Deep cleaning/painting for the holidays

[busymama77]

Is this something that you do in your home? I find it to be more and more common in the area that I live in and even my own mother is doing it. She's says it's to get ready for the holidays, but why? She's painted her fireplace, put a new mantel, doing this and that.... Heck, I just want my house to be clean. That's enough for me!

[confustication]

If I feel really ambitious, I actually do want to paint... I have some spots that really need to be fixed up and a fresh coat of paint would be a great lift.

Maybe I can bake cookies and invite friends over- as they walk in the door I'll hand them a paintbrush. :P

[ChristyMarie]

Well if I am doing anything around the house I want it done before the holiday/entertaining season begins. I'm still painting my kitchen and it needs to be finished before all that stuff starts.

I do a deep cleaning of glass items but that is because I throw a martini party in November and the martini glasses are on display all year. So I take those down and hand wash them all before the party. Then, since that clears up so much shelf space...(see where this is going?)...I might as well take all the glass vases in the library and clean those, really clean all the shelves (instead of just dusting around everything) and I clean the chandelier in that room at the same time.

ETA: the chandelier in the entry way will also get cleaned then because we have to get the mega ladder out to put the huge martini glass on the display area above the front door.

[green_momma2007]

Yes, I'm doing a major house declutter and cleaning. It's coming along nicely.

[bananahands]

I always end up doing some major painting project right before the holidays, and it drives my husband crazy. The prospect of houseguests provides just the right incentive for me to get moving on things I've neglected the rest of the year. My husband just thinks it adds to the chaos. It does, of course, but in the end I'm happy I did it!

[homemademom]

I'm cleaning and we'll be painting, too. It's not a regular holiday tradition or anything, I just told my dh that I didn't feel like decorating for Christmas if the house looked bad. That's my deadline. Plus the baby's due after that.

[OkiMom]

Its not tradition but we are doing a lot of household cleaning and some painting (when they painted before we moved in they didn't use the right type of paint on the doors and now its peeling really bad). Thats if we find out we are staying here. Im due in Feb and want the house clean/organized when the baby comes so I feel better about taking time off of cleaning.

[JD5351]

We bought our house in May, and are having Thanksgiving here this year. A lot of my family hasn't seen the house yet, so I will do a deep clean, and I'd LIKE to get the guest bedroom and master bedroom painted. The house was built in 1997 and both rooms are still in original builder white paint, and while it's not awful looking, it definately could use a facelift.

As far as cleaning, I want to wipe down the walls and clean the windows really well. Steam the carpets and get things organized. I've got a few weeks to get it done.

[wombatclay]

I think a lot of people use holiday planning guides that include deep cleaning/house projects. I know there is one that crops up on mdc each year that goes through the house finishing projects (like painting, or deep cleaning, or replacing broken fixtures) while also helping organize gift buying, food prep, cookie exchanges, and other seasonal stuff like that. I think it actually starts two or three months before the winter holidays?

Ahhh... here it is: http://christmas.organizedhome.com/holiday-plans (the "Holiday Grand Plan" is the one I see each year, and I've sort-of kind-of tried to keep up with it in the past. It made a great "prepare house for sale" guide actually.)

[Juvysen]

I do the holiday grandplan... but mostly because it's well laid out/scheduled. It was also well timed during my pregnancy last year. I didn't do spring cleaning last year b/c i just had a baby so I'm doing the grandplan again this year... though I'm having a hard time doing as deep a clean as I did last year b/c I'm chasing a baby much of the time.

I'd love to paint, too, when I do it - mostly b/c the furniture is all out from the wall, anyway - but we never get around to it. *sigh*

[JD5351]

Go me!

I posted above that I wanted to get my guest bedroom painted. (And the master bedroom.) Well, I got started on the guest bedroom. I found some "oops" paint on sale at Walmart for $6.00...A pretty light green..The label says "marzipan" but I'm not sure if that's the real color..lol The room is oddly shaped..Not 4 walls...It's like a weird hexagon type shape. So I did the section with the door which is 2 sections, then one other large section. Tomorrow I want to do the wall with the window and the wall with the closet. Then Thursday I will move the bed to the other side so I can do the last big wall. I bid on a cute wall decal on E-bay that says "Begin Each Day With a Smile". Hope I win it. We have some really pretty artwork which I will finally hang in there once it's all done. Then I will clean the carpet and wash the bedding this weekend. I'm not sure I'll get the master bedroom done by Thanksgiving, but maybe Christmas.

[Eliotsmum]

Originally Posted by JD5351

Go me!

I posted above that I wanted to get my guest bedroom painted. (And the master bedroom.) Well, I got started on the guest bedroom.

That's awesome! A bargain and a beginning!

I am in the midst of a serious decluttering project (moving to a smaller house, simplifying life). I've been plugging away every day for weeks now. My in-laws are coming over for Christmas and the new house will be clean, calm and pretty by then if it kills me!

[ASusan]

DH grew up in a family/culture where the entire household was turned over on Christmas eve. Re-arrange the furniture, new curtains, total deep-clean, new paint might have been in the mix. He remembers waking up on Christmas morning to a brand-new house. I'm not sure how accurate his childhood memories are - what he describes doesn't seem possible in one evening, given that there are a lot of specialty foods prepared for Christmas as well. But, we try it in our house, although I try for doing it over weeks - between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

[wholewheatchick]

I deep-cleaned the main part of the house 2 weeks ago; washed the curtains there, too. REALLY washed all the windows, inside and out, this week. Spot painted last weekend, inc. completely repainting the inside of the front door.

But I admit that that is all because we are replacing windows, and just generally getting the end of our big "fix up the house list." We bought this house in Feb. and it has been nothing but work since then (tiling, painting, carpeting, landscaping, roofing, etc.) but we are almost done! Which fits in smoothly with the baby being due right around Christmas.

I like the idea of the Christmas grand plan though. I can see how it would be so nice to start the new year with a fresh house!

[StephandOwen]

Originally Posted by wombatclay

Ahhh... here it is: http://christmas.organizedhome.com/holiday-plans (the "Holiday Grand Plan" is the one I see each year, and I've sort-of kind-of tried to keep up with it in the past. It made a great "prepare house for sale" guide actually.)

AWESOME! Thanks! I've printed off a bunch of their stuff and will adapt it to the time frame I have to work with (since I'm starting now instead of in August!).

If this works and I have a clean and de-cluttered house at the end of December I will be thrilled! We're going on our wedding/honeymoon right after Christmas so if we can come back in the new year to a clean, organized house I will be in heaven

[bezark]

We also bought our house in May and I've been working like mad in order to have it all done by Thanksgiving. We're hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. It's our first time and it'll be the first time that many people have seen our house, at least since we moved in, so I really want it to look nice.
We got a new dining room table, hutch, china and kitchen island in preparation for for the feast (all second-hand), and I just finished painting the last room last weekend. We're getting a large wardrobe for the foyer next weekend, and from here on out I'll be focusing on deep cleaning and making the house feel cozy.
I may repaint the guest bath if I have time.

Holiday guests have been a great motivator for me to get the house done and not draw out the process.

[BunnySlippers]

'We can't decorate until the house is clean' is my mantra
Dd hates it, but oh well.

I don't touch up paint specifically for holidays, but I do try and stay on top of it year round.

[clutterwarrior]

Originally Posted by homemademom

I just told my dh that I didn't feel like decorating for Christmas if the house looked bad.

I had to laugh imagining if I said that to my DH...his response would be a look of incredulity, a snort of derision, and his reply would be "as if I care whether the house is decorated or not!" He has no interest in Christmas and would rather we skipped it every year.