Ten Hours and Staging Begins...

I set the clock for 9:30 am, 3 hours later than usual, a ridiculous time to start the day. Especially if you ask the dogs who were locked in the office, holding their four legs tightly together. At 8 am I turned off the alarm, lying there enjoying seeing sunlight coming through the window and thinking about getting up, til I fell back asleep for another 1 1/2 hours. Finally at 9:30 am the cat stood up in the bed and announced it was time to begin the day - Cheerio! Snap, snap! Get up human!

Like race horses out of the chute - we're off! Thursday was 'D-Day'. The day when I began, in earnest, to completely declutter, then clean, then stage every room of this house.

I have a plan - and I'm sticking to it.

Almost two years ago we started getting this house ready to list. Seriously. It's hard to believe we're now down to less than two months before it goes on the market. The realtor comes a week from tomorrow and we want it as close to ready as it can be. What started with a five page spreadsheet has been whittled down to a mere two pages. Some items can't be cleared off til the weather improves - mulching the beds, planting frost-friendly flowers, but most of the work can be done now, in the next week.

I started today with the lower level of the house - the storage room, rec room and my craft room. Mop all floors, clear out all clutter (shipping boxes, extra junk that has piled up), wash down the freezer and extra fridge, vacuum the craft room and put away all projects that are in the process. If they haven't gotten done by now, they're going to have to wait for a move south before I have time for them.

Here's my cleaning caddy - it's handy when you have a multi-level house. Glasses from Kmart so I can see the dirt around places like bathroom faucets, etc. And socks with nubby things on them so I don't slip and fall (note to Mom and Barb, who has totally inspired me to get busy cleaning with all she's been busy doing!). There's one of those Magic Erasers in there - where were they when our kids were scribbling on walls? An old toothbrush to get at little places, and lots of cheap washrags that I use just for cleaning.

I read a tip on Pleasant View Schoolhouse's blog, at least a year ago, to add Peppermint oil to your mop water - what a difference it makes. (It's the little brown bottle in my cleaning caddy - one drop does it.) The whole room smells wonderful afterwards! My Dyson animal - the best thing I ever bought at Bed, Bath and Beyond and they honored the 20% off coupon (their price was the same as Target and Lowes but then I saved 20%!).

The storage room 'before'. Not bad but not great either.

This end looked even worse. I seem to accumulate boxes and jars and bags. Everybody has a bit of a clutterbug in them I guess.

This is supposed to be the gift wrapping center. Good luck with that! Covered with junk.

And apparently filthy. Simple green pulled this off of it. Gross.

So much better now. Nice little spot for when the dogs are grounded. The floor is clean, the fridge is clean, the gift wrap spot is clean and the boxes, bags and jars are outside in the trash.

The back of the car is full of stuff going to Goodwill too. Gee, some lady is going to like this room I think!

My sewing / quilting room was a bit of a mess. I seriously only clean it about once a year. I'm not very neat when I'm being creative, unfortunately.

Much better - looks like a pleasant place to work and play now. I sucked up lots of spiderwebs in here.

So tomorrow I'll tackle the rec room, and it'll probably take most of the day, but that'll be one whole floor down and only two to go.

We're taking Sunday off to celebrate Valentine's a bit late, going to see Fiddler on the Roof, then I'll be back at it Monday, on the main floor. It's time to put away the snow village, then there are windows to wash, cupboard doors, polish and shine furniture, and completely clean out the laundry room. That involves boxing up and shipping all my scrapbook supplies south. Scrapbooking will get done right after all those not finished quilting projects. I'm thinking scrapbooking will get done while Manly is out on the lake catching bass.

Finally, upstairs to the five bedrooms and two bathrooms. I've got one window treatment to put up, windows to clean, screens to remove to let the light in, piles of books, etc. to put away.

So I'll be busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger between now and then. I'll let you all know how it goes, take some photos as I go, and maybe even show the after photos, asking what you all think. Extra eyes are helpful - sometimes we get so used to seeing our own stuff, we don't notice it anymore. I still remember touring a house (that we ended up buying) and opening the master bedroom closet door. There hung the biggest bra I had ever seen! Twenty years later that image is still with me, and I sure don't want that sort of thing happening. Not that I have that situation myself - but you get the drift.

Spring is just around the corner - surely I'm not the only one busy staging a house to put it on the market. Somebody out there tell me you're up to your ears with it too - misery loves company!