).

Here are the before pictures: Continue reading »

How To…And Not To…Clean Hinges

While taking off our bathroom vanity’s doors to prep for painting (post coming soon!), I noticed just how gross the hinges were.

Side note:  You’ll notice each hinge is labeled. This is to ensure I put them back in the correct spot when I re-attach the cabinet doors. I once didn’t do this when removing door hinges…bad idea. The doors would not close quite right.

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Craft Booth…Take One

My dad and I participated in our first ever craft fair this past weekend. It was quite the experience, and we learned a lot!

Pictures of our booth are below. I was happy with it for our first ever booth display. It just seemed so overwhelming, though – too much stuff in too small of a space.

We learned from other vendors that it’s not so much about having a ton of items as it is about having a really eye-catching display. Which, of course, makes sense. After seeing other craft booths over the weekend, we now have ideas about how to make our booth more inviting.

We plan to do this again, but need time to recuperate. Craft Booth…Take Two may have to wait a year :). This was exhausting! Lol.

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Check out my Shop to see the currently listed items.

What suggestions do you have about creating a successful craft booth?

DIY Personalized Ornate Frame

I have been looking all over for my inspiration picture and can’t seem to find it anywhere on my computer! Ugh. I guess I’ll just have to show you the final products by themselves.

Here are the personalized ornate frames I made for a couple individuals:

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Here’s how to make it…   Continue reading »