Bedroom spring clean

We have a few bad habits, one of them is that we never ever fold our clothes when we change from the day clothes to pyjamas. We just place all the clothes on this small table in the bedroom.

Sometimes the pile is so big that the clothes on top keep falling on the floor. We've tried to change our habits, but so far with no lasting results. Next to the table is a small shelf and the plan is that we would fold our clothes on the shelves. But it seems to be very difficult. Very very difficult. The table is very pretty, it should be seen and not being covered by all those clothes.

I folded all the clothes and placed my clothes on my shelf, then folded all A's clothes and tried to place them on the shelf but it was allready so full that I had to leave them on the table.

Once I had done that I started removing all the underbed boxes to vacuum and mop the floor. I was supriced to find there one bottle of apple wine that we had made on the fall of 2009. I had been sure that we had drunk all the wine ages ago. That was a fun surprice.

I took the wine out from the box and since it's now empty I will take the underbed storage box to the outside storage room.

After I had most of the floor vacuumed and mopped I pulled the bed and the night stands away from the wall and cleaned the area under them. We also have some wires cables going under the bed for the lamps and the cell phone chargers. 

Those collect so much dust that I desided to contain them somehow. I had a bit of that wire cable tube thingy at home and used all of it. I think I will go and buy more, because it's good to have that at home in case of wire cable emergencies. 

After that was done, I pushed all the furniture back in their place and wiped all the other horizontal surfaces. 

We have a huge round lamp in the bedroom and I desided to dust it. It collects lot of dust. I placed an old sheet on the bed and dusted the lamp, since always some dust drops on the bed instead of getting cought on the duster.

I took pictures of the cleaned room after a few days on day light. I'm very annoyed that allready after a few days I can see new dust forming of top of the furniture. I guess it's all the textiles that make the bedroom so dusty. But here is after.

Would you have any ideas how we could motivate ourselves to fold our clothes, or would you have some other alternative for the folding of used clothes? Folding the clean clothes after washing has never been an issue, which is weird.

The Big Bathroom Cleaning Day

The Spring clean has proven to be more difficult to handle than I would have assumed. I've managed to clean all places almost according to the schedule, but thing is that I've concentrated on it so much that while one room is under the spring clean the other rooms are neglected. That means that we have not vacuumed other rooms in weeks, or done the dishes in weeks, or changed the sheets or dusted or anything in any other rooms. Which is horrible. Our place is a huge mess. It hasn't also helped that we have been getting all sorts of stuff from A's relative who passed away. I also blame the fact that A has been home because of his sick leave and of course anyone who is home all day will start to do things and clutter places. I'm sure he's put many of the stuff back after he has used them but he's also forgotten some, which happens, it's called living.

When I came home from work on Monday and looked at our home, I realized how messy it was. I had a painting project that I did in the bathroom and I thought that I will finish the painting and then we will start a cleaning session, but the painting took longer than I thought and suddenly it was nine o'clock in the evening. Then I suggested to A that we should clean the apartment on Tuesday. We usually clean so that A vacuums all rooms and wipes the kitchen counters. I clean the toilet and the bathroom and dust everywhere. It usually takes us about one hour, but now I decided to clean the toilet, bathroom and sauna more thoroughly since it was the bathroom week of the spring clean (no, actually it was last week, but I hadn't cleaned them yet).

I had cleaned the toilet floor last week, so in the toilet the cleaning was easy, just wiped all surfaces and the mirror, cleaned the toilet seat and the hand washing basin. I could still wipe all the walls and the door. But that's left for some other day.

I washed the sauna first since all it's water runs from the sauna to the drain in the bathroom side. Then wiped the counters, cleaned the toilet seat, all the walls, the shower, the floor and finally the hand washing basin. That took forever. Maybe I clean the bathroom too rarely since I seemed to have no routine how to do what. I had all sort of buckets on the way and had no place where to put the shampoos and soaps while I was cleaning. I just moved everything around.

Now the bathroom is so wet, but clean. I placed the shower curtain to laundry, so the bathroom seems a bit gloomy and hospital like. But anyway, the bathroom cleaning is done. Also A did vacuum, so things are looking better in the rest of the house too.

Next on the spring clean, the bedroom, maybe about that on friday's post.

Toilet floor

I didn't really get anything done last week in the office conserning the spring clean. We did organize some papers, but that's about it. The whole room is such a mess because it's under renovation so I wasn't really inspired to clean there.

