Extreme House Declutter, Organization & Updates

I’ve been doing the Not So Scary party for 8-9 years, and over time, I’ve accumulated so many pieces of Halloween decor. It’s time to go through all of my Halloween bins, donate & purge some things, wipe down and clean out the bins. I wanted to get it done before Halloween and include it as part of my Summerween traditions going forward. I’m also going to deep clean & declutter the house, and share some exciting updates along the way!

Let’s get to cleaning!

I started with ten bins in the house, and ten more in the garage. I wanted to condense it all, and I’ll just be honest as to why. It’s not to have less, it’s so I can buy new stuff. We’re going to go shopping since a lot of my current halloween decor doesn’t fit the vibe of our new house.

I pulled everything out of my bins and put it on the floor. As I emptied each one, I wiped it down. I washed all of the pillows and blankets, because ew. They were getting musty from being in the bins! Once I had everything out, I decided what I wanted to keep, and put everything else to the side. Then, I re-organized everything I wanted to keep into categories, and packed them back into the bins. It took a couple of days to get through it all.

I didn’t end up combining things like I thought I would. I emptied out a couple of bins, and all the other ones are about half full. Pro tip: put anything that is a soap or liquid into a Ziploc bag, or toss it. Don’t put it in your bins on its own. Candles should also go into a Ziploc, because they attract moisture, and the scents can get into the pillows and other things in the bins. Andre helped me put all of the bins back in the garage once they were all packed up. Currently, we just keep the bins stacked in the garage, but we are planning on creating some shelving for them at some point.

Now, I’d love to take you through the house and give some updates!

First, we ripped up the carpets in the basement. Here’s your daily reminder: it’s okay to make mistakes. Andre and I feel like we got duped with the carpet we had installed when we moved in. While we were buying carpet for the stairs, we figured it would be easy to go ahead and get carpet for the basement at the same time. We had asked for something low maintenance that was good for pets, but what was recommended to us was not it. If you even looked at the carpet wrong, it would stain. If our dog Carl had an accident, the carpet would pill when you tried to clean it, and we could not get it clean. We ended up getting carpet very similar to what we had in our old house. It’s a tighter knit, and a lot more forgiving than the old carpet. I’m really happy with it!

We’re also going to redo the lights in the basement. They keep burning out because they’re regular halogen bulbs, so we’re going to get some LED bulbs instead. One section will be all colored hue lights, which will go with the hue lights behind the TV. Having the TV in the corner is not working for us, so we want to get a bigger TV, and mount it on the wall. We will move the couch and coffee table that are in there, and instead get two chairs and a small table to face the TV. We really want to create a gaming area, because somehow I got into gaming with my husband. I don’t know who we are, but it’s very peaceful and therapeutic!

When we first moved in, we got a few pieces of furniture from Wayfair. We love them, but they were very much temporary holds, just to have furniture since we didn’t have any. We’re getting stuff and then figuring it out as we go. We’re very happy with it and enjoying the process along the way!

Heading upstairs, we’ve also done some work on the guest room, and it’s adorable. I got two really cute bookshelves that should be delivered in a couple of days, and I got some sweet finds from Homegoods! I found two beautiful nightstands there for $150 each. That’s cheaper than Ikea! Pretty good, right?! I also found a padded bench that I put at a rustic writing desk to make a little getting ready area for myself.

Speaking of getting ready, I get asked all the time if I’m still using the same skincare. It’s exactly one year later, and I have stuck to it! Yes, the price is steep. However, I realized I had been purchasing random products, where I’d spend $60 here, $120 here, etc… and I wasn’t using any of it. I thought, “what if I just stick to three things?” I got rid of all my other skincare products, and I feel like my skin has never looked better!

First in my routine, I put on spot treatment, which got rid of my melasma. Next, I use eye cream that I pull all the way up and around into my eyebrow, because it’s been helping my eyebrows grow. The last step is the cream, which has SPF 50. Plus, all of the products are natural, which I love! I believe in it so much that I got some for my mother, and she’s also obsessed!

All of that to say, purge out all of your excess. I just have a small shelf of makeup left and some clothes. If you’ve been following me for any amount of time, you know that I used to have a full beauty room and a huge closet, which is fine, but I kind of like living this way! Andre said, “sometimes the simplest is the best,” and we’re learning that. I think this is part of maturing. I’m so past living for who’s coming over, who might see the house, and if we might resell the house. Just live for your home and how you love it at that moment!

Onto the next few updates, my dad built us a little table out of three tree trunks that had grown together. He cut it straight across, and put epoxy on top so you can put down a glass of water and it won’t damage the table. It turned out so cute! In our bedroom, we want to take the ceiling fan out, put in wallpaper, and create a little reading corner. In our guest bathroom, the long-term plan is to knock out the wall that connects to our bathroom, so the entire space will become our bathroom. We only have guests about twice a year, so we don’t mind sharing the bathroom. There are so many plans!

Back down to the main floor, I’ve previously shared our plans to redo the kitchen. We’re going to extend the island into an “L” shape in the space where our dining table currently sits, and it will all become part of the kitchen. We’re also thinking about doing a little corner banquette and a coffee nook with benches along the wall. We cut down one tree, which I struggled with, but it let so much more light into the kitchen! In the foyer, we’re going to redo the lights, and get a huge mirror for the space. The downstairs powder room is also going to be redone. It’s going to be all green and very charming, so I’m very excited about that!

To give you an update on our garden, it’s doing smittenly! I just planted strawberries, so we’ll see how they turn out. The carrots are doing well, and the cucumbers are doing super well. My lettuce died, and the pumpkins are pumpkining. The DIY fountains I created are also thriving!

To end the day, I finished cleaning up the house before our friends arrived. I vacuumed the floors, unloaded the dishwasher, did the dishes in the sink, and wiped down the kitchen. You know it was a good cleaning day when the vacuum canister is almost full! It’s so satisfying.

With that, I think this is it for my Summerween series! I hope you enjoyed this very much behind the scenes house update/deep clean Summerween. It was a “get my life together” type of blog, which I loved. It was very therapeutic! If there is something you would like to see next on the blog, please drop your ideas in the comments!

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