Bathroom Renovation!

Today marks the first day of our bathroom renovation!  Words cannot express my excitement for this event!  Our house is 54 years old, and our only full bathroom is one of the only rooms that has not been updated.  We're talking 50's style tile, a huge (and water-wasting) toilet, and grout that has seen its best days years ago.  

Kurt's friend, Artie, owns a construction company, so he, and two of his guys, arrived early this morning to begin the demolition.  I can hear the tiles flying around up there as I type.  Today and tomorrow are demolition and prep days.  Wednesday and Thursday are tiling and installing days, and Friday is painting and putting back together day.  The only downfall is that we don't have a working shower for the next few days.  Kurt's going to shower at work (his office has a gym), Sam will get a bath in the kitchen sink, and I'm going to be borrowing my friends, Jenni and Blake's, shower.  

I'll update as progress is made!  

Home Matters

With the summer drawing quickly  to a close, I'm starting to get anxious about being a working girl again.  I know, I know...I just said the other day that I wasn't as depressed about going back to school, and I'm not.  What I'm anxious about is all the other stuff.  When I'm working, I literally feel like doing nothing once I get home.  It's all I can do to take Macey for a walk or go to the gym.  I'm exhausted from the day, and I know it's going to be 10 times worse this year, especially at the beginning of the year with my kindergarteners.  So, as a result, our house goes to shambles during the week.  I try to not let it happen, but it inevitably does.  Then, on the weekends, I get even more anxiety about the fact that I have to spend the entire weekend cleaning and reorganizing from the week.  Throw in a super busy weekend or a trip out of town, and the house doesn't get cleaned for two weeks.  And this is when the mental breakdowns occur on my part.

I grew up in a clean house.  My mom worked full-time as a teacher, raised us three kids, commuted nearly an hour each way to and from her school, attended all of our events, as well as those for her school, and did most of the errands for our family of five, yet still kept a clean and organized home.  When we were have guests, each of us had jobs we needed to do, like cleaning our rooms, dusting, or vacuuming.  We knew what my mom expected from us in doing those things, so we did it right in order to earn our allowance.  My dad is a really good cleaner, too.  My mom has taught him to do certain things, but I also think his time in the Army when he was 18-21 helped also.  He washes the kitchen floor and cleans the showers like a champ! 

That leads me to Kurt.  Kurt's parents have a different philosophy on keeping a clean house than the one I grew up with.  My mother-in-law has a lot of wonderful qualities, but her ability to keep a clean home is not one of them.  And this has been passed on to her son, my lovely husband.  I can't even explain in words how opposite our parents' houses are.  It is unbelievable!

So that brings me to us and our home.  I basically had a breakdown this evening because I am tired of doing all of the cleaning.  It sucks, plain and simple.  Kurt does do most of the cooking, and I am so grateful for that, but I hate cleaning all the time. 

Tonight we went out to dinner, and instead of chatting about our days or about Macey, we created a plan.  Our cleaning schedule for daily, weekly, and monthly items.  I typed it up and we are going to post it in our house so that we can work to stick to it.  I know there are going to be nights where I just can't wipe down the bathroom sink, or sweep the kitchen floor, but I'm going to work my hardest to do the best I can.  So, here is our cleaning plan:

Daily Items:

Kurt:
- Make bed

- Put dirty clothes in hamper
- Put shoes away or in basket

- Clean up Macey’s toys

- Take out trash

- Cook dinner

Kate:

- Put dirty clothes in hamper

- Clean up kitchen

- Dishes into dishwasher

- Wipe off counters/stove

- Put shoes away or in basket

- Put away things purchased that day

- Wipe down powder room

- Organize mail from the day

Weekly Items:

Kurt:

Sunday- Vacuum

Monday-

Tuesday- Clean up yard/porch

Wednesday- Laundry

Thursday- Take trash out

Friday-

Saturday- Clean out fridge/pantry

Kate:

Sunday- Laundry

Monday- Dust living room/family room/basement

Tuesday- Bathrooms

Wednesday- Sweep/Mop floors

Thursday- Windex doors

Friday-

Saturday- Change sheets on bed

Monthly Items:

- Dust ceiling fans

- Windows/Doors

- Weed flower beds

- Reorganize as needed

- Review budget

 

I'm sure there are things that we are forgetting that I'll have to add, but I feel like this is a good starting point.  What do you think?  Do any of you have a cleaning schedule that you follow?  Does it work?  Any suggestions?

Here's to a clean house and a less stressed Kate!

House Matters

Each summer, I set goals for home improvement projects that I want to complete during my time off.  Last summer, it was the guest bedroom and bathroom.  I painted and decorated both the bedroom and bathroom, and got new bedding and curtains for the bedroom.  We recently got a white chest of drawers and night stand for the guest bedroom, too, so I feel like that room is mostly done. 

This summer, my goals have been the basement, entryway/kitchen, and our bedroom.  The basement is still a work in progress.  The contractors finished their work about a month ago, but we're still working on the decorating and making it exactly how we want it.  The entryway and kitchen don't require much work, just a coat or two of new paint.  I got this color:

Diverse Beige

by Sherwin Williams

for those two rooms.  The image doesn't show the color very well, but I think of it as a light chocolate milk color.  The moulding, doors, and ceilings will be white.  I think it will look really nice with our brown/black speckled countertops and stainless steel appliances.

Now, for our bedroom we I (who are we kidding here?!) wanted something different.  Our room isn't very big and it's kind of dark. I love our bedroom furniture, which we got from the furniture store where my mom works:

Chest of drawers for Kurt's stuff

Dresser for my stuff (no mirror, though)

Night stand for each of us

but it is big!  It takes up a lot of our bedroom.

With all of this in mind, I knew I wanted a new comforter in a lighter color and to paint the walls a brighter color, as well.  So, this is what I have chosen...

It's not really our typical style choice, but I like it!  I plan on getting white curtains to brighten up the room and to paint most of the room this color:

Glimmer

by Sherwin Williams

with one wall in this color, as an accent color:

Tidewater

by Sherwin Williams

Again, the moulding, doors, and ceiling will be white.

My dad is coming down next week to help me with all of the painting.  I'll be sure to post pictures once it's all done!  I want it to be finished already!

The Great Basement Cleanout- 2010 version

About twice a year, I get an urge to really clean and reorganize our basement.  That urge lasts for about five days minutes, and then I realize how much I hate being down in our old, dusty, cobweb filled basement.  I let the urge pass and then avoid it for another few months.  This week, however, we had to face our fears and cleanout the basement.  Cleanout isn't the word to describe the craziness.  We had to empty everything out of the basement.  EVERY. LITTLE. THING.  Nothing (well, except the washer, dryer, and spare fridge) could be in the basement, because our contractor and his crew were coming to begin our basement renovation. 

Documented proof of this madness is provided below:

An armful of wreathes...a different one for every season!

Problem??  Maybe.

Can't believe I am documenting my mess of a basement on here.

Yes, several trips will be made to Goodwill this weekend!

Macey's thinking, "You all are packrats!"

So, the great basement cleanout commenced on Monday night and ended last night.

Let the renovation fun begin!