Cleaning & Organizing
It’s Tool Time
We’re asked pretty regularly for a list of our must-have tools and while we’re sure we’re forgetting something, here’s a rundown of our all-time favorites (most of which we store in the kitchen cabinet to the left of the stove- yes, we know we’re weird).
- Hammer and crowbar (no explanation required)
- Flat head screwdriver (for using with screws but also with a hammer as a makeshift chisel to pop off baseboards and trim)
- Tape measure (we have a huge beat up old Stanley one that we love)
- Phillips head screwdriver (another self-explanatory item)
- Plumber’s Putty, Liquid Nails and plumber’s tape (three major problem solvers that are always nice to have on hand)
- Box cutter, Exacto knife, straight razors (for everything from cutting vinyl tile to scraping paint off of a window or mirror)
- Channel lock pliers (we have a big one and a small one- they’re amazing for turning old rusted believed-to-be-unturnable nuts and bolts)
- Wrenches of all sizes (although we usually reach for the channel lock first since it’s such an all star)
- Needle nosed pliers (good for detail work and also handy since they have the wire cutting thing in the middle of the… uh, nose? mouth?)
- Level (because wonky is never a good look)
- Cordless drill (we have a little one for smaller jobs and a big manly battery operated one for the major stuff)
- Sandpaper (we like our electric sander but use regular old sandpaper and elbow grease far more- and we haven’t found sanding blocks that we like better than cheap sheets of sandpaper, so we stick to those… and save a few bucks while we’re at it).
- Caulk, a caulk gun, spackle and a putty knife (because it’s all about fixing those holes and cracks before painting- remember paint magnifies flaws instead of hiding them)
- Painter’s tape, high quality angled paint brushes (we love this one), paint trays, a roller extension rod, and high quality not-foam rollers (foam riles up paint and leaves you with more bubbles than the good quality wool and poly ones)
- An assortment of nails and screws (these are just things you should always have on stand-by so you don’t have to drive to Lowe’s or Home Depot fifty times per project thereby looking lame to the people at the cash register- we speak from experience here)
So there it is. A handy breakdown of our favorite tools. And since we know we’re forgetting something (or have yet to discover some life-changing tool) definitely let us know what you can’t live without when it comes to getting ‘er done.
Ask Almost-Doctor Dan: Coke Cleaning
As we mentioned a little while ago, we got to meet up with Almost-Doctor Dan on our recent whirlwind trip to New York and were once again able to pick his giant brain.
We asked him if he had any more home-related tips that might be of use to our readers and he thought for about a nano-second before spitting out this brilliant solution: cleaning old rusty tools with a common household item. That item, you ask? Well, it’s none other than some good ‘ol thirst-quenching Coca-Cola. Here’s what Almost Doctor Dan has to say on the subject:
To clean old rusty tools with Coke, submerge the tools in a tub or bowl of Coca-Cola overnight (not sure if Diet Coke or Pepsi will work – best to stick with original Coke). If you can still see rust, leave them for a few more days. Rinse them thoroughly, let them dry, and oil them if necessary to prevent future rusting. This works because Coca-Cola is loaded with phosphoric acid, which dissolves both iron and iron oxide (rust), but dissolves the iron oxide much more quickly. If you left the tools in there for months and months you would probably see significant dissolution (corrosion) of the steel, but for just a few days this isn’t a problem. For those who may be scared to drink Coca-Cola after learning this, just know that the contents of a healthy stomach are about 100 times more acidic than Coca-Cola. You aren’t harming your digestive system by ingesting Coke or any other dilute acid (i.e. vinegar, citrus juice), although they can be harmful to your teeth and esophagus. Of course Coke isn’t the healthiest beverage for those watching their waistline, so submerging your tools in it might just be the best way to use it.
So there you have it, a simple way to get rid of pesky rust and keep your tools in tip top shape. We know we’ll be breaking out some Coke whenever ours are looking a bit worse for wear, and you can’t beat the fifty-cents-a-can cost! And heck, it could also work for rusty metal candlesticks, vases and other decorative objects. Good to know. But what about you guys? Any other household items that you use to keep things clean or otherwise functional in your home sweet home? Do tell.