But this week is dedicated to the bathroom, sauna and toilet and it will be lot more straight forward to clean those places. We have similar flooring in the bathroom and toilet, hexagon shaped tiles. The tiles are ok and in the bathroom those are easy to keep clean. The toilet is more tricky. The thing is that there is no drainage well on the toilet floor, so all the water that is poured on the floor has to be collected with sponges off the floor. So far I've just wiped the toilet floor with damp mop but the mop does not really clean the grout between the tiles.

I used hydrochloric acid to clean the grout. It's not my favourite stuff, I'd rather use something else, but we once bought that thing and it was only sold in one liter bottles and lot was left over from the project we bought it for. The hydrochlorid acid smells awful and since it's acid it's corrosive so I need to wear protective cloves and eye protection. I've previously used a product specially designed for tiles in the kitchen and would have used that but I didn't have any home. That product is also horrid smelling but not as horrible and not as dangerous as the hydrochlorid acid.

Well anyway I used that, it needs to be watered down from 1/10 to 1/30 but it's still not healthy stuff. Since the stuff only really works well on the grout I spread it with a toothbrush just on the grout. I let the stuff bubble there for a while, then I brushed the gunk loose.

Then I wiped the whole floor clean with a rag and some normal cleaning product and rinced with a sponge. I did also wash the wooden lath rug thingy, what ever that is called.

Here is before and after side by side, from one of the most icky spots.

In the end there is not a huge difference on the floor, but it sure feels a lot more nicer to walk on bare foot on the floor now that it's thorougly cleaned.

Edit: Once I published this I realized that I might not have emphasized enough that I do not suggest you to run out and buy hydrochloric acid, there are lot of products in the market that are equally effective (or at least effective enough) but are way more user friendly and healthier. I mean the acid is scary, use it only as your last option.

Got my grip back

I lost the spring clean inspiration last week, perhaps because it's turned quite cold outside and we've got lots of snow again. I also started a craft that created so much dust that the vacuuming and mopping we had done earlier last week was a total waste of time. I knew I had to vacuum again and I hate vacuuming. And because I hadn't vacuumed again I thought I couldn't dust either. I did wash the sofa slip covers, the dining table seat cushion covers and the curtains, but I postponed putting them back. So the living room had even a bigger mess after the spring clean week than before it.

On Monday I thought I should get my grip back and do at least something. So I put the dining chair cushion covers back on and the sofa slip covers. The sofa slip covers are usually bit of a hassle since they are so tight that A needs to squeeze the cushions while I pull the cover over the cushion. On Tuesday I hung the curtains, I thought of ironing them, but in the end I didn't bother. Those are linen, so wrinkly is fine, also they will straighten a bit when they hang there. I also re-vacuumed the floor and dusted all horizontal surfaces.

Take the carpet outside and give it a beat CHECK
Vacuum and mop floor CHECK, Vacuumed twice
Wash sofa slip covers and dining table seat cushion covers CHECK
Wash curtains CHECK
Vacuum sofa CHECK
Go through CDs, try to convince A to let go of some
Dust CHECK

If you are intrested in some before shots, those can be found from here.

I haven't placed the seat cushions on the seats since I'm still continuing the messy craft I started and I do that over the dining table. 

Ugh... those cables behing the TV are really ugly. Have not had the energy to tackle those.

There is still some stuff near the sofa, but A requires those, so I'll leave them be.

+ Brainstorm a shoe rack for the terrace shoes CHECK

 I do think I've figured out what I will make. I was trying to find a piece of metal formed like in this shoe rack, from the factory area at work, but I haven't seen anything good. And I don't have any metal working skills or tools so maybe it would be too difficult. And I certainly don't want to buy one, those are ridiculously expensive. I will make a little something out of wood.

I haven't gone through the CD's, I know we have too much of them, but on the other hand we are not drowning in them. Those do fit in the place we keep them in. I'll do this later... maybe.

But instead of going through the CD's I wiped the white leather armchair clean and polished it. I've understood that leather should be treated from time to time to keep it nice looking. I wiped the leather with a damp rag and saddle soap. That soap is sold in any place that sell riding gear, atleast in Finland. It's very good and apparently it does not dry out the leather. I have cut that piece of soap from a bigger bar my sister had, she rides a lot. I use this soap for all leather, shoes, bags, anything.

