• Cure Clock: 6.5 weeks remaining
• Assignment: Chapter 2
• Curees: 750 and counting..... This is where the rubber meets the road! After absorbing Abby and Laure's tips last week, you're probably ready to roll up your sleeves and start turning your creative vision into your home's reality. More often than not, when I get on an organizing kick my first thought is about what type of cool storage devices I need to buy, but it's always more overwhelming than helpful to bring in something new before dealing with what you already have. So, whether you're doing the deep treatment beginning with the kitchen or the one-room remedy, a big part of this week's Cure is about good prep work, which always makes for a more rewarding and more permanent end result.
The Spring Cure: Clearing the Path
Week 2 - Tips & Tricks
Deep Treatment
The Kitchen
Tackling the kitchen can be a daunting task, but the result is sweet and savory for sure. Having a cleaning plan (and good music) makes the work more of a breeze.
The Plan:
1. A clean work space will help to keep you from becoming overwhelmed, so before you begin tackling the cabinets do a mini-clean: wash and put away dirty dishes, wipe of the counters, and empty the trash.
2. Pick one major area to begin (the food pantry, the dish cabinet, the fridge, etc.) and remove all of its contents to begin cleaning it inside and out. If you focus on one area/appliance per night, you should be cooking a delicious meal in your sparkling clean kitchen by Saturday!
-remove and wash your shelf liners. I love this sturdy ribbed shelf liner that doesn't require an adhesive to stay in place. It's easy to remove and wipe down, and the ribs prevent moisture from being trapped inside down-turned dishes that haven't been fully dried.
-as you empty your cabinets/fridge/pantry to clean, sort items into 3 categories: to keep (ie- food staples, favorite and frequently used dishes), to throw out (ie- expired food items, damaged dishes, old carry out menus), to relocate or reconsider (items that don't belong in the kitchen but have found their way there, rarely used utensils).
-after giving the area a deep clean inside and out, put back the "to keep" items, pitch the "to throw out" items, and place the "to relocate/reconsider" items to your outbox. (The outbox is where you keep items in limbo, letting them sit out of the way for a period of time—a one week minimum&mdash while you detach from them and decide how essential they are for your life. After a week without an outbox item you may realize you prefer the freed up space to the item itself.)
3. As you're working to refresh your kitchen you'll need some refreshment too, so invest in a good water filter. There are many great and affordable options available, but I'm in love with Brita's Ultramax which doesn't require you to refill it after every glass. If it's on hand, I'm more likely to drink more.
Pick a Recipe! After your kitchen is pared down and clutter-free, it'll be begging to for a delicious mess. There are plenty of tasty, easy to follow recipes at the Kitchn, our sister site, like this Sauted Shrimp with Tomatoes and Lemon Couscous that's making my mouth water already. Creating a delicious meal is the perfect way to re-fall in love with your kitchen.
One Room Remedy
This spring, a lot of our curees are focusing on their home offices and living rooms—typical clutter zones that often get lost in seas of paper and miscellaneous items.
Tips for the Office:
Ample Desk Surface. When mapping out your home office, make sure you allow for enough clean desk space as possible. It's easy to get hung up on interesting desktop storage options while forgetting to leave a large enough surface to do your work. The type of work we do will vary and so will the amount of space we need, but the minimum for most people is enough room for a computer and 1 sheet of paper side by side. I love West Elm's classic parsons desk. Wall mounted storage is also key for a small-space office. Like kitchen counters, desks should be kept as clear as possible or they inevitably become catch-alls for clutter.
Tips for the Living Room:
Create a social focal point. In most of our homes, the living room wears many hats: the social spot, the media room, the napping place, etc. However, when we're thinking about how to lay out our furniture, it's important to have some sort of circular seating arrangement so that people don't have to strain to see each other when they're hanging out and talking.
Keeping these tips in mind, you're ready to map out your floor plan.
-begin by using a pencil and graph paper to sketch a birds-eye view of the room you're rearranging.
-then take the measurements of the walls, windows, doors, and fixed features (ie- radiators), and jot the dimensions into your graph paper sketch.
-next take the measurements of all the furniture you already have in the room.
-drawing on your vision for how you'd ideally like the space to be used (ie- a living room that will double function as a home gym) pencil in only the furniture that you deem essential for achieving that vision. You may realize that you don't need a sofa AND a love seat AND a big chair.
-if you're having trouble envisioning how the rearranged furniture will look in the actual room, use blue painter's tape to lay out an outline of the furniture dimensions on the floor where you'd like them to be placed. Once the outlines are in place, walk through the spaces around the blue tape to see if there is the right kind of flow. This will save you the energy of arranging and re-arranging heavy furniture multiple times.