What makes Almost-Doctor Dan the smartest guy we know? Learn more about our resident braniac (and my little brother) right here.
Tackled Together: The Garage
Ok, so maybe our messy garage wasn’t disastrous enough for you people, but we did discover several new species of spiders in there… and Sherry was “attacked” by a mouse in the cleaning process (it ran over her feet- yes, both of them- but her shrieking made it seem much more vicious). No matter the scale of our mess, it was very satisfying to spend an hour on Saturday morning just purging, sweeping and rearranging for a totally cleared out and organized end product. In case you were wondering what the process looked like, here’s a fun little time lapse video that we made of our big garage clean-up (you can watch it below from Vimeo or over here on YouTube):
As for how we shot the time lapse, it was just a simple set-up using our newly refurbished MacBook’s built-in iSight camera and a downloadable program called Gawker. Then, thanks to the slope of our driveway, we just put the computer on a box (of which we had plenty) and hit record. The whole thing looked like this:
But back to tackling the garage. It was pretty much just a simple cleaning effort this time around. We share your dreams of someday implementing a few stellar organization systems (nothing excites us like a wall of built in cabinetry and a tool-riddled peg board) but we realized during last year’s clean-up that we just don’t have enough stuff to warrant anything major yet. Maybe once we’ve got kids and have accumulated all sorts of frisbees, basketballs, and camping gear we’ll find ourselves excitedly installing an intricate shelving or cabinetry system. But for now we were just be happy to rid our bike seats of cobwebs and put an end to the cardboard box convention that took place where our car could have otherwise been living.
As you may have noticed on the video, we used the tried & true process of moving everything out and creating three groups: 1) trash, 2) recycle/donate and 3) keep. Then once the garage was empty we broke out the brooms to sweep out all the leaves and remove all the remaining cobwebs. Afterwards the “keep” stuff got moved back in (with a more orderly & intentional arrangement this time – garden tools with garden tools, paint with paint, etc). Storing like objects together always makes it easier to find things and creates zones like “paints & stains” (which are housed on the tall tiered shelf) and “rakes & shovels” (which now hang together in a row on wall hooks).
Hopefully we’ll keep the garage looking this way for a while, but then again, we probably said that last year so only time will tell. It seems that our weakness lies in the fact that we’re not always perfect about cleaning up the remnants of past projects. In fact, the clean-up process was a bit of a walk down memory lane. Just check out some of the “artifacts” that we rediscovered on Saturday morning:
- Two catering buckets that The Nest’s photo crew ordered (now used for carwashing)
- A cast iron sink from our old kitchen, which we finally Freecycled yesterday
- Painted pots from an R Home photoshoot, one of which I clumsily kicked over
- Boxes from our recent mattress delivery…
- … nesting in a box from our new patio lounge chairs
- An old metal firepit that got rusty and was replaced by our new DIY stone firepit
- Sticky scraps of balloon from our failed string lantern project for the front porch
But enough about our clean-up, we’re eager to hear more about YOUR weekend projects. We’ve already received a few great before and (much tidier) afters by email, so we’d love if everyone could share links to their pics in the comment section of this post so that we can all marvel at the weekend projects that were accomplished (photos can be uploaded to photo sharing sites like flickr, kodak and shuttefly and linked to for all to see). Thanks again for tackling this project with us! We’ll have to do it again sometime…
Time lapse video music courtesy of MoOt.
Closet Crashing: Our Very Own Digs
Back when we shared how we organized just about everything in our house there were a number of requests to see how we kept our clothing in check, so we’re back to crash our very own closets and share all the dirty details. The closest I got to pulling back the curtain was revealing how I keep my jewelry organized in a ceramic egg crate a while back:
But there’s a lot more than jewelry in that big Ikea wardrobe…
On my side of the bed, the wardrobe has two top shelves, a hanging bar, a shelf under the hanging bar with fabric boxes (full of socks, underwear, swimsuits, and all the other things that I like to keep wrangled in their own cubbies), and four more shelves below (one for jeans, one for pajamas and two for shoe storage.
