Today, I tackled a few of the kitchen cleaning how tos and I added shelf liners to my cabinets. 

After reading Martha's section on shelf liners I decided that parchment paper would work for my cabinet shelves. This was the most economical choice and the easiest choice for me to find near me, since parchment paper is sold in most supermarkets.

The first thing that I did was empty my cabinets, I took this time to get rid of anything that was expired or I did not use anymore. Next I washed the cabinets using Martha's recommendations, warm water mixed with mild dishwashing liquid and a soft sponge. 

I washed the hardware using the same solution. This was relatively easy, the solution was strong enough to get rid of the dirt but, weak enough to not damage the cabinets or hardware. I used a glass cleaner for the two glass front cabinets in my kitchen.

After drying the cabinets with a soft cloth I inserted the parchment paper.

The last step was to stock the shelves. The whole process took a little over an hour. The next time that I do this it should take less time because the parchment paper should grab most of the dirt instead of the dirt ending up on the cabinets.

Yesterday was Wednesday, so I continued to work through my weekly housekeeping. Yesterday was the hallway and the entry way. The hallway was easy all I had to do was vacuum, so I decided not to take any before and afters because it was really not that interesting.

Here are my before and afters of the entry way. Our entry way is not heated so I had to move quickly as to not freeze.

 

Before

After

Today I launched into my household Martha project by putting together my cleaning products according to Martha's Universal Clean Kit.

I really had no idea what I had as far as cleaning products went. When I clean I usually just grab what is under the sink and start cleaning. I obviously have a lot to learn.

So, my first step was to take out all the cleaning supplies that I had around the house and compare them to the checklist.

 

All my cleaning supplies!

Now, the checklist, let's see how I compared.

• An all purpose cleaner, Check! I have a couple of those.
• A mildly abrasive cleanser, I think comet works. Check!
• Glass cleaner, after talking to my husband I found it in the basement. Check!
• Rubber gloves, Check!
• Lint-free white clothes, I have paper towels and I think I have some rags around the house somewhere. Sort of Check!
• Medium-bristled scrub brush, do not have, will have to buy.

So, I just I didn't do half bad against Martha's Checklist. I'm going to CVS today and I will pick up the medium-bristled scrub brush.

I'm ready for the challenges ahead, bring on the dirt!!!

Last weekend, we got a little bit further with the living room/dining room project we have been working on since the beginning of August.

On Saturday, we worked on the outside, putting up new shingles, trim and window sill. We got pretty far before the end of the day. Unfortunately, on Sunday it rained so we had to post pone finishing the outside shingle and painting.

On Sunday, while it rained we installed the insulation and drywall on for the entire window wall. The credit for this really has to go to my husband Aaron would accomplished this in one day by himself, while I went out and did the grocery shopping, errands, etc... to get us caught up.

This weekend we will be working on taping the drywall and patching other walls that need some work. As well as coming up with a final design concept for the all the finish materials.

Last week I showed you how we started our living room/dining room/hall project by tearing down the wall in between the living room and dining room.

This weekend we continue the project with more demo by taking down the rest of the wallpaper in the living room and most of the wallpaper in the hall. This time it was only myself and Aaron so it was slow going but, we did make considerable progress.


By the end of Saturday we had one wall in the hallway done and started on the finishing the living room, (this weekend we did not start until 11am, we wanted to sleep in a little this weekend). We stopped at around 5pm.

Sunday, we started again, working from 11am to about 3pm. We finished the living room and most of the second wall in the hall. The hall that is adjacent to the living room/dining room had the same wallpaper as the living room, which had been painted over and plastered over in certain parts which made it harder to take down than regular wallpaper.

When we stopped at 3pm, we went on a cleaning rampage because the dust was driving me crazy.

Later this week I'll be able to finally show off the finished bathroom, stay tuned.