Category Archives: Home and other Repairs

Things I’ve had to learn to fix around the house, where I’ve found the knowledge, and why we can seldom accomplish these fixes in the same time frame as those guys on You Tube.

January Cure of a diseased Linen Closet

22 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by in Home and other Repairs, Home Decor, January Cure

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Today’s assignment was to pick a closet and clean the heck out of it. I picked my linen closet because A. It didn’t require me crawling around on the floor again and B. it’s needed to be decluttered and cleaned for 20 years and 3 houses. We just moved the contents as is from our old house, to the rental and then to the new house, adding stuff as the years went by and only dumping stuff if it actually ripped. The result has been that I’d have to use real strength to shove clean towels and sheets in there. See for yourself.

beforelinenpurgeThat before picture should make up for the fact that I did not take a before picture of the laundry room closet. It was just like this except it was filled with filthy junk and twice this size.

So, what did I find when cleaning out the linen closet? I found my two (of three) good sets of sheets, an assortment of flat sheets that used to have matching fitted sheets, an old mattress pad I meant to dump over a year ago, an old worn out blanket, my good spare mattress cover, 4 towels, 4 table cloths, 2 woven place mats, and at least 24 pillow cases that don’t match any sheets I currently own! Was I afraid there was going to be a world wide shortage of pillow cases or that I might never be able to afford another one? You would think I lived through the depression with all the stuff I have hung onto over the years. I’ve had hard times, but c’mon!

Thankfully I have, at least temporarily, regained my senses. There’s now room in my linen closet to store my vacuum cleaner. I could probably store the dogs in there too. Amy is treading on thin ice today. My linen closet might become her “Cupboard Under The Stairs” if she chews up anything else vital today.

afterlinenpurgeI need to find out who or what has eaten all my gold colored towels. I used to have four gold ones and four blue. One blue towel is in the laundry, one is hanging in the bathroom, so I’m missing one blue and three gold towels. But by god I have pillow cases.

January Cure: Cabinet Cleanout

20 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Home and other Repairs, January Cure

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beforecabinetpurgeAmy (left) and Sheldon (right) inspect the jumbled pile of fascinating smells in my bathroom cabinet.

Today was the day to purge and clean out the dreaded bathroom cabinet. I had to run errands this morning. The ponies appreciate being fed and I’d already put buying pony chow off way longer than I’m comfortable with. I had to drop off a trunk load of recycling. Then, I had to make an emergency stop at Sally’s Beauty Supply. After errands I was already tired, so I really had no sense of humor left for the cabinet purge. Honestly, if I have to get down on the floor to do anything before I tile the bedroom, it’s likely not going to get done. I’m willing to throw my hip out of joint and be in bed for a week for the sake of better flooring, but not for another cabinet. Nope. No way.

Regardless of my unbending hip and back. I purged and purged more and purged still more. I found all kinds of cool stuff, not so cool stuff, and just plain stupid stuff under there. I guess I was hoping to haul out the non-working steam curler machine one day and pray/chant/sing it back into working order. Instead, I added a stop at Sally’s to my errand list this morning and pitched the useless one this afternoon. I pitched two perfectly good curling irons because if I even try to blow my hair dry from a distance it feels like straw. I will probably never need to buy more disposable razors ever because I unearthed 4 mostly full packs.

No, I did not purge the makeup yet. I haven’t bought makeup in 4 years but prior to that I invested heavily. I tried. I really did. All I could see was BIG BUCKS AT ULTA going into that garbage bag and I just couldn’t do it. Even though my face has sagged, bagged and wrinkled to the point of making wearing makeup ridiculous, I just couldn’t do it.

The other thing I didn’t do, again, was read ahead on the schedule to see that this project was coming up. If I had, I’d have gone out and found inexpensive baskets to better organize what didn’t get pitched.

