QUICK THINGS TO DO TODAY:
- Finalize Halloween costumes, put up decorations, or clean up after any parties you threw today or yesterday.
- Spot-clean your kitchen and bathroom floors. Or just use a few cleaning wipes on them. This will make them shine and make your weekend cleanup go faster.
- Done with the weekend’s laundry? It’s folded and put away? Bed linens changed?
- Make meal plans for the week ahead; create grocery list; shop as needed
- Is there room in your coat closet for actual coats? See if you need to declutter, get rid of unused coats, or move a vacuum to a different closet.
- Use your fragrance oil infuser, burn a candle, or spray your favorite home fragrance
TODAY’S PROJECT: Curio Cabinets
I own two curio cabinets. In both, I store wine glasses, martini glasses, teacups, dishes and keepsakes. Today I’m sorting out both cabinets and dusting. I generally do this twice a year – in Spring and in Fall. (I should dust them more often than that though!)
I’ll remove everything, including the glass shelves, and wash all the dishes and stemware – they’re all murky and dusty. I have to wash them by hand as they’re antiques or fragile fancy martini glasses, so they don’t ever go near a dishwasher.
I can’t move the curio cabinets by myself to vacuum under them, but I will reach as far behind them as I can with my vacuum attachment. I’ll clean the spiderwebby walls behind the cabinets, as far as I can reach, too.
In Spring I got rid of anything I could possibly get rid of, as each cabinet was looking cluttered. At this point I think everything in these cabinets is something I either use frequently for entertaining, or keepsakes I’m too sentimental about (like my great-aunt’s handmade decorated eggshells). Maybe after Christmas I’ll take another hard look and see if I actually used all my red dishes and goblets during the holiday entertaining season.
In the living room cabinet I have martini glasses, wine glasses, a china figurine of a witch I’ve had since I was a little girl, eggshells my aunt decorated, three or four amethyst glass vases, pink depression glass dessert dishes, a wacky art glass bowl I use to serve M&Ms or peanuts, and a few other miscellaneous pieces of glassware. Almost all need to be washed as dusting alone won’t help them. The glass shelves will be washed too, as well as the glass in the doors.
Perhaps I can bring myself to store away great-aunt’s handicrafts in my hope chest. (“Hope she doesn’t make any more.”)
I expect the project to take around an hour per cabinet. I’ll turn on the news in the kitchen so I can get updated from the nearby dining room. When I move to the living room, I’ll put on The Nightmare Before Christmas” to sing along with while I work.
LOVELY BLOGS: Chronically Vintage
I’m having so much fun exploring this massive blog of lovely vintage retro finds from the 1930s through 1950s. Jessica has been doing an amazing job of blogging every day – today is “Day 301 of Vintage 365.”
Recent posts I’ve enjoyed include Revlon’s Cinderella cosmetics ad from the 1940s, a couple pages of 1950s Halloween recipes, remembering The Addams Family, and a fabulous midcentury living room. I know I’ll be back to visit this blog often!
Link: http://www.chronicallyvintage.com/
LOVELY WEBSITES: Beautiful Libraries
Take a moment to explore this site full of lovely pics of rich people’s home libraries. Instead of envying them bitterly, it inspires me to go dust my existing cabinets, sort and enjoy the books I own in my humble abode.
Link: http://www.beautiful-libraries.com/
LOVELY LINKS FOR TODAY:
Baking Supplies Storage Organization (Love From the Oven)
Fall Foliage and Flowers (Design*Sponge)
5 Savory Quick Breads for Fall Baking (CHOW)
Healthy Halloween and Fall Favorites (Cooking Light)
Roasted Lemon Chutney (101 Cookbooks)
Home Office Bliss (Decorology)
Spooky and Playful: The Best Halloween Treats for 2011 (TheKitchn)