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lilyfinch

Spring cleaning and renovating!

Does anyone have plans to start their spring cleaning or do a little improving around the house? I've been itching to update things around our house. Our kitchen is so outdated but I can only afford little things,so I plan on repainting the cabinets and trim a fresh white, maybe the walls a new color. They are currently a pale blue which I like but could be richer I think. I'm going to change the hardware on the cabinets too. I've been trying my hardest to convince dh that I'd love cherry hardwood floors but he thinks the area is too small... I've really been nagging him but it's not working!

I also have a lot and I mean a lot of cleaning to do. I have a basement full of junk ( treasure to me but seriously, some things haven't been touched in years). Every room needs an overhaul! I wish I could wiggle my nose like on bewitched and have it all done. I'd sure love to hear your plans , it'll keep me motivated and I'll feel like I'm not the only one!

I always think our house Is too small for us but when it comes to cleaning it I feel like it's too big!

Comments (11)

  • greylady_gardener
    13 years ago

    oh lilyfinch! your post has hit home! :)
    I have been struggling with some 'issues' like a basement full of treasures that I have gathered//picked up over the years that I just 'knew' I would use eventually. Well the time has come to purge big time. The only things I won't give up are my yarn and my material. I still have boxes of stuff that I brought home 'to go through' when my mother died.....in 1988!!- I have never opened them. My MIL died last August and we were in such a rush in November when the house sold, that many of her things (including boxes 'to go through') came home and are sitting there also. I hate to even go downstairs anymore, and when you think that it is nicely finished and could be a great living space if the 'stuff' wasn't sitting there, it is frustrating.
    I have also been wanting to renovate my kitchen for years. I am now going to start looking for someone to do the job....finally. :) I am hoping for white kitchen cupboards with robins egg blue walls and dark counter top and floor. Right now my floor is white---I hate it! Everything shows up on it and with two DGDs that live here and two dogs plus DH and me, it gets a lot of traffic. Whether I will actually end up with that or not I don't know. I really haven't started to look at what is out there so could change my mind a few dozen times.
    Cleaning?? ha! Last summer I spent my time between my (part-time) job, trying to spend time in the garden, looking after my MIL and the girls and DH---trust me--the real cleaning other than the basics, just didn't happen. I need to get moving before the nice weather or it won't get done now either.
    on a good note though, I finally got the bathroom painted and it looks great!
    Nice to know I am not the only one with a basement that is full of treasures and a house that needs a good 'going over' :)

  • schoolhouse_gw
    13 years ago

    You have cluttered basements, I have a cluttered garage. It gives me a headache every time I walk in there, or should I say "squeeze" in, to get in the car. And to think I purged only two years ago! What IS all this junk?

    Anyway, that's on my list. Would like to paint the computer room, right now it's a light grayish color that shows scarf marks everywhere. Might paint it the same dark burnt orange that is in the hallway. Will need to mop down all the wood floors throughout the house just in time for muddy gardening boots to mess up them up again. And dust, dust, dust.

  • mnwsgal
    13 years ago

    Yesterday I was in the mood for spring housecleaning. Today, not so much.

    We were gone for three weeks and when I came back I looked around and wondered how those spider webs and dust webs near the ceiling appeared. And dust everywhere. Of course, it couldn't have anything to do with not having done the fall cleaning this year.

    With temps to be in the fifties later this week I can open the windows and do a good cleaning, ceilings and cupboards and floors and closets.

    Will wait to paint my office until temps are warmer, if only I could choose a color. I'm looking at robin egg blue or bright yellow. Doors and woodwork would be painted white. New windows and patio door need to be stained and finished. Always something to do.

    DH has retired and is going through his office and books which seems to be an ongoing project and spills over into the rest of the house.

    "Stuff" in the storage room and garage will have to wait for another season or year.

