The Black Bathroom

Our main floor bathroom is a cleaning nightmare.

Black sink.

Black countertop.

Black toilet.

Black tile floor.

Two mirrored walls - floor to ceiling.
(I know what you're thinking...and you're right!
There are six boys living in this house.
Only one of them is not potty trained,
but you wouldn't know it with a mirror right next to the toilet!)

It is shiny for about ten minutes after it is cleaned.

Today, however, the cupboards and drawers are clean.

That something will last for more than ten minutes.

The Laundry Room

Do you know how much stuff you can fit in a 6'x10' space?

Just look at this laundry room!

I even moved the washer and dryer out and cleaned underneath.

That's two-and-a-half years worth of guck.

I had to use this cute little tool to get the dryer vent back on properly.

He did a fine job!

I put everything away.

I organized every drawer and cupboard.

 Apparently, I even made a place for a couple of little boys to play.

Here is what I'm getting rid of.  

A bag of boy clothes, a bag of girl clothes, and a bag and a box for the D.I.

This something better stay done for a long, long time

because it took three days to finish!

The Kitchen - Day Four

While working on the laundry room today, I had to put away a stack of dish towels.

There wasn't quite enough room for all of them so I decided it was time to clean out some drawers.

Here are the befores and afters...

 I found a new home for all of the cookie cutters since I only use them once or twice a year.

Looks like I need to get rid of some measuring cups and spoons too.

 After moving all of the bathroom towels out, all of the kitchen ones fit.

 Cleaning this little contraption never crossed my mind before this blog.

Even things that hold cleaning things get dirty.

The Hall Closet

 I got a little help from the 9-year-old on this project.

He's home from school today.

He took everything out and made labels for the hooks.

I got to put it back together.

I don't love the wire shelves in this house so when we moved here, I moved the shelf up and got hooks for this closet.  The kids are much more likely to hang something on a hook than a hanger.

Before...

After...

We had lots of coats and shoes in there that aren't being used so I put them away.

 I even got these off of the floor and made a home for them...

The Storage Room

Welcome to my most favorite room in my house! 

I was more excited about this room than anything else when we moved here.

I haven't put away a lot of my great coupon deals in the storage room for a while.

 Today I labeled everything and put it in the proper place.

This something should stay done for quite a while with the exception of the cold cereal.

  That will be gone in the morning!

The Game Closet

These are after pictures of our game closet in the basement.  

It is a great use for the space under the stairs.  

This project has no before pictures because it was started before this blog.  

And the best part...I didn't clean it!!!  

The 9-year-old did and requested that I post it on my "Cleaning Blog."  

Didn't he do a great job?  

(If you'd seen it before, you'd totally agree!)

The Toy Cabinet

 I have a space like this on either side of my fireplace in the family room.

One side holds videos and DVDs and this side holds toys for the little ones.

When the family room gets cleaned, it ends up looking like this.

This before picture reminds me of an I Spy book.

Can you find the number 2, two farm animals, and the back of an Etch-a-Sketch?

I pulled everything out and washed the shelves and floor.

When I moved the bookshelf, I found evidence of something that needed to be taken care of with a little bit of steel wool.  All I could find at the store was steel wool soap pads.  

Try eating through that...I dare ya!

 Here is the after picture.

There's even room for the little ones in there now.

I have discovered something about doing this sort of project.

Sometimes the more visible jobs don't get all the attention they need.  

But if I was doing the noticeable jobs, nothing would stay done.

Right?