All I could do was semi-organize. Moisturizers, makeup (cough) and other things that swore they’d defy my early aging (I didn’t purge those either. Hope springs eternal) behind one door. My new steam curler set behind the middle door. Shampoos, conditioners, soaps, hand sanitizers and mouthwash behind door number three. I moved all but a couple of cleaners to the newly organized crates in the laundry room.

aftercabinetpurgeAfter the cabinet purge. I swear to you I purged. It will look better with baskets. Really.

Proof

cabinetpurgebagI told you I purged. That’s a lawn and leaf bag three quarters full and almost too heavy for me to lift.

There were mostly empty cleaner bottles, empty cleaner bottles, moisturizers that no longer pumped they were so old, conditioners that only left my hair limp, stuff in generic travel bottles I could not identify. Old medications, medical supplies, nose hair trimmer, a non-working electric shaver, battery power toothbrushes, and an inordinate number of mostly used up Magic Erasers. In spite of the after picture still looking cluttered, I can actually see what I have in there now. The baskets to organize will make it much better. Seriously.

I also need to Google and YouTube my little aged heart out to see what makeup and shampoos will work for me now. If I find something that works, I’ll be willing to pry the stuff from Ulta and Bare Minerals out of my clenched fists. But not a ruddy moment before.

January Cure assignment Work on Project

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Home and other Repairs, Home Decor, January Cure, Wood Crafts

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laundrypurge2The blank pallet we’ll begin to fill today.

John is off today so we’re going to see just how fast we can get some major building done in the laundry room before he leaves to meet his Juggling Club in the park tonight. There are two big things I’d like to accomplish today.

We’d built a Day Bed early on in our building spree last spring. Actually, it the plan called it a simple modern sofa but it’s so huge it’s actually a Day Bed. I’ve no use for a Day Bed. I also don’t want to waste all that wood. So today will be spent taking apart the Day Bed and turning it into a narrow table that will fit in the laundry closet. My original plan was to turn it into a small table for the front porch, but that will have to wait. A table for the porch is just fun and decorative, while a place to hold small appliances is urgent.

sofafinishedThe Day Bed we will be deconstructing today.

Yesterday I’d picked up a bunch of inexpensive wooden crates to store cleansers that I don’t need on a daily basis, extra sponges, light bulbs and small repair supplies. With the supplies neatly corralled and easily removed, and while John is taking apart that Day Bed, I’ll be painting the laundry closet.

If y’all have kept up with other parts of my blog and have seen the patio furniture and other items we’ve built, you’ll know I love rustic. The all black, white, grey IKEA spartan look is just not me. I’m a Hobbit. So, the narrow table we’ll be building for the laundry closet will be painted to look old, much like we did our patio tables.

patiotriumphThe rustic look patio tables we built will be the look for the laundry table.

While John is deconstructing the Day Bed, I’ll whip up a cut list for the table so that he can go straight from deconstructing to constructing. I don’t have a ready made plan for this, but we built so much furniture last summer to fill the patio and backyard, that I’m confident I can do this.

We have a fairly limited amount of time, less than 8 hours, and two overly helpful dachshunds, so I’d best get out and get the ponies fed so we can get started! Time to crank up the Ride of the Valkyries, yes, to eleven.

 

January Cure Get Together and 3 Minute Surface Sweep

13 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by in General Farm Stuff, Home and other Repairs, Home Decor, January Cure

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Yesterday’s assignment was to plan an end of the month Get Together in our newly cleaned and organized home. I do love having people over, but I’m afraid this month is out of the question. Also, Ren Fest begins the 7th of February here and those who know me, know that John and I will be there. The last weekend of January I seriously need to have a gigantic yard sale to get rid of all the stuff piled in the Out Box/Room and which is taking up a good 1/3 of the garage and which has spilled over into the barn.

