Design Challenge: January Cure 2020 | Week Two Recap

Has it really only been two weeks? We’re more than midway through January, and I’m elbows deep in the cure. Do you know that stage of cleaning where everything looks way worse before it gets better? Well, I’m hoping that’s what this is because I’m ready for the looking better part to get here, especially because of day nine. What happens on day nine, you ask? Well, that’s the day I invited a bunch of people to come over in a few short weeks.

Day Six

Take a mini-meditation and choose a project. After the marathon that was floor cleaning (and led me to re-arrange half the furniture in my house), I was relieved for an assignment where I just had to sit quietly for a bit. There is only one room of the house where I can * sometimes * retreat quietly for a minute to catch my breath where no one can find me. The bathroom. Unfortunately, the bathroom in its current state isn’t much of a retreat. In fact, I feel a bit overwhelmed nearly every time I set foot in it. Not because we have yet to retrofit a shower as there is only a clawfoot tub (we have to walk outside and into the guest suite to shower). Not even because there is no reliable way of making warm water in the sink- it’s either “hot” or “cold,” so I turn on the hot water, wait a beat, then race to wash my hands before it goes from cold to scalding. Nope, it’s because it is the only room we have yet to paint (ignoring the entire guest suite), and the swatched colors on the walls feel as though they’re mocking both my indecision and inability to complete a task. So my project for this cure is to paint the bathroom finally. If I hate it, I can always repaint it later, but I’m ready to commit and get some color- any color, up on those walls.

Day Seven

Thirty minute closet cleanout. After spending the better part of a year in this home, we’re finally getting a proper closet system installed this week and need to clean out our current master closet and prep the space for install. While it’s going to take a lot longer than 30 minutes to accomplish, I’m finding that breaking up the task into smaller chunks of time is making it feel much more achievable and less overwhelming. It’s nearly impossible for us to take on a task like that all at once with two small kids at home so it’s a nice reminder that you can actually accomplish something in shorter periods of time and that it’s ok to walk away from a project and come back to it later.

Day Eight

Find and frame some art. This one is pretty easy. I have a print that’s been taped up in the kitchen for the past month that I need to pick up a frame for on my next Target run and some art from my daughter’s old nursery that I’m incorporating into the kids’ new shared room.

Day Nine

Plan a get-together. I figured that I would kill two birds with one stone with this one and host a clothing swap for my local mom’s group. This way I can help responsibly clear some items from my outbox (for more tips on how to responsibly purge check out my post here) and host a get together with some of my favorite people in my (hopefully) freshly cleaned up digs.

Day Ten

Flowers and kitchen cleaning. I got a head start on this one by cleaning out the fridge earlier this week. They encourage you to choose either the “outside” track of cleaning up the visible part of your kitchen or “inside” by cleaning out and organizing your cabinets. I went with the inside because, honestly, I think the overstuffed cabinets account for most of the clutter spilling out onto the countertops. If I can create more storage space, it should create more of a long term impact on both how the kitchen looks and functions. As for my weekly treat, last week I picked up a new plant friend, so this week I think I’ll pick up some flowers instead.

If you’re just tuning in I’m following along with Apartment Therapy’s January Cure this month and blogging the process. You can find week one here.