A Spring Cure Floor Plan Dilemma:
This is from Spring Curee, Rowan, who is focusing on reworking the floor plan to create a better flow. We simply cannot figure out a good flow pattern. I realized when I read the book today that I only sit in one place in the house, the sofa. I think it has to do with the fact that growing up my favorite seat in the house, the swing, faced this way with the windows to my right. We're very lucky to have such a large apartment that faces South with plenty of sun...we're ready to move furniture around and edit pieces. -Rowan
The before pictures:
This is a great space. To create visual flow, you might want to consider finding a smaller, shorter TV stand since the large dense one is the first thing you see from the entrance hallway. Also, adding two chairs with slim silhouettes on either side of the coffee table will create a conversation zone, and help to avoid the movie theater syndrome. Or a set up similar to this one from an upcoming house tour with a similar layout might workwell instead: 
In this apartment, the TV is present and easy to view, but it's not the focal point. Also, the heavy couch is balanced by two visually light chairs.
What other suggestions do you have for creating flow?
(Images: 1: Cottage Living, 2: Apartment Therapy, 3: Country Living, 4: Living Etc, 5: Domino)
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• TITLE
• Week 1.5 - Show & Tell
• Week 1 - Tips & Tricks
• Week 1.5 - Intro
- CURE INFO
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>> Excerpt from Chapter I
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As we just moved in, I got a good start on my kitchen!
I wiped dust off the shelves, organized my pantry (and purged a bottle of fish sauce that was "best before dec 07"- gross!) and cleaned my mixer, food processor, and toaster hardcore- went through a few toothpicks cleaning out tiny grooves. Still finding homes for things, but it's functioning and fairly tidy. Should be able to bake something delicious this weekend. : )
view ashleym (aka autzve on flickr)'s profile
Reading this post really makes me want to tackle my kitchen right now! (Too bad I'm at work. :P) Thanks for the good read.
view Mrs.Mack's profile
Cabinets and drawers done. Pantry closet and refrigerator to go. The table is covered with limbo items. Kitchen already feels bigger.
view kris10k's profile
Last night, i finished the major cleaning in my kitchen - Took me 2 days and 3 loads to wash all my dishes (still have a load of glasses I just got). Thankfully I don't have too much canned food, so only a couple bags of stale chips needed to be dumped. I am proud that I finally removed some putrid food that had been rotting in my fridge.
The tupperware that had canned peas in it had inflated. I usually just throw out the etire tupperware, but I cowboyed up and actually washed the container. I almost vomited, but was so glad that there were some sliced oranges I needed to throw out to cover the smell. That really embarrassed me, because I am so anal about the freshness of food.
I just saw them in my fridge and realized that they were past their prime and got scared to open them. I am really sensitive to smells/grossness so I just put it off longer and longer. All the food was from early Feb.
Washed the shelves in my fridge, organized my cupboards, FINALLY washed the plates I bought at Goodwill. Swept.
Still need to mop, especially the kitty feeding area. That wet food leaves debris everywhere! Am not focusing on the Kitchen this Cure, but when I woke up and walked to the kitchen this morning, I felt so good. Stayed up late finishing, but it was well worth it.
view chusmabilly's profile
I'd love to know how the folks acquired the "Crime Scene - Do Not Cross tape"! Here in NYC it's "Police Line - Do Not Cross." I had a similar idea about 6 years ago -- I wanted to use it as a wallpaper border where the walls (curry color at that time) meet the ceiling in my dining area. Off I went to my local precinct, explained I was interested in using it in my apartment for decorating purposes, asked if I could buy a roll, but they said no.
view Phyllis's profile
half my kitchen is done. The beadboard is up and painted, the fridge is cleaned (coils and all) and the cabinets have been cleaned. Not much to purge. Later today is the pantry (it's a big walk in mess) then the landing strip area- since it's in the kitchen vacinity.
This weekend the Mr. will finish the beadboard project and I can paint that and be done. I still need to paint 4 cabinets- but the weather up here is still too cold to do it. I will need to have patience and wait a few more weeks.
view lorijo's profile
Phyllis - We got a roll of that police tape for an art project in college from a police buddy of the photographer we used. Think you just have to know someone who knows someone... :-/
view ashleym (aka autzve on flickr)'s profile
I have yet to really clean my kitchen... It really needs it. I just need to get unlazy and do it. I guess there's no better time to start then tonight right?