One little trick I learned was that turning each set of shoes in the opposite direction somehow magically makes room for one more pair of shoes per shelf (since the front of each pair of shoes is wider than the back, alternating directions steals a bit of space with each pair you add).
And as for those fabric bins, here’s a better angle to check out my socks, bras and underwear. Good thing almost everything I wear is black so you can’t see much detail here…
I also mentioned that I had two top shelves above the hanging bar, one that I use for folded fabric storage (it’s kind of like clothing, right?) and the other that I use to house the purses that I’m not currently carrying (I stuff them with balled up paper bags to help them keep their shape and “sit” on the shelf) and a few rolled up scarves. Oh and matching hangers are one of the easiest ways (and cheapest- they’re super inexpensive in bulk at Ikea) to make your closet look like a little boutique- plus they keep clothes from getting all stretched out like they do with skinny plastic or wire hangers.
So that’s my side, now it’s time for J’s. His also has a hanging bar with two shelves above it, but instead of having five shelves below it he has one followed by three pull-out drawers and one more shelf on the bottom for shoes. And while my hanging bar is full of mostly black tops, John’s is full of colorful collared work shirts (since he has an entire drawer devoted to t-shirts and more casual weekend stuff).
John also uses his big shelf under the hanging bar to store jeans while he houses all of his socks, white undershirts, and boxers in one of the pull out drawers. The greatest thing about bringing in the Ikea wardrobes was that we could each customize them to work for us individually (for example, John’s hanging bar is about a foot taller than mine since I’m 5’2″ and he’s 6′). Oh and you may notice that John has more jeans than me. I’m crazy about keeping things simple, even when it comes to clothes, so I like to have just a few no-fail pieces that I can grab without confusion or internal debate. Weird, huh? I know.
Here you can see John’s awesome pull out drawers in all their glory. My wardrobe is actually a few inches narrower than John’s (our back window is off-center, so we used the wardrobes and some curtains on the back wall to make it things appear more symmetrical) which explains why his accommodated drawers while mine only came with the option for shelves (certain sizes are “standard” and have more options).
And while John might have more jeans than I do, I definitely win when it comes to shoes. I think because I keep my wardrobe pretty simple (mainly black and sometimes a pop of coral or turquoise) I use fun shoes and dangly earrings to keep things interesting. At least that’s what I tell myself to keep from feeling guilty about my abundant footwear collection. Thank goodness we still have the original closet that came with the room (can you believe two people were supposed to survive with just this in the master bedroom?) for my overflow shoes, John’s suits, my dresses, and some out of season sweaters.
We even inherited some old nails in the side of the closet, which actually serve a great function- wrangling some necklaces that don’t fit into the egg crate in my wardrobe. They’re more function than form, but replacing them with decorative hooks or knobs from Anthropologie could pretty things up in a flash.
This closet also came with two stacked wire shoe racks (it’s like our house knew I was coming!) which are super functional when it comes to storing three times the amount of shoes thanks to more usable vertical space. And you’ll notice that I didn’t use my little alternating-directions-with-my-shoes trick here, because I actually have room to spare in this closet. That, my friends, is restraint (although I did see some cute little green sandals at Target…).
And on the subject of closets, we just couldn’t forget our guest bedroom closet…. because it’s a little bedroom for Burger! Of course we never close the door when he’s in it and we remove his crate when guests come (the fact that we have an empty closet full of wooden hangers makes our little spare bedroom feel a bit more posh- it’s the little things, right?).
So there you have it. We’ve officially been closet crashed. We hope you guys enjoyed our little peek behind the curtain. And of course we’d love to know your closet tips and tricks. How do you make the most of your clothing storage? Any closet makeovers on the horizon? Do tell!
Wanna know how those big Ikea built-ins on either side of the bed came to be? Here’s the whole story.
