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.

Martha's Weekly Homekeeping

Today I'm setting up my weekly homekeeping schedule. Because I do not have enough time on any one day to accomplish all the things on the weekly checklist I'm going to spread it out throughout the week.

Sunday

Kitchen 

Monday

Dining Room

Tuesday

Living Room

 Home Office

Wednesday

Library

Entryway and Hallway

Thursday

Bedrooms

Friday

Bathrooms

Saturday

Throughout the House

So, today is Tuesday that means I tackled the Living Room and Home Office. Here is a picture of the before and the after using Martha's advice.


Living Room

 

Before

After

Before

After

Our house is in a bit of a transition. Hopefully, our living room/dining room will look a little more finished soon.

Home Office

Before

After

Before

After

Martha's steps are pretty simple the whole process took me about 45 minutes. I'll follow this for a week going through each day of the week.

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!!!

"10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget"
by the writers of wise bread

This is a great resource for saving money. I took this out from the library a few weeks ago and found some very helpful tips about saving money. Usually when I take books like these out, I do not really learn anything because they are filled with the same old tips; create a budget, brown bag your lunch, etc... This book is different because it breaks everything down by specific categories and tips that you can follow to really save some money that you probably have not seen before.

Here are some of the categories they cover related to Home Design:

• Ways to create a gourmet kitchen for less
• Frugal party ideas
• Free gift wrapping ideas
• Great inexpensive gifts
• Going green inexpensively
  
• Lower heating costs
• etc...
  

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This weekend Aaron, his dad and my dad replaced an old picture window from the fifties with two new energy efficient double hung windows.

Here is what the old picture window looked like on Friday night.

There was a large amount of wood rotting around the window. It was becoming a safety hazard.

After removing the window they had to rebuild the frame because the new window was slightly bigger than the old one.
Ready for the window.

It fits!!


And this is how we left it on Saturday, when we removed the wall board to take the old window out we found that there is no insulation in the walls of the house. So, before we put new wall board up we will insulate the wall and later blow insulation into the rest of the walls of the house.

Since, I started taking classes a couple of weeks ago to get my Master of Teaching in the Fine Arts, I thought I would share with you a few pieces of my original artwork.

Surfers, Acrylic on Canvas

Rockwell, Acrylic on Canvas

Gossip, Oil on Canvas

Jax, Acrylic on Canvas

Baseball, Acrylic on Canvas

Over a month ago we started what was suppose to be a quick redesign of our bathroom. We were able to paint, change the faucet and add a medicine cabinet within a week of starting the project, but a few things kept us from finishing the project until just last night.

We could not find a light fixture that worked with our space, either the fixtures we found where to large or they did not work design wise. We finally found one online and it arrived last week, that was a big relief.


So, last night we put the finishing touches up including a photo that Aaron's Mom took off our hometown. Without further ado here are the before and after shots of your bathroom.

Before After


Before After

There was not much storage so we added a hook behind the door to hang robes.



We also use this tight space next to the shower to store some of our towels.

One project down, many more to come.