Homemaker's Challenge- Day 2

Today's challenge was the living room- usually my easiest room to keep clean. I strive to maintain this room the most so that it is always "company ready", which means the girls are not usually permitted to bring toys or games into the living room to play. Since I just recently cleaned the ceiling fan and dusted this room I didn't have a whole lot to do to get it into top shape. My big project, however, was to clean out and organize the "coat closet", which is actually a wardrobe we use to store coats, hats, mittens, etc., as well as games. As you can see from the picture it was in disasterous condition! ~groan~














Here is a picture of my newly organized coat closet... much improved, eh? It really didn't take long at all once I got started. I rehung all the coats and jackets according to size and took out the items that no longer fit the girls (these went into a container in the storage building). I also put all the hats and mittens in a plastic container and hung the scarves. Next I organized the games (collecting stray pieces and putting them where they belong as I went) and threw away any "junk". Lastly, I removed all the empty but important boxes that we've been storing in the bottom of the wardrobe and stacked them in the storage building. The result was a very neat and user-friendly coat closet (I can actually find things now!). I even had some empty space for keeping my extra candles and room spray in the top shelf!! Woohoo!







Here is my freshly scrubbed, dusted, polished, washed, swept, vacuumed and otherwise cleaned living room-

Yes, Amy is still in her p.j.'s... guess that wasn't on the list...
I didn't post any "before" pics since most of the mess was stuff
you couldn't really see... like a dusty floor and junk beneath the couch & cushions.


Finally no cobwebs in the corners, dust balls beneath the furniture, junk lost in the couch, or clutter tucked away where you can't see it (for today anyway!). Yes, I am sighing in satisfaction...




Here was my "to do" list for today's challenge:

• Lightly dust furniture and window ceils


• Wipe down mini blinds


• Wash lace panels (I rehung them damp and let them air dry)


• Clean mirrors & inside of window panes


• Discard old newspapers in newspaper rack


• Pick up and put away any stray toys or other objects


• Straighten couch & vacuum beneath cushions


• Vacuum rug


• Polish hardwood floors


• Organize coat closet
  
  

On a side note, while I had my cleaners out I quickly washed the back storm door and cleaned the kitchen ceiling fan, two tasks from Friday that I hadn't finished.

As an additional project, I made a simple little curtain panel for the kitchen window out of an old (rather ragged) lace table clothe that I'd stored away in the linen closet. This is yet another project I've been wanting to get done for months and months... it feels good to have it finished at last!

Here's what our kitchen window looked like before:


















The blue "thing" is our Berkey Light water filter... we love it!

And here's what it looks like now:

My mom made the red gingham panels... cute, huh?

I can't wait to see my house tranform into a "haven" as the week continues to unfold! Here's what I have in store:

Tuesday~ Laundry Room & Fold All Clean Laundry

Wednesday~ Bath Rooms

Thursday~ Girls' Room

Friday~ Our Room & Closet

It should be a busy and productive week!