I use also natural wax to polish the leather. I've understood bee wax based would be the best, I don't know what wax we have at home since the jar does not specify it. Anyway I try to avoid any chemicals. I wipe the wax on the surface, then wait for 15 to 30 minutes and wipe the excess wax off with a clean rag.

 

This week I'm supposed to be consentrating on the office. Since the office is under renovation that's been put to hold because the weather is acting up, I don't know what I can achieve there. There are stuff all over though that could be put away and I could quicly vacuum the room.

Blackening stove hobs

Some while ago in the kitchen cleaning post I complained about the stains on the hobs. The hobs stay stained even though those had been cleaned many times.

Nina from No. 40 commented on that post that she had used a blackening paste to refresh the hobs on her grandmother's kitchen. I had never seen that type of paste and I assumed that it is not sold anymore or it has never been sold in Finland. But a friend of mine, lets call her Anne, read the comment and told me she has seen it. Anne said that I should check from Tarjoustalo if they would have it. And they did. The paste was there right beside the oven and stove cleaning products, just like Anne predicted.

Freely translated the product is called 'stove black'. It did not really have much instructions on how to apply it. It just said that it should be applied with a rag and hands should be protected with rubber cloves. It also stated that heat should be applied. Nina said that the paste had to be put on while the hobs were hot, but since the jar didn't say anything about when the heat should be applied I decided to put the paste on cold hob and then heat it. I thought that would be just easier.

The paste smeared the white areas on the stove easily but it was easy to clean those again with a rag and dish washing liquid. Once I had applied the paste I put all hobs on full heat and waited. The paste smoked for a while and it did not smell that nice. Luckily I had realized to put the hood on full speed. The hobs smoked for a while but stopped after couple ten seconds later (EDIT. Please check the Postscript).

I do think the hobs look so much better now, that paste really did cover up the stubborn stains. Although I don't think the hobs actually are black, I think the paste made them almost silvery. But that's fine. Silver is good. Thank you Nina and Anne on your excellent advice!

PS. I noticed some people have found to my blog using search words like 'blackening stove' and similar. I've been meaning to do a sequel for this post, since the blackening wasn't as easy as I imply here. I thought the blackening paste was stuck to the stove hobs, but later when I wiped the stove I noticed the paste wipes away. I read from the web that the hobs need to be heated very very hot in order for the paste to stick. I haven't tried it yet. I will do another post from that when I have time.

Spring clean: Living room to-do list

The living room has gotten a bit out of hand lately. A has been home on a sick leave with his knee and because he has had hard time moving he has gathered all sorts of things near the sofa. So the livingroom definately needs some cleaning.

This spring I've had the sudden urge to change the living room TV-unit/bookshelf. Also I want to paint the walls. And I want everything to be white. Our living room is so dark. The conservatory makes it even darker on winter when snow is on the conservatory roof and no light comes through. Now it's getting better, but the living room could be even lighter.

Just look at that arsenal of remote controls, that's ridiculous.

A's knee is already better and he can walk a bit without the crunches. Only a few days ago he had a huge pillow pile on the sofa where he could keep his foot up. Now he does not need that anymore. So maybe this is not too early to try to make the living room nice again. My plan is to do the following.

Take the carpet outside and give it a beat
Vacuum and mop floor
Wash sofa slip covers and dining table seat cushion covers
Wash curtains
Vacuum sofa
Go through CDs, try to convince A to let go of some
Dust

+ Brainstorm a shoe rack for the terrace shoes

I've already collected some inspiration on Pinterest. I would like to have a system where the shoes or the rack are not on the floor, although I do like the looks of the pebble tray.

Entry cleaning flowing better

The cleaning of the entry started to flow a bit easier once I turned the focus out of decluttering to actual cleaning. That was whole lot easier task because I can be responsible of it on my own. A will go through some of the entry boxes later and declutter in his own slow way.

Here is the chores list I had for the entry cleaning. In the end I did manage to check off most of the tasks.  Before pictures can be found from fridays entry post.

Vacuum the entry and the vestibule CHECK
Take the carpets outdoors and give them a beat CHECK
Polish shoes CHECK
Wash the down jacket and put it in the deep storage CHECK
Declutter and wash items from the mitten/hat boxes CHECK
Declutter and wipe the umbrellas and the umbrella stand
Wipe shoe racks CHECK
Declutter and organize the drawer unit CHECK
Organize incoming papers CHECK
Empty outbox

On friday I took the carpets out and gave them a beat. I left the carpets out to air while I vacuumed the entry. On the weekend I placed all the shoes and shoe racks from the vestibule outside and vacuumed it. I wiped the shoe racks clean and banged the shoes together to remove loose dirt. Then returned all inside.

