Chez Larsson

Upstairs Tool Kit

As I get (buy, thrift, make, find) new art it usually ends up on the mantlepiece for a while. This bumps the "older" pieces off and they in turn often end up on the art wall which keeps growing. We're now down on a level where even Mini and Bonus can enjoy it.

 
We have a garage full of toys tools but when I want to hang something I want to hang it "now" so we keep a small tool kit upstairs in the broom closet in the kitchen too.

The kit consists of two bread loaf tins with the very basic of tools; a small hammer, some small screwdrivers, a stapler, a staple remover, a couple of pliers, a set of allen keys, a knife and couple of more things.

 

Besides from the bread loaf tins there's also an ice cream container behind them with some other house hold basics: cable clips, tape and ties, furniture pads, staples and some nails and small screws. 

You wouldn't believe how many trips to the basement and garage this little kit saves me.  

Making a (Swedish) Bed

This post was, as is often the case, brought on by you guys. I keep getting comments and questions on how I make a bed or how beds are made in Sweden.

I obviously can't speak for all Swedes out there but I do sense that we make a simpler bed than the average American. I also know it's made differently from how it's (used to be?) made in Germany, at least from my experience of super thick and very short duvets at my relative's houses.

Anyway, when Martin and Wille were away after Christmas I took the opportunity to wash all the bedding in all the beds and took photos of when I made the one in the boatroom. For your viewing pleasure.

What you see above is the matress (covered in a washable stretch cotton cover). I have no idea what it's called in English but it's basically what we sleep on. I've had hernia comments before but I guess it's similar to US box springs?

Normally you would get a bedskirt that covers the matress and goes down the sides but I do my own version which you can check out more closely here.

On top of the bed skirt goes the overlay matress. This one is about 2 cm (3/4") thick but you can get thicker ones too. On the double bed upstairs and on Wille's bed they are about 5 cm ( 2") thick.

I use washable pads for the overlay matress. They are thin padded flat covers with elastics diagonally over the corners. I wash these about every second or third time I wash the sheets.

A flat sheet or fitted sheet goes over the top of the overlay mattress and cover.

The pillow is protected by a similar cover as the one that goes over the overlay mattress and again isn't washed everytime but maybe every second or third time. The pillow inside stays fresher with this on.

A regular cotton pillowcase goes over the cover. Ah, the freshness of clean sheets makes me want to go to bed right now.

Pillow(s) gets plonked on the bed, as many as you like but Martin just wants one.

Comforter or duvet in cover goes on top. I like to fold in the sides for neatness. Martin doesn't like down (too warm) which is why his bed looks really flat whereas my downy one is more fluffy and puffy. On the double bed I fold the duvets so the sides meet in the middle and the outer edges are folded in.


And there it is bedspread and cushions on top, en svensk säng, a Swedish bed.

Keeping a White Sofa White

  
  

I get a lot of e-mail and one of the most frequently asked questions is how I keep our white sofa and armchairs so white. I've posted about this before but I thinks it's time I repeat myself.

I love our white slip covers and here are my best tricks.

* I spot clean using a microfiber cloth with water and a tiny drop of dish washing detergent (Yes/Fairy) and then more water on a clean side of the cloth to "rinse".

* Because the cushions are reversible on our Karlanda (pre Karlstad) I save one side for when we have company over :)  Just flip them over for an instantly cleaner version of the sofa.

* I vacuum the sofa once a week. It really helps lift a lot of dirt off it.

* To get pet hair off in between vacuuming I brush with a garment brush. If you get an enormous amount of pet hair put your Marigolds on and wipe it off!

* If I get muddy paw prints on it (which I do quite often since the kitty flap is right next to the seating area) I don't wipe them off immediately but wait until they are dry and then brush the dirt off.

* If the covers aren't getting back to their whitest white after a while I add some Vanish the next time I launder.

* After I wash the covers I put them on while they are still damp. Soooo much easier!

* Spray the cushions and arm rests with Scotchgard (I used a similar product but can't think of the name). I haven't tried it on the sofa or armchairs but on the white cushion on the bench in the hallway where Mini likes to hang out. I haven't washed it once since I put it on late august! I just vacuum the dirt and cat hair off once a week! Next time I put new covers on the sofa I'm Scotchgarding!

So all of you out there which white slip covers, I hope this helps!
~B.

Ps. I was in the inner city paper on Saturday. Om du hittat hit via artikeln, Välkommen!

Little Things That Make me Happy

I went to IKEA last Thursday after work. Haven't been for at least a year.

Got the usual wine glasses, candles, paper napkins and batteries. Nothing exciting. I also got a metal drawer unit. Kind of exciting because it means there will be some organizing of clutter in the boat room. That was actually the purpose of the trip.

One good spur of the moment purchase was a new pillow.I've had back pain in the morning for quite a while and considered buying a new mattress but who would have known that an $18 pillow would be the remedy?!

Another purchase that makes me really happy are the glass jars above. At $3 a piece they are cheering me up every time I do a load of laundry. I added the white dot sticker to keep the whites detergent from the coloreds.

On a completely different note, this is such a lovely home. Very different from ours but I haven't swooned so much in a very long time. I guess the awesome photography is also partly to blame.

Clean Clip

Quick post today. After yesterdays post I have so much to think about... Thank you all so much for your feed back!

I realise there's no way I can help each and every one of you with your organizing obstacles in a reasonable time frame after you submit your problems, and how on earth do I choose whom to help? Also I don't feel entirely comfortable about charging you a fee (I know, I'll never become a business woman). I know money is tight at the moment in a lot of households and I feel bad that not everybody might have have the opportunity to submit . Then again on my part a little of extra income at the moment wouldn't be frowned upon (we're a one income household right now).