Phyllis - you can also find it online from several different websites. Just google "police tape" or "crime scene tape" and a number of different sites will come up where you can purchase some.
view tgfoo's profile
We've had a stack of wedding gifts- mostly barware sitting in the corner of our apartment for months. I'd pretty much gotten used to them there and forgotten about them. Putting my hands ON the walls reminded me they were there, and I almost ran out and bought something to put them in.
But- we waited because we weren't *there* yet and while cleaning and thinking about our vision I found the perfect place for them, in something we already have and are under utilizing.
view The Maiden Metallurgist's profile
The Maiden Metallurgist - we recently had a similar experience with wedding presents...4 years later--embarrassing! It's amazing how easy it is to get used to clutter, and it's even more amazing how freeing it is to discover space where you thought there was none. Once we finally unpacked all the unopened barware that was cluttering a small nook, we suddenly had room for my home office.
view LeahDC's profile
chusmabilly,
Old food in containers are a struggle here too. I'll take it out of the fridge, and set it on the counter "to handle." Regretfully, I procrastinate about cleaning it out, and the whole mess gets worse. I loathe dealing with old food.
I open windows, burn candles, spray air freshener....but still have to choke back the urge to hurl.
In fact, I have some right now that I've been avoided long enough...I spotted fuzz. blech! They will get done today.
Keep up the good work, everybody!
view heatherdolores's profile
Our kitchen has been deep cleaned! With every cure, I add more kitchen drawer liners. We use Ikea's Rationell Variera. Bonus points: While cleaning, I discovered a stovetop light on our old Wedgewood and a quick freeze shelf in our freezer. We have those?
Rowan, I think the suggestions of streamlined chairs and a lower tv console for your space are good. I might also build another console around your AC/heater under the window. There have been some beautiful solutions for screening those here on AT. I would also add a rug to the sofa/tv area to create a more defined 'destination'.
And go AT tech / Scott, my issues with posting here have disappeared. Thank you.
view wig3000's profile
I'm new to the AT Spring Cure. I ordered the eBook and devoured it in one day. It's such a great concept - spreading the work out over 8 weeks. I used to try to do spring cleaning or fall cleaning in one stress-filled week! We do not live in an apartment but are applying AT to our home which has become overweight and bloated with too much stuff!
I really liked the first post here. I thought I was the only one who did spring/fall cleaning with toothpicks and cotton swabs for all the gummy crevices on my appliances!
My kitchen really isn't in too bad of shape. We remodelled the entryway off the kitchen and installed new doors this last December and January. Due to all the dust, I was forced to clean all my cupboards inside and out, wipe down every surface and object numerous times ( :-\ ) so I will let that part go for now. However, after 12 years, I finally threw out the old Lotus 1-2-3 software box that I had been using to hold the telephone book, shopping ads and other miscellaneous papers beside the phone. I replaced it with a much nicer plastic file box. Good-bye old friend!
view nibsnet's profile
Wow, I'm impressed by cleaning the refrigerator coils. I know that one is supposed to do it often (annually?), but since I rent, I never have... Cleaning the toaster is a good reminder. Otherwise, my fridge, freezer and cupboards are in good shape. Something I did recently: Took everything out from under the kitchen sink and cleaned. The floor of the cabinet had gotten a tad grimy.
view Lizzy's profile
Ok, so while I didn't get my deep kitchen clean in, I got a surface cleaning. What a HUGE difference it makes to have clean counters and an empty sink. Tomorrow I may start in on the deep clean. I have so much (inherited from former roommates) random kitchen things that I just need to ditch. I have loads of random tupperware/cleaning supplies that I never use. Plus my fridge could use a good cleaning. It hasn't really gotten a good scrubbing in a couple years on the inside.
But back to having a clean (looking at least) kitchen. I made some dinner after I had cleaned up, I actually was enjoying the atmosphere, even though my kitchen is horribly outdated and I in general don't like it. Now, I have to attempt to maintain this cleanliness... always my downfall....
view tgfoo's profile
I haven't received a single cure email since the first one. What gives? :(
view melodie-nelson's profile
What there's a cure email? Need to find...
I just started yesterday because I finally got the book from the library and an half way through! Trying to do the first two weeks this week and get caught up! I'm loving it! I deep cleaned and decluttered the kitchen yesterday. Even my kids art supplies cabinet got a serious dumping (it's in the kitchen).
I also managed to rearrange the living room furniture to help the "flow." It's AMAZING! Now my kids can run around the living room in circle quite nicely!
OKay, off to find that email update!
http://www.carinagardner.com
view carinagardner's profile