I'm a Cinderella...

So from the time I was a very little child I had to clean. I was the youngest of 7 kids and my family taught me how to clean the "right" way. I have learned so many tips and tricks that I thought I would start doing a few cleaning tips here. Let it begin -

The Kitchen!

I think this is the room you do the majority of the cleaning in just because it is used so much. I have a few tips to help get it clean without you doing the work.

1. To clean your microwave place lemon juice (if you have fresh lemon's use the juice of 1 and put the rest of the lemon in as well after it is squeezed. If you have bottled lemon juice use about 3 Tbs. ) in a microwave safe bowl and add 3/4 Cup water. Microwave for a good 3 or 4 Min's. Take the bowl out - be careful it will be hot!! Wipe with a cloth to remove all the gunk. Because of the steam it should wipe off with no problem. Plus you aren't using chemicals where you cook food so it is way better for you! You can also use vinegar but the lemon's make it smell so good!

2. Cleaning the stove-top. I have had black stoves in both my homes that I have lived in since being married. I hate how quickly they get dirty! It seems I am always cooking bacon right after I clean them too. Is that just me?? Anyways, the one thing I have found to get the gunk off and shine a stove in no time is vinegar and baking soda. Just sprinkle the stove top with baking soda and spray with vinegar. Let it stand for about 5 Min's and wipe. I clean with vinegar all the time because it disinfects and it is not filled with bad for you chemicals. It is also cheaper and works better than a lot of the products out there.

3. Stainless Steel - There is no way around this one. If you truly want a streak free and shiny stainless steel you MUST buy a specific for stainless steel cleaning product. I have tried everything else and nothing works quite like the one's made for it. I like the Weiman Stainless steel wipes.

4. Sink - It seems like every kitchen sink could always use a good scrub. Whether you have stainless or porcelain I recommend Bar Keepers Friend. It is pretty inexpensive and it does all the work for you. You just wet the sink, put the powder on, rub it in and let it sit. I just spray it down with my spray nozzle and give it a quick scrub with my dish brush and it is done it a matter of a minute of work. I also always like to put some lemon's down the garbage disposal so it smells nice.

5. Dishwasher - Yep it needs to be cleaned too! Once a month I run mine on empty until the bottom is filled with water then open it. Add 2 cups vinegar and finish the cycle. It does all the cleaning for you, and I promise it will keep your dishes looking better than ever!

Happy Cleaning!

The Desk

I found this solid wood desk on Craigslist for $75 (chair included). I searched all over for one that had the lines that I wanted and I really wanted the legs of the desk to have some character. Once this one was found I knew it was a keeper. After talking the guy down from $125 to $75 I was on my way home to start painting. I did a very light sanding on some area's that were scratched and then I primed with the Kilz spray primer. After that was dry I spray painted with Rustoleum's Heirloom White. After each coat I sanded it lightly, wiped it down and painted again. I did 3 coats for an even finish. I wish I would have sealed this since it gets a lot of use but still haven't done it. I painted the chair a sea foam color that I found at Joanne's and recovered the chair in some fabric that makes me happy! I love it!

Before

After - I have re-painted the hardware a dark bronze color that I love. I will have to do an update soon.

Washer and Dryer Stand

I have always wanted pedestal's for my washed and dryer, for the added storage and so I wouldn't have to bend down so much when doing laundry. The problem is that the one's for my washer and dryer are $400!! There was no way I was going to spend that much so when I saw the brilliant stand that Sausha built at Show and Tell, I knew I had to make one. It didn't turn out as cute as Sausha's but I am in love with it!

I built a frame out of 2x4's and then trimmed everything out with MDF and added some decorative trim. I messed up a lot so I had to use a lot of wood filler. Next time I know how to do it much better! I actually built this before we moved into our new house so that we could have it moved with our washer and dryer on top already. Love it!! ( It always helps when you enlist your Dad and Daughter to help too!)

