A lot of DIY and decluttering!

This week I have been almost exclusively sorting, cleaning and decorating my office.  It’s been a whirlwind of DIY and decluttering! I have mentioned previously that we have decided to put the house on the market and plan to kick off with an open day. Well, there is no way I am letting a bunch of strangers walk around our house without it looking its best.

Cleaning and painting

The office needed doing more urgently than the other rooms in the house because we had a small leak to the roof over the winter, and it created some mould. We wouldn’t have known there was a leak until the window cleaner spotted it, so it had probably been going on for months. 

The room was pretty crammed, so it was a good opportunity to tackle it. There will always be a lot of stuff in there, as it is where I keep the things I sell online. However I have been going through it all over the past few months, getting rid of items that have been hanging around a while and sorting all the boxes. Some of them are now quite empty, so I plan to store some of the items that have been on my rail in those. The rail has gone and the room seems so much bigger as a result.

I painted the walls a pale cream and the woodwork white. It doesn’t look very different but is so much cleaner and brighter – much better! I still have to work through all the hanging stuff, which has been temporarily moved to the spare room. 

Decluttering

So, decluttering is going to be a theme over the coming months, as we go through each room cleaning and painting. It’s amazing just how much stuff accumulates in a relatively short time. 

My office is just the tip of the iceberg. The next room I am planning to tackle is the kitchen, and you know how much stuff is likely to be lurking in each of the cupboards and in the drawers too. 

I am going to use the same cream in the kitchen, and repaint the dresser. You may remember me doing it green a few years ago. Well, it is showing a lot of wear now and needs doing again. I have already bought a can of Frenchic sage green, so will use that to spruce it up.

We are going to be incredibly busy, but hope to put the house for sale at the end of June.

Growing our own

With all that’s going on indoors, there hasn’t been time for a great deal of work in the garden. Mr S has been keeping on top of the lawn cutting and has dug the veg patch. I have been nurturing my seedlings. The tomatoes are in large pots this year, the cucumbers are ready to go in and the peppers are coming along slowly. 

The runner beans are in and doing well too. However, we have abandoned any plans to sow seeds that won’t be ready this summer. There is no point in  sowing the purple sprouting broccoli, for example, as we probably won’t still be here to eat it when it’s ready.

Time management

I am still struggling with my energy levels post Covid. This means that I have had to accept that I just can’t do everything! If I am sorting the house, then I won’t have the time to list a lot on eBay too. I have therefore stopped sourcing, as it will just create more clutter if it is sitting around, rather than being listed and put away.

I have also reduced the number of videos I make on YouTube to one a week rather than two. Expect to see a lot of my DIY efforts on my channel in the next month though!

Attempting to get healthy

I am determined to get back on track with my health. The Covid cough is still going strong and, as I said, I am still experiencing quite a bit of fatigue. However, I am definitely starting to improve. 

I am keeping up with a gentle daily yoga practice, as this makes me feel so much better. Meal planning is super important, so that I can make sure we are eating really healthy food. 

Every day, I have at least one, usually two and occasionally three walks with Archie for some fresh air and exercise. That dog keeps me moving, that’s for sure. Sometimes I could just curl up and snooze on the sofa, but he has other ideas, but I always feel better for going out. 

We have plans for the weekend that don’t involve any DIY and decluttering though – I will let you know how we get on and what we did next week. See you then!