House Revamp

After doing a complete food overhaul in the kitchen, I decided that my entire house needs a redo. Many people delight in Spring Cleaning, but I tend to do Fall Cleaning as well. Fall cleaning has taken an even more important meaning this fall, considering that I somehow missed spring cleaning a few months back.

The decision to totally deep clean my house came to me a few days ago. Before leaving to take dogs to the vet and pick up the kids from school, Samuel and I had spent the early afternoon doing some pretty heavy-duty cleaning. Floors were swept, mopped, and vacuumed. Counters were wiped until they shined. Shelves and all of their contents were dusted. So, imagine my surprise when I walk into my home and expect to smell that "oh so clean" smell... only to smell something totally different. The smell is hard to describe. It's not a foul "yuck" smell.. but a "something's not clean in here" smell.

This lead me to snoop around my house like a dirt investigating detective. My thorough research led me to discover curtains that haven't been cleaned in an unimaginable period of time, windows that hadn't been wiped in around a year, and even lamp shades and free standing lights that were simply covered in unnoticed dust.

"No wonder this house doesn't smell clean! It isn't!"

So, this morning I took down completely dirty curtains and threw them into the washing machine. I have three more bedrooms of curtains to go, but I know that alone is going to make a big difference in the smell factor when you first enter this house. Next on my list of previously ignored cleaning will be:

- windows

- lamps

- computer "area"

- kitchen cabinets

We shall see where these tasks take me on my cleaning journey next.

Thankfully, I love to clean. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't love daily mundane cleaning like constantly picking up toys and sweeping the kitchen floor. I love that deep down, "wow this looks great!" cleaning. The kind that makes you sit back, totally exhausted and filthy, and take a deep breath and feel good about your home. The kind of cleaning that requires you to shower after completing. Oh yes... I am a sucker for things that sparkle and shine!

My goal is to not let these things go neglected in the future. How great would it be if I could get on a better cleaning "schedule" so that all of these things were simply part of my 'light' cleaning and did not require an entire day to accomplish? One can dream...