Thus, rather than spend time thinking about a Get Together, I got together with my measuring tape and my laundry room project. I had to measure the width, depth, and height of the existing shelves, measure the tallest of the small appliances I’d like to store in there, calculate where to place a new shelf to accommodate the appliances, measure up from the floor to be sure there would be enough room for the bag of dastardly dachshund chow, and begin to ponder things like paint colors, and drop zone storage.

Today’s assignment was a timed three to ten minute rapid sweep of one surface. Going after that one area as if the in-laws had just that moment called from up the road and I had three to five minutes before they knocked. We’re talking bust butt frantic here. Not just frantic stuffing things into the pantry, which is why my pantry looked that way before the purge, but grabbing stuff and actually putting it where it belonged.

deskbeforeMy desk was the chosen victim because it butts up against the kitchen island and people entering the front door see it before they see that nice sparkling clean kitchen (yes, it still sparkles). I set the stove timer. I don’t even know if my “smart” phone has a timer, but I do know I’m not smart enough to find it if it does. I went old school and pressed the start button.

Grabbing stuff willy nilly and stuffing it into the kangaroo pouch I’d formed in the hem of my sweatshirt. I grabbed car keys, sunglasses an empty coke can, candy wrappers, old mail, chargers, charger cables, laptop cleaner, laptop duster, and ran around the house frantically placing things in their designated areas. Back to the desk I picked up random paperclips, pens, pen tops, note pads, and pocketed loose change. Paperclips went back in their box, pen caps went on pens and pens went in the pen basket. Everything else was placed on the kitchen island while I grabbed a damp rag and wiped clean the desk and laptop. Rag was tossed in the washing machine, the stuff I’d dumped on the island was neatly placed back on the desk. DONE! Five minutes. I could hold off the in-laws for an extra moment by yelling “Coming! Just let me get the dachshund sword!” This would give them something to contemplate until I got to the door.

deskafter

January Cure Kitchen DONE!

11 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by in General Farm Stuff, Home and other Repairs, Home Decor, January Cure

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gleamingstainlessCranking up the amplifiers to ELEVEN and singing WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! HooooooRAH and all that jazz. I’d be moon walking and hopping up and down if my back would bend anymore. How about I lay on the sofa and imagine myself doing those things? Sounds good. Notice the little white rice cooker for my celebratory roast beef supper tonight is the only thing out of place in this room now. I’d shake a pom-pom but I don’t think my shoulders move any more either.

Notice the gleam on that stainless? I learned this trick when we lived in town. Our neighbor was a janitor at the elementary school and he noticed us scrubbing windows one day. He gave us his secret for cleaning school windows, bathroom mirrors, stainless appliances, etc. Got a pencil and paper? It’s pretty involved. Wet a washrag, take some dish detergent, draw a smiley face in a very thin stream of detergent on the wet rag, scrub the surface, wipe or squeegie dry. No need to rinse, just wipe dry. That’s it, okay I added the part about drawing the smiley face. Moving on.

longview1Long view of my dazzlingly clean and uncluttered kitchen. John even climbed up on the counters and deep cleaned the grucky no-woman’s land known as the pot shelf.

myviewThis is now the lovely view from my desk.  LOOK I finally had space to put flowers other than atop the washing machine. There are a ton of things in the dishwasher from the cabinet purge that will soon be headed to the garage sale pile. I was actually able to put some small appliances in the cabinets where I can access them easily.

The laundry room project I chose for the month is on track. I’ve pared down most of it and will come up with a plan for neat and functional storage. Right now it’s functionally grouped on the shelves waiting for whatever I decide on for storage containers. For now, here’s what it looks like.

laundryshelvesI almost wish I’d had the courage to take a before picture but I didn’t want to break into the vodka. It would have taken a serious drunk to show y’all that. Suffice to say, I only opened those sliding doors enough to reach in and get the dastardly dachshund duo their kibble. Now the doors are gone and I DON’T CARE! I’m free of the fear that someone will open those doors and see the horror.  Even better things are coming for this room between other Cure assignments.