Our Nest

Weeks after I cleaned out my closet and scoured our bathroom, I was finally ready to return to finished cleaning the master bedroom.  I mentioned before that this would probably be the case; I was much more likely to make the rest of the house presentable.  After all, no one sees our little nest but My Love and I.

Action Plan:
1.  Clean light fixture and fan blades
2.  Clean doors and door frames
3.  Clean windows
4.  Dust furniture
5.  Wipe down baseboards
6.  Vacuum floor

I had been a bit reluctant to clean the fan blades because our fan is directly over the bed; I assumed that when I cleaned the blades, showers of dust were going to fall on our comforter and be impossible to remove.  When I finally started the job, however, I was again pleasantly surprised at how reasonable the accumulated dust was.  I certainly hadn't cleaned it in the past month, but definitely within the past year.  A quick wipe with ACV and a trip through some soapy water for the bulbs, and the fixture was done.

When I started to clean the high areas of the room, like the tops of the door frames, Mini-me wandered in and asked to help.  Since I was cleaning with ACV, I let her get a washcloth and start wiping down the baseboards for me.  It wasn't a very thorough job, but it was certainly a start, and I appreciated that she wanted to be involved!

The door frames were no more or less dusty than I expected, but I again encountered dirty door surfaces.  At toddler-level I found crayon marks, fingerprints, scuffs, and discolored flecks.  After scrubbing at the particularly stubborn spots for a while, I reached for my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.  Apparently, though, part of the way it works is to actually remove a tiny layer of the paint...or something.  Because I stopped scrubbing to discover several places where the stain was gone, but where I could also see the raw wood of the door peeking through the white paint.  Oops.  I put the scrubber away and hoped for the best when My Love came home; repainting is his department.

There was nothing more shocking in the windows than I found in any other part of the house; it's a little sad that it no longer surprises me to find a dead frog trapped between the panes of glass.  The blinds were particularly dusty, but my current cleaning technique seems to be to buy a new set, so there was nothing to do about them at the moment.

Mini-me had done an admirable job with the baseboards, but her commitment to the job lasted about ten minutes (pretty good for a four-year-old), and I had to finish up for her.

Why is it that I vacuum the bedroom less than any other room in the house?  Again, I suppose it's that no one knows except My Love and I.  But every time I DO vacuum, I an so enamored of the results that I vow to do it more often.  Maybe this time it will stick!

This room also had a special project, which has been in the works for over a week.  I wanted to do a thorough cleaning of our queen-sized bed.  I removed all the sheets, turned the mattress, sprayed it with a disinfectant (I still haven't tried the baking soda idea I found), washed all the sheets and the dust ruffle, and re-assembled.  I was stumped on our down comforter, though.  Apparently, they can be washed, but my washing machine was too small, and it seems like an all-day job that would take lots of quarters at a laundry mat.  So I decided to splurge and have the thing professionally cleaned...until I discovered it would cost $40!  At that point My Love assured me that the comforter was clean enough for his taste, so (after having no blanket on the bed for a week) I caved in and put it back on the bed.  Today, my mother brought me a comforter that she and my dad no longer use, and I'm looking forward to updating our bedroom with it.

I'm really enjoying how pleasant it is to have a clean, sweet-smelling bedroom (not that it usually stinks; it just SMELLS clean now!); I wonder how I can make it a priority for the future?