We've seen a lot of work going on in the kitchen this week, which is great. We know how tough decluttering and cleaning the entire kitchen is, so you all get a big pat on the back for takin' care of business. If you haven't cooked at home yet this week, make a meal this weekend. Check The Kitchn for good tips and advice. They're in Easter mode right now, so there are some yummy family recipes being posted. If you're still decluttering and cleaning, take some time this weekend to wrap it up. Good links and weekend checklists below...
Weekend Checklist (Deep Treatment): We know...this week has a lot of tasks. If it feels like too much, set priorities for the things you most want to accomplish and finish what you can. If you're on track, congratulate yourself on a job well done.
• Fix one thing in your apartment yourself.
• Throw out expired food.
• Throw out food you haven't used in 6-12 months.
• Get rid of chipped, stained, or excess dishes.
• Get rid of cookware you don't use.
• Wipe down all surfaces (inside and out) with an eco-friendly cleaner.
• Buy a water filter and use it.
• Find a new recipe and cook at least one meal at home.
• Run your hands over your apartment walls to feel the bones of your space.
• Clear space for an outbox, and clear off one surface in your home.
• Determine your style.
• Buy fresh flowers.
• Set the date for your housewarming.
Weekend Checklist (One-Room Workout): When working on your floorplan, make sure to leave breathing space in your room. It's better to have one beautiful, functional room than an overly multi-purposed space crammed with clutter. Be willing to compromise or take something out if you have to.
• Decide what activities you want in your room.
• Figure out where those activities will take place.
• Map out the room that bothers you and work on a solution.
• Draw up a floor plan for your space.
• Sort through your style tray and choose a direction.
• Build a shopping list.
• Work with your shopping list to create a budget.
• Set the date for your housewarming.
Good Links:
• To see our entire Flickr Group, click here.
• Mella DP is back! We're so glad to see her home again!
• lucitebox is rearranging some things in the bedroom.
• merskine wants advice on how to get her windows clean.
• MidCenturyMixer has a style tray based around an orange chair.
• harmony_france has made good progress on the kitchen and the living room.
• Alana made some living room changes and needs advice on what color to paint the trunk.
Flickr Photos: Farleece asked about Flickr photo guidelines. If you can take photos of your progress each week, that's great...even if it's just one or two. We'll try to post and link good photos from across the Flickr pool as much as possible. It's a good way to keep yourself on track and get support from your fellow Curers, but if you can't post every week, don't sweat it. Post when you can.
Next Week we'll be working on creating a landing strip. We'll continue cleaning and decluttering, and we're also going to start thinking about color in the home.
Previous Posts:
• CHI Spring Cure: Mid-Way Through Week Two
• CHI Spring Cure: Week Two
• CHI Spring Cure: Week One - Weekend
• CHI Spring Cure: Mid-Way Through Week One
• CHI Spring Cure: Week One
• CHI Spring Cure: Week Zero - Weekend
• CHI Spring Cure: Official Sign-Up
• CHI Spring Cure: Week Zero
We're cleaning my son's room--for all of you without children, yet, word of advice: NEVER allow a child gum. That's all I'm gonna say.
view Alana in Canada's profile
Where did you find it, Alana?
view Francesca's profile
Where didn't I find it?
One the top of a small toy chest "holding down" a lego tray. On his bureau (Just a small bit). On his desk! ergh, I made the mistake of wiping first and so I softened it again. That'll take a while to harden up.
And all along one shelf --the entire length of it--28" inches of it. Fortunately most of that is rock hard. And there's another shelf, too. (Haven't tackled that one yet).
On a pawn and on the spine of a book.
I thought I had taught the kids to put the stuff on waxed paper--but my son seems to have collected huge wads like some people collect balls of cat hair.
view Alana in Canada's profile
alana- put an ice cube on the ball of gum. It'll harden up fast and you can take a putty knife and scrape it off. I've always had good luck with that method!
view lorijo's profile
Thanks, Lorijo. What I had was the residue.
I may have to leave an ice-pak or something on the stuff I couldn't get up.
We did throw the book and the pawn into the freezer.