You also see here two new small things I did for the vestibule. I made a shear curtain for the long window and added hanging loop for the shoehorn.

Sometimes it happens that we need to open the door to the vestibule with wearing very little clothes or otherwise ridiculous clothes. Before anyone was able to see right in. I had planned to make a shear curtain on the long window for a long time. But now I finally did it. It is somewhat see through and all light does come in, but it does diminish the visibility inside a bit which is good.

The curtain rod was already there. I guess there has been a curtain before too.

I did also fix the shoehorn, it used to have a loop where it could be hang on something, but it had broke.

I removed the scraps of the old loop and cut a piece of leather which I then glued on the shoehorn.

I did polish some of my shoes too, or actually polished two shoes and just cleaned ones and brushed ones clean.

I did check off most of the tasks, I still need to empty the outbox, since it's quite full and I need to figure out what I'm going to do with all of those umbrellas. More or less the entry cleaning is done, but I'm afraid the entry or the vestibule has not changed much. It's nice to have the entry cleaned anyway, here are some after shots.

The inconvenient entry cleaning

I remember having this same problem in last spring clean. The problem being that I have an issue with A's stuff. We have separate boxes for mittens and such in the entry for me and for A. I have very few items of clothing in the entry atleast compared to A. He has about triple or quadruple the amount of clothing stored in the entry than I do. When I've done the cleaning and washing of my things I feel that I've just scratched the surface, but I cannot go through his things. Firstly I don't want to, those are his things and secondly I have no idea which items he has used that need washing and also I'd like him to go through them and donate the things he does not use, but that seems impossible for him. You should have seen him last year when I almost forced him to go through the boxes. It was so slow and he found use (in his mind) for all of them and explained to me where he has got it and how important the thing might be in the future. It was so hilarious but also frustrating to me.

Also I'm afraid this spring clean came too early this year, I think that was the case last year too. I washed some of my scarves and such (more about that later) and then realized that I cannot do the grand switheroo from winter stuff to lighter stuff, because it's actually still very cold at times. Now I cannot put the washed items to the storage and I must use them and maybe wash them again before I move them to storage later. That is a bit dull.

Well anyway my plan for the cleaning is following

Vacuum the entry and the vestibule
Take the carpets outdoors and give them a beat
Polish shoes
Wash the down jacket and put it in the deep storage CHECK
Declutter and wash items from the mitten/hat boxes CHECK
Declutter and wipe the umbrellas and the umbrella stand
Wipe shoe racks
Declutter and organize the drawer unit CHECK
Organize incoming papers
Empty outbox

And again some before pictures. There are four doors plus two openings to other rooms, so it's quite a tricky space. Here is a tour.  Clockwise, starting from the entry closet.

Here under is the vestibule. It's located right behind that door with a window you saw in the pictures before. 

I have one box where I have all extra mittens, scarves, hats mixed up all together. Then I have two baskets on the top shelf of the entry closet. On the last ones I keep things I use on the season-to-date, on the other one are more neater pieces of clothing and on the other one are outdoors gear and pieces I use in the garden or when doing dirty work. I went through the boxes and decided to wash most of the pieces, which was a bit dumb decision like I stated earlier. I washed the darks and the lights separately with wool cycle in the washing machine. I almost threw in with the dark ones the red scarves I have. I thought that since those have been washed before that the reds wont dye the darks. I'm glad I didn't though and washed them by hand.

It looks like I had killed someone and I'm trying to wash away the evidence or that I'm bathing beetroots. The redness is just overwhelming.

I also washed my down jacket, I used the wool cycle on that too. The wool cycle on our washing machine is very fast only 30+ minutes so I was able to wash three loads in one evening. After the down jacket had dried I folded it in a box and placed it on the top shelf of the clothes cabinet in the bedroom.

The last thing I've done so far is to go through the stuff in the drawers, well I used most time on the top one and just quickly decluttered the other ones. In the top one we keep some keys and locks, extra reflectors, foreign money and also A keeps his sun glasses there.

I found atleast five reflectors to throw away, but most stuff is actually needed. Except that I found there seven sun glasses, but A claimed he uses them all. I picked a box for them and put them all on the same place. Otherwise it was just rearranging things.

I need to continue the cleaning over the weekend. I haven't really done much yet.