Here's an idea, I do a friend's organizing obstacle and post it and then you can tell me what it's worth. Maybe the solution and format is too simple and not worth paying for or maybe it is. Maybe I should charge a fee but every so often do a give-away amongst non paying submission? Or maybe I should make a lucky draw out of all the submissions sent in and do a paypal tip-jar thing. If you win the lucky draw you can tip me what you think it was worth or what you can afford and those of you other readers who found my post(s) useful and feel like it can add a buck or two in the jar?!... Lots to think about. Pretty please, help me out and let me know your thoughts on this dilemma!

Ok, so what about the tea towel in the photo?

 

I use office and bulldog clips a lot in the kitchen. I clip bags of pasta, spices and other dry goods with them but also sometimes wet stuff like Mini and Bonus' treat bags which leave the clips wanting some washing up after. The clips (I noticed the hard way) are NOT rust proof and I've had to toss quite a few because I didn't think of this super simple drying method earlier.

Tadaaaa! Just clip the clip to the tea towel! The towel soaks up the water and dries so quickly there's no time for any rust to appear. I felt like a genious when I came up with this. I know, it's not Einstein material, but pretty close!

Happy weekend! Martin will be digging a giant hole in the back yard and I'll busy myself with my usual multi purposing activities. See you on Monday!

Ps. The Stockholm buildings tea towel is from a local department store but is unfortunately no longer available.

Speed Cleaning

After writing a post a couple of weeks ago about my Friday morning cleaning routine I had a request to tell in more detail how I do my cleaning and how I'm able to do it fairly quickly. I'm happy to oblige but I would never have guessed it would be that interesting :)

 

Because my Fridays are meant to be workdays where I work on my projects I want the weekly cleaning to be done quickly so I have the rest of the day for better things.

Actually if I have the energy I start the evening before so last night during commercial breaks watching Criminal Minds I decluttered by picking up stuff that was laying about and putting it where it belongs, cleaned the upstairs bathroom (wiped the surfaces, cleaned the wash basin and toilet, mopped the floor and changed towels and bath mat) and cleaned all metal surfaces (toaster, kettle, tea pot cozy, cabinet hardware and refrigerator door handles) in the kitchen with a damp micro fiber cloth and watered the few house plants we have.

 

This morning I got a late start because Wille wasn't leaving until 8.45 but while making breakfast for Wille and waiting for toast to get toasted and water to boil and all that I wiped the kitchen surfaces, did my ow breakfast dishes and scrubbed the kitchen sink.

After Wille left I tore off all the small soft furnishings, like pillows and throws and the towels Mini and Bonus use. Made a pile on the floor of what would go into the laundry and took the rest outside to shake and air. Today is gorgeous weather so I could leave everything out there until I was all done.

 

Part of my cleaning routine is to clean the votive candle holders and add new candles and either make sure the cut flowers are still nice and change the water or in today's case, toss them, clean the vase and put out fresh flowers. My mother in law swears by these two little tasks for freshening a room and I totally agree.

After wiping all horizontal surfaces everywhere (living room, Wille's room, bedroom, hallway, bathroom downstairs etc) I vacuumed downstairs and upstairs including the sofa and the armchairs. After that was done I put all the pillows and throws back, placed the fresh flowers and candles on the sofa table and was done at 10 am.

I skipped on a few things today though: I didn't do any wet mopping of any floors )except for the bathrooms) because it wasn't necessary (will do the kitchen floor after dinner tonight instead), I didn't scrub the shower area (I'm saving that for sometime this weekend) and I didn't change the sheets (will do that tomorrow morning). Also when I'm saying I wipe all horizontal surfaces I mean the obvious ones like window sills, tables, work tops,mantelpiece etc. I don't weekly dust or wipe all the books in the bookcase or even the tops of tall bookcases. I leave those tasks to when I take on a room to "deep" clean it. I don't have a particular routine for when that happens it just does once in a while.

There you have it, today's cleaning!

~

The rest of today will be spent at the computer with an exciting upcoming project and this weekend I'm hoping to bring out the patio furniture, get some yard work done and maybe repaint the blue bedroom wall and sew some new pillow covers. 

I'm also hoping to get a minute to read some of the magazines in the pile above. I got some German ones in Berlin that seem nice, like Living at Home and Living & More special editions.  There's also a Pottery Barn catalog in there that I will lust over wishing I could get my hands on the goods.

I also have some gifts to wrap and some other birthday preparations to do because Wille will be fifteen on Monday! My big boy :)

Computer (Q-)Tip

  What's your favorite use for a Q-tip?

One of mine is to get pesky stains off my laptop. I just VERY, VERY slightly dampen the tip and make sure it's not at all wet and run it along in between the keys and on top. I make sure the lap is turned off first so I won't accidentally press any weird commands I'll regret later.

Yuck! There was that one small visible stain I wanted to remove but this is way more grime than I thought! Note to self: Repeat more often.

Cleaning my Bathrooms

My new routine since not going to the office on Fridays is to clean my house in the morning with the ambition to have it done before ten. I run about like a tornado, make beds, declutter, wet wipe all surfaces, vacuum upholstery and floors etc etc. I also clean the bathrooms. As I was doing them this morning I came to think about my favorite cleaning methods besides from the regular use of the toilet brush, cleaning of all surfaces and so on.

What you see above is a cloth I made about 15 years ago, or rather I made a whole bunch of them. I used old worn sheets, used up all the rolls of thread that had very little on them and simply zig zagged the edges so almost