Cleaning Your House (For a Home Tour)

Our house has been a work in progress for over 6 years now. This means the extended family is curious and would love to see the progress. Everyone is coming in town next week for a family wedding and my in laws (who have been the ones doing the work on the house) have invited everyone over to see it. Especially living in an unfinished house, it's really hard to find a home for everything. We have bought some things that were on sale that we know exactly where they go but that room isn't done yet so we don't know what to do with the items. It's things like that that make our home kind of a mess.

In the past few months, we've gotten more finished (our baby even got to move into her real nursery! Before now, she was living in our old bedroom, which will become a guest room until we have more kids) so that does make it somewhat easier.

The other thing is, with a home tour, you can't follow most people's advice for cleaning for company. They all say to just put clutter and stuff into rooms and shut the door. But our relatives are going to see everything. Then I looked up how to clean your house for an open house when you are selling. I thought this would work out since then the people are seeing the entire house but with that, people usually rent a storage unit and move most of their clutter into that so the home itself contains very little of what they would actually have in it. Again, not a solution for me.

This brings me to the only option left: actually clean the house. They will understand the construction zones but the rest of it really has to be in tip-top shape. This is how.

• First of all, remember that your home will never look like the homes in magazines. Most of those pictures are staged and they aren't realistic for actually living in them. Even professional cleaners and organizers can't make it look like that. 
• Don't buy organizers until after you know exactly what you need and how many. I started with our black shelf (that I had previously organized without baskets). I decided this needed makeover because it was already starting to be a mess again. I knew all the categories though, so I just bought that many baskets and then made labels for them myself (out of index cards and ribbon). Now, it looks much better and I didn't waste any money on organizing supplies I didn't need.
• Start small. Don't expect to spend the whole day organizing (especially if you have children!) to get the whole house done. It doesn't work that way. You'll burn yourself out. I allowed myself two weeks to get it all done and then I work for just a few hours each day. 
• Don't be afraid to give stuff away. This can help clear out a lot of stuff. Ask yourself if you seriously need this item. Does it still fit? Is it realistic to hold onto? There are other websites to help you find more questions to eliminate things.
• Break it down. Make a list of everything you have to get done. I love making lists so this isn't a problem for me. I just go room by room and write down everything. You could do an extra step and prioritize it all so if you do run out of time, you know which stuff really matters.
• Leave some things for the end on purpose. Things like dishes, laundry, and cleaning the bathrooms can wait til the end because if you do them too early, it's going to look like you never did them in the first place. 

Then it's just a matter of doing it. Decluttering will make a bigger difference than actually cleaning so if you only have time to do a few things, get the junk out. 

I hope this list helps. I know it can seem overwhelming (believe me, my list is PLENTY long) and you do have to other things too (in my case, take care of a baby) but if you just do some each day, it'll get done and the end result will be worth it. 

If you would like more tips, you can see my cleaning tab at the top of the blog or make a comment below. 

I'm Back...Sort Of

Hey everyone! Thanks for remaining patient while I was trying to figure out life with a new baby! I had a baby girl back in January and she couldn't be cuter. She is actually pretty well behaved too, at least for the most part. Life can be pretty hectic with having to take care of her all day but I am trying to find a way to make it all work out. In other words, when I find time I will blog but I'm not sure how often that will be, certainly not every day. She does seem to have the uncanny ability to need something the second I try to get anything done (including showering or even eating).

I have managed to get things done around the house, usually after David gets home from work and it's his turn to watch her. In the beginning, my mom was here to help and that was a huge relief. It was especially nice because I did end up needing a C-section so recovery wasn't that easy (and I am still recovering. My abs are completely shot so carrying her around all day can really cause some pain. I'm not supposed to exercise til 6 weeks post partum and I'm only 5 so hopefully things improve in the next week. I did have a pretty good recovery though and could even do stairs after just a couple days.)

In addition to trying to keep things running around here, I have also taken up knitting! I have gotten some help from David's mom (who has been knitting since she was in college) and then additional help from YouTube. I started out making a washcloth for practice but since I had no desire to make a washcloth, it was just easy, I decided to find a different project once I learned the stitches. So now I am working on leg warmers using double pointed needles (DPNS). It's not as hard as it sounds but is definitely a new skill. I'm almost done with my first one though! Too bad I still have to make another one. It's fun and something I can work on for just a couple minutes and stop whereas with my sewing projects, you have to start with a pretty decent chunk of time (I'd say at least 10 minutes if you want to get anything accomplished) and then a stopping point isn't always obvious. With a baby, that's just not do-able anymore.