I just found a great tool for creating a moodboard or style tray. It's in a Scandinavian language, though. (Can't remember which, sorry!) Just enter an e-mail address in the box and it really is quite visual and intuitive.
Here's the link:
http://www.mijnmoodboard.nl/
I used CTRL PRT Scn to capture the sceen shot (which I then paste into a new document in either word or my picture software program Ctrl V)
view Alana in Canada's profile
raikenn's pictures always look so serene...
aisforanita has the same kitchen counters as I do!
Alana -- I feel your pain. (And thanks to you, all day I've been singing "Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost over night"!)
A question for you all... When I get to page 80 of the AT book, I always stumble over Determining my Style. I don't know what I am (I just feel more and more that my current furniture "ain't it".)
I've just written an incredibly long blog post about this, with style tray links. Anyone willing to wade through the post and give me some feedback on what my style might be? (I'm thinking of just calling it George...)
The blog post is at http://serenityathome.blogspot.com/2008/03/at-whats-my-style.html
view smallcitybeth's profile
I've got my progress report for the week posted with lots of fabulous photos of.....garbage bags! This whole thing has got to be one of the craziest thing on the web.
http://prairiehometherapy.blogspot.com/2008/03/week-2-progress-report.html
view Alana in Canada's profile
Alana, oh no!!! I'm so sorry for your gum incident. What a pain!!! Lorijo's suggestion is spot on. What's left over can be mopped up with Goo-Off or Goo-Be-Gone. One of the two is very strong and will give you a nasty head rush. Unfortunately I can't remember which one it is. Good luck!!
I am scrambling to keep up with the Cure. I was sent out of town for work last week to the east coast and have been sweeping through the house trying to get things back in line so I can catch up where I left off. Then there's the hunt for a wedding dress, registering, ugh. So much to do.
Something that I'm loving is having a couple of empty bins in my dining area for items to go into a yard sale once the weather warms up. Anything that's clutter or redundant goes in there. I'm trying to be as brutal about it as possible. :)
view pxlchk1's profile
Good for you pxichk1. A wedding is terribly time consuming--but congrats! I'll look for that goo gone. I keep forgetting about that stuff.
view Alana in Canada's profile
Well, the Cure is an excellent way to keep me on track for all the guests who will be coming in. At least this way I'm going area by area, in easy bites, to get the house ready. :)
Everyone in this house possessing opposable thumbs is cleaning and decluttering today. The cats are off the hook, but they better watch out or I'll figure out a way to put little dusting mitts on their paws.
view pxlchk1's profile
Why would I be procrastinating defrosting an upright chest freezer?
I'm not afraid of what I may find there: all the unidentifiable stuff was tossed when we got rid of the large floor chest freezer last fall. That was scary!
All I have to do is pack what's in there into coolers, turn it off and let everything melt and drain away.
So what's the problem?
view Alana in Canada's profile
Well, I am not exactly sure where I am supposed to be posting, so this looks as good as anywhere else. I just finished successfully cooking Easter Dinner for 9 in my tiny one bedroom apartment. It took a lot of planning, ingenuity...and wine! This weekend I also painted my bedroom, rearranged all the furniture and planned a 'gallery wall' for the area above the desk.
Oh yeah, and I deep cleaned the kitchen, got rid of 5 boxes of things in my outbox, cooked 3 meals...and dealt with termites. No wonder I am exhausted.
I am really starting to love my apartment! I moved here after a death, so it has been hard to feel at home here. I think that this Cure may be just the ticket. It already feels more 'homey'. And we are just in week 2!!!
view elisam's profile
I'm really enjoying following along, and I think that Alana's trunk would look great in a robins egg blue or something similar, perhaps a lavender, to compliment the green sofa?
view TamTam's profile
I am a late bloomer on this cure. I had the best intentions of starting off big - but a bad work week plus a break up plus a week of vacation and I'm only really starting now. Luckily I just moved in so I don't have quite as much clutter.
I wanted to share my first two big achievements - I put a set of couches "outside" (ok, I put them up for free on craigslist and they went in 30 minutes - I couldn't just put them out there), and got a new set. I have also put up a little dressing table and mirror in my room. My camera charger doesn't work but I promise I will do it this week - and there will be pictures soon!
view VelvetDC's profile