  • lavender_lass
    13 years ago

    I am so glad I am not the only one, who needs to do some spring cleaning! As soon as it warms up enough to open the windows, it's time to clean...before I get distracted by playing in the garden! :)

    Right now, I'm trying to go through some stuff and trying to get more organized. No basement, but the farmhouse next door is full of stuff that needs to go. My goal is to get things a little more organized, easier to clean and hopefully go through all the fun stuff I printed over the winter and actually consolidate it all into a binder or two. It would be nice to see the top of my desk, again, too! LOL

    No painting, since we did that not too long ago, but I do need to put down new vinyl floors in the kitchen and office. I got tiles that were a little too cheap, and they have not held up well, so this time, I'll try to find a better quality peel and stick. While it would be nice to get something more long lasting, that would take my entire gardening/fence budget...so peel and stick it is! :)

  • schoolhouse_gw
    13 years ago

    I'm still working on painting the new kitchen with the primer coat. One panel is so defective that I had to use wood filler on a large area, sanded it as well as I could this morning. Had intended to paint that, finish a corner behind the sink, and then start the ceiling; but I'm sitting here at the computer again.

    I had my bedroom window open slightly all last night. Today it's really sunny and mild, but the breeze is cool.

  • girlgroupgirl
    13 years ago

    We have big issues with caulk. It seems to be from the foam insulation in the walls. Each spring I have to peel off tons of old caulk, re-do it all then paint it. I've finished that. I seem to always have to re-caulk the windows in the stairwell too, and re-paint: that's done.
    A friend is coming to unstick our windows and hang the new screens. I have to do some outside touch up work, re-paint some furniture that goes outside (and tends to get rusty or cat scratched)...and that's about it for now.
    During the heat of summer I will need to recover almost all our basement and living room furniture, but I will save that for a time when going out during the day to work is impossible!

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    13 years ago

    Read Lilyfinch's post...thought she had been sneaking around looking at my house. read everyone else's posts and wonder how you all managed to snoop around here without my seeing you! ;)

    I did repaint the kitchen walls Saybrook Sage and love it, but the crummy cabinets I painted a creamy white when we moved in need to be repainted-might need to board the dogs, though, or hair will be all over the new paint...and new paint all over the dogs probably! Would love hardwoods and new countertops and a new induction cooktop, but that goes beyond what I can do now. Do need to recaulk around the backsplash, too!

    The garage needs cleaning, but DH is a hoarder and we can't possibly get rid of anything! At least I can get my car in. His is parked outside. The basement is a nightmare, too-son's old bedroom stuffed with stuff cleaned out of my parents' home three years ago (or has it been 4 years?) *sigh*

    I should be doing something today, but school has been so busy with long hours and working on Saturdays that I may just be lazy today. Of course, one more cup of tea and maybe I will be energized! Thanks for the inspiration to get busy!!!!

  • schoolhouse_gw
    13 years ago

    My old house chews up caulk and spits it out too, on the outside that is. I'm forever having the windows done, for some reason the flashing over the big window of the library will not do its duty no matter how much I beef it up with caulk. When it rains hard I have to bunch of a bath towel and lay it on the floor beneath this one spot right in the center of the window.

    And it's been nearly 10yrs. since the house has been painted, so I suppose I have that expense to look forward to either this summer or next. Altho the painter does a great job, I hate to let it go so long that he has to scrape alot before painting. The last couple of times, he's just had to do minimal scraping and just the West and South sides of the house where weather hits it most. The standing seam roof needs coated asap - actually that should be on my priority list for this summer.

    Sundays I try to take it easy, no gardening work, no cleaning, just sitting and recharging. Will be putting the tea kettle on the boil soon too.

  • mnwsgal
    13 years ago

    Since sharing all the work I want to do I have gotten a very bad cold with sinus problems. Hard enough to sit upright much less do any work. Saw a commercial where the guy says he's too tired to pick up the remote and knew exactly what he meant, LOL.

    I have been watching home improvement and yard improvement shows on DIY, our "free channel of the month". This has added ideas to things I want to do here and added dreams of one of those hosts walking up to me in a store. I'd say yes in a minute, though I wonder about the shows where the host already has a plan before talking to the people to see what they would like.

    I really like the ones where a contractor helps a couple do the work themselves. I can work but I need someone with knowledge helping show me what and how.

  • schoolhouse_gw
    13 years ago

    I don't feel all that perky either today. Sinus problems, too; been draining down my throat causing it to be sore on one side, itchy eyes, just plain sleepy all day. Sat through two movies on TV with snoozing in between. If it hadn't been for my dog who needed to outside for a walk several times, I probably wouldn't have gotten out of my chair at all.

    Time for some butter pecan ice cream I think.

  • mnwsgal
    13 years ago

    Umm, why didn't I ask for ice cream when I sent DH out for medicine?

    Hope you feel better tomorrow.

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