However, I am still sewing. I have needed to make more nursing pads (breastfeeding is actually going easier than I expected!) and I am working on a bag bag (using my previous pattern) for my mom. It's quick projects like these that keep me interested and happy with my progress but it's not taking too much time away from the rest of my life.

Hope to talk to you all again soon!

Our Christmas Decorations

The past couple days we have started to put up our Christmas decorations. We NEVER put stuff up before Thanksgiving but we have been known to do it the day after. Before just seems too early.

We had bought some new stuff on clearance after Christmas last year, so this was our first year using it. Our most exciting purchase was probably our solar LED white lights. We have them wrapped around the trunk of our pine tree out front. You do have to clear the snow off of the solar panel every time it snows but we haven't really had a problem. We like that these don't add to our electricity bill and we will most likely purchase more after this holiday season.

We also have multi-colored lights strung around our huge living room window (on the outside---when you string them on the inside, I think it looks weird). These are not solar or new. We really like them though, especially because it seems like most houses in our neighborhood only have white lights and those can look rather plain by themselves. This is the first year we have put them around our window so we had to put in nails to wrap around. Last year, we had them wrapped around our porch posts and that looked nice too.

Our front door wreath is not new this year but it still looks really nice. It's big and was too heavy for our magnetic door hook so we had to buy an over the door one. It has fake frost, berries, and pine branches. I obviously didn't make this one, like I did our fall one. Wreaths are a little hard to store though. We keep ours in a plastic bag on top of our ornament box.

Inside, we have our (fake) tree. We are almost done decorating it but we were both too tired to finish last night (plus we watched the live Carrie Underwood version of The Sound of Music). It comes pre-lit with white lights but we add a lighted star (that is too big to fit on the top of the tree because our tree is 8 and a half feet tall in our 9 foot foyer), garland (silver and blue), and ornaments.

This year, we have our little fabric Christmas tree and penguin that I made this past season. They're cute and help decorate our living room. We also have new bows we bought to put on our porch posts but have since discovered the wire to attach them is too small to fit around the pole so we are debating what to do with them. They may just end up on our tree.

I wish we had a mantle or a stair railing to wrap garland around because I always think that looks nice but we aren't getting either one. I also want to get a nativity scene but those are pricey so we will probably wait on that.

It is my family's tradition (and now David's and mine) to listen to Christmas music while decorating the tree. We listened to Pandora's station for country Christmas last night and it was really nice.

Now all that's left is Christmas cookies! We are making 28 dozen (7 different kinds) plus fudge. We are obviously going to have to share if we want to eat them all in time! We will most likely be making those next weekend (with our new mixer!)

Oh! And I will be making a tree skirt since we don't have one but I don't know that it will be done in time for this season. It's a rather tedious one but I'll be sure to post if I finish it.

Back From Vacation

Hey everybody! Sorry I forgot to mention I was going out of town (to my parent's house) for Thanksgiving weekend so I have not been blogging. We all had a great time but it's hard to believe the next time they'll see me, I'll have a baby! This was the first time my older brother saw me pregnant and he goes "it just looks like you have a pillow under your shirt". Ha ha, no it's definitely all me (and Teeny).

So anyway, before I went on vacation I finished up some sewing projects. For instance, I finally did the valence for the master bedroom. I still have to do the curtains in the living room but at least this gave me more confidence for that project. It was really rather easy to make. The hardest part was hemming the long sides. I didn't do a French seam on the back like I was supposed to but nobody looks behind curtains to check your seams anyway. I just did a regular, right sides together seam. I had 2 yards of fabric that I cut in 3 sections and sewed all the sections together. Then I cut it slightly (I was doing 2 1/2 times the window instead of 3 because I didn't want it too ruffly) and hemmed three sides. The top has a tube for the curtain rod. Then the end! We got it up and it looks great! It doesn't have the ruffle part above the rod, just the tube for the rod but that's the way we wanted it. I'm sorry I don't have a picture but I'm kind of in a rush this morning getting this posted so I can move on to unpacking more from vacation.