Subway Home Rules Art

I have had a canvas picture of tulips that Jason and I bought from ikea when we were first married. I never liked it but it always matched our house and was only $40 for a big piece of art. When we moved it almost didn't make the move with us, but I knew that I would eventually turn it into something special. Jason got me a Silhouette SD for Christmas (Which I told him I would not be waiting to open) So I got down to using it and created some home rules subway art for our dining room. It was A LOT of work but totally worth it. The whole project cost me $14 total since I already had the canvas to work with. You could do this project with out a cricut machine by using a big printout of what you want and some spray adhesive or contact paper and a exacto knife.

Here is the before. I then designed what I wanted on the computer so I had an idea of how it would all fit. Then I spray painted my canvas with just white primer (Rustoleum brand)

Next I had the task of printing all the words on vinyl and peeling them and putting them onto contact paper and then onto the canvas. I wasn't sure how they vinyl would adhere to the canvas. It did okay. It would work much better on wood. It was weird because the blue vinyl worked great, the tan was okay and the orange was barley hanging on to the canvas. ( I just used old vinyl in colors that I don't really use, but that came in a cheap pack.)

After all the letters were applied I spay painted everything with 2 coats of flat black Rustoleum paint, let it dry and then Brooke and I peeled all the letters off. I still can't decided if I want to antique it or not. I like that it is a little bit more bold and modern then the rest of my decor because it adds some fun. I love how it turned out, although I wish I had used a ruler when placing my letters on. Some of the sayings came out a bit crooked. Now we can remember the things we ought to be doing while eating our food and I don't have to look at the tulips anymore!

Pillows

I recently found some pillows I loved at Just another hang up and had to copy them. I just used her inspiration and then made my own pattern using the size pillows that I had. I just used the guide below for the size of my pillows and pieced the pillow pattern together in any way that I wanted. Then I made envelope inserts in the back. I love how these turned out. So cute! The flowers were made from using long strips of extra fabric, and I just knotted the end and then twisted it around to make the look of leaves and glued with a glue gun. It is super easy. These pillows are great for a beginner. I had never sewed a pillow before in my life and I am pretty pleased with how they came out.

I did these one's for downstairs with matching curtains. Not quite as in love as I thought I would be. I think it is a pattern overload. Oh well, you live and learn. By the way the cheapest place to by pillow inserts is Target you get a 2 pack of 18 x 18 for $4! Here is a guide for how big to make your pillows -

• Your square piece is the size of the pillow form plus 1" square. So if your pillow form is 14", your square piece of fabric should be 15" square.
• Your rectangle pieces are the same length as your square piece on the long edge. For the short edge, they are half your square piece plus 2.5". So, if your square piece is 15" square, half of that is 7.5" and plus 2.5" is 10", so your rectangles should be 10" x 15" each.

Brooke's $35 Furniture

We just moved into a new house and it has a very brown carpet. Brooke's Twin bed that we bought her is black and I had such a hard time finding some bedding that I liked that was girly that went with brown and black. So my solution...new furniture! We moved her twin trundle to our guest room, and then I began the search for a new bed for her. I finally found a solid mahogany twin bed with beautiful lines on Craigslist for $35! I acted fast and picked it up that night. With a little time and paint it is now so perfect. I love it! My mom also gave me a nightstand that was her and my dad's and I did a little magic on it. Here is Brooke's $35 furniture makeover.

Before

After - The old nightstand. It was pretty dinged up and had a veneer on it that was chipped off in some places. I fixed it up a little and spray painted it with a pretty pink color. I also took the doors off of it and just filled the holes and put a basket under instead. Te rug is from PBteen. It is what I designed the room around.

The bed. I didn't even sand this guy. I just primed it and painted it with Rustoleum's Heirloom White. I also spray painted the matte in the pic to match the little pops of pink. I still have a long dresser to do in that room. More updates to come once the room is finished.

Easy Cheap Chalk Board

I'm sure most of you have already seen something like this done, but it is so easy and usable I thought I would share mine. I picked up this frame at the Goodwill for $2.50 and with some leftover paint I made a chalk Board. I just removed the glass and sprayed it with the chalk board spray paint. Then I primed and painted the dinged up frame. There you have it. Easy and inexpensive. I also can't write with chalk because it gives me the heebee geebees so I bought a chalk pen that works great and works just like a pen. This project also works great if you add some vinyl to it. That's on my list of to do's.