Accumulated junk

If 2020 did anything for us, it made us aware of how important home is.

Let’s face it, when we’re spending 24/7 in our rooms, apartments, town homes, cottages, or houses, they need to work and be pleasing more than ever.

Like most of the ~~country~~ world, we’ve had plenty of downtime this year. So in this stay-at-home time, we’ve worked on our home while staying in it. This makes for a good news/bad news scenario. The good news is that the last room in the house is getting finished. The bad news is that the room has been emptied of everything that was in there and all that junk is now stashed in every crack and corner of the rest of the house. Every. Single. Thing.

The good news is that in these days of pandemic lockdown, no one will show up to this messy house unannounced. (And if they do, we can keep them outside…) The bad news is that there is barely room to find a place for two tired people to sit down and relax, let alone, eat meals.

The dining room table has become the sewing table.

Shoved behind the couch are assorted lamps, closet lights to be installed, and speakers that are still to be ~~argued about~~ discussed.

The bedroom hasn’t escaped either. The printer is tucked next to my nightstand, couch pillows are on the cedar chest, and an antique quilt hanger that belonged to Clara is just plain in the way while we decide if or how to repurpose it. Not to mention the ironing board that is stashed behind the curtains when not in use.

Before

after

The sleeper sofa had its sleeper part taken out so it could be spray painted. Which is why the cushions are in the bedroom. The sleeper part is stored in Mr. H. C’s truck. Which has him wondering how he can go get wood for trimming the four doors and two windows… Two closets, an entry door from the outside, an entry doorway from the living room, and these two lovely new windows that were put in this summer:

New windows have changed the room from a cave…

The spray painted couch is now out on the back porch and the tv is in the living room. Everything is in disarray. Much like the world.

The comment today was “It looks like we are either moving in or moving out.” The good news and the bad news is that Thanksgiving is canceled this year so there’s no deadline to have all this under control.

Some days it’s okay and I’m energized to get stuff done. Some days I would just like to stay in bed with the covers pulled up over my eyes.

Yeah. Kind of like 2020. Is it over yet?

I know this blog is supposed to be about the cottage…but we haven’t been spending much time there of late. We’ve been trying to plant the sign in the yard of the city house. And until you sell a house, I don’t think anyone has a clue how much Time, Intensity, Money, and Energy is expended on a house that you are leaving…

It is emotionally (and financially) draining. Unless, of course, the house you live in is perfect, in which case you just sign on with the realtor, la di da. No worries about

that imperfect room you just lived with,

the plumber who never gave you the inspection paperwork for the new sewer system he put in,

the basement ceiling tile that looks moldy and might be made of asbestos tile, (thankfully, it isn’t!)

the tree in the backyard that you hope doesn’t fall on the power lines while you’re waiting for the tree guy to show up, or

all Mr.H.C’s junk — never mind about mine; it isn’t junk.

Lately I’ve been cleaning up and painting my old sewing room in the city house.

It was just my sewing room, crafting room, storage room, so the coordinating yellow country wallpaper put over masonite (probably in the seventies) uh, you know, didn’t matter to me. I didn’t care about the fluorescent light in the ceiling; it was good for working. The faded teal carpet didn’t matter either. Bleach spills? Paint stains? No matter.

Apparently it will matter to potential buyers.

So I was tasked with turning it into a charming little attic bedroom for a child. Or a garret for an angst-filled teenaged poet. Or another sewing room for a mom who just wants some time alone in a freshly cleaned and painted space.

I used oil-based primer over the wallpaper, and then painted the whole room creamy white. I guess it will be up to the new owner to give it personality with color. I couldn’t imagine that the carpet would clean up, but I rented an R2D2-look-alike carpet cleaner and used my new favorite product to clean the carpet. It looks good, which is also good for the pocketbook.

attic bedroom

And the wonderful new product? Folex.

Sister Nancy told me about it several years ago when she was regularly cleaning up after a new puppy. I’ve had a bottle forever, because it goes a long way, unless you are pouring it into R2D2…

At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, I Love The Stuff! It is a miracle cleaner. Non-toxic, no smell, rub it in with your fingers if you want, and watch the stain on your carpet disappear! It’s amazing. It actually works better this way, than it does diluted in the rug machine. I did go around the entire edge of the carpet with my spray bottle and a rag. The edge of the carpet, which was black, is now bluish green again. (Folex has not paid me for this blog — they don’t even know I exist.) Although I should probably write them — in the past three weeks I’ve bought six bottles. It costs $5.78 at Home Depot.

That’s $34.68 + $30 to rent the carpet cleaner. I also cleaned the carpet in the master bedroom as well, and we couldn’t have bought new carpet for two bedrooms for $64. And believe me, that was a worry!

And just to prove to you, it isn’t a fluke, here is the downstairs rug that I spot-cleaned:

And now, I have to go tear down moldy ceiling tiles in the basement and secretly throw away some of Mr. H.C’s junk in the bottom of a new garbage bag. Anyone want a vintage cigarette holder/music box that Uncle John brought back from London?
vintage cigarette holder music box