Speaking of unpacking, I had my first baby shower this weekend (it was my side of the family. David's side of the family is next weekend). It was lots of fun and I got SO much stuff! All of it is adorable of course but boy was our car full when we drove home! It makes the experience seem a little more real and I'm even more excited for Teeny now (if that was possible). I'm starting to feel really huge, especially because my cousin was there and she's two months behind me in pregnancy so she seems really small next to me.

Then, before we left for vacation (sorry this post is all over the place), I made a little thing that holds my pins and needles for sewing on the go. It folds up and is about the size of a baby's bootie (baby on the brain!). It is really nice and convenient. I got the pattern out of one of my library books. It was probably the first project I made without getting frustrated and in one sitting. It took about an hour and a half. I also do not have a picture of this but if you are curious, I can post one later. It did work out really nicely for when I hand sewed in the car. It can even fit my little scissors.

Alright, I think you are all caught up now. I apologize again for how rushed this was but coming back from vacation is always a struggle to get back in the swing of things.

Finished the Blanket

The last couple posts have told you that I am making my (not so little--he'll be 17!) brother a blanket for his birthday. This blanket was much more work than the one I made him last year but I also had a sewing machine this year. Last year's is all hand sewn.

This blanket has one side of two fleece panels (the orange and grey side) and the other side with four flannel panels (I consider this the top and the fleece is the back). It has a wide cotton binding on it. This was my first ever binding! I also did some decorative top stitching so when he washes it, the fabric doesn't shift.

For the binding, I somehow miscalculated how much I'd need so now I have extra. I used a 3 inch strip. Then I ironed the whole thing, folded it in half and starched and ironed it again. I was then going to fold up the raw edges a half inch for each side but the ironing was already a lot of work because of how long the strip is so I decided to not fold the raw edges and do a big zig zag stitch around the whole thing. I did have to do some places twice because the two sides weren't perfect and the second side didn't get any stitches (if you know what I mean). That was still less work than if I had to do it the other way.

For the panels, I sewed right sides together with a half inch seam allowance. Then when I had finished my top and bottom and everything was cut to the same size, I did a basting stitch around the edge since I knew I'd be binding it.

Then I top stitched it with fancy stitches (which ended up a lot of work since it was in the middle of the blanket, not an edge, so you had to roll up the blanket to fit under the machine and it took us like 3 people to do it right...it was a mess. I wouldn't do it again.)

The finished product is 60 x 72 inches. I wanted it really big but I still have leftover fabric because I was unsure on what size I wanted. This is perfect. It can wrap around you with space to still move your arms and it covers your toes (even David's toes, and he's 6 ft 4 so most blankets are much too short on him). He's already asking if I can make him one for Christmas (he got to test out my brother's).

Here are the pictures!

So the top one is the flannel side and the bottom one is the fleece side. You can't see the decorative stitches very well from these but I was just excited to be done. This was a bigger project than I expected (like most of them are).

Since I am going home for his birthday weekend, I will return to blogging on Monday or Tuesday. Happy Halloween!

Cleaning for Company

My mom and little brother (who's not that little anymore) are coming to visit for the next few days. They will be staying here instead of a hotel so I need to make sure everything is extra clean. Of course, they'll understand construction mess and even regular house mess but I would like to make an effort. They'll be staying in our library/makeshift guest room. (When the house is done, we'll have a real guest room until we have kids.) So then I need to make sure everything is in order and there are new sheets on the bed and such. Company is always stressful and I'm not sure if it's more or less stressful when it's your own family. Generally, we get along so I would think less stressful but I also feel like they might expect more from you.

So anyway, everyone has a different way of cleaning for company. Some people only clean what they'll see (and then can stuff things upstairs or in closets) but my family will see the whole house (part of the reason for coming is to see progress) so I can't really do that. I have to scrub the kitchen and the bathroom, make sure I leave out extra towels. I've never had to share one bathroom with four people before but I guess we'll see how it goes! My husband will still be going to work and my sister lives not very far from here so my mom will be spending some time with her too.

Okay I feel like this post is a big ramble and I'm not sure any of it makes any sense because I'm distracted by my handful of a bunny, Cocoa. Bottom line: You should be cleaning your house like company is coming every day. Then it will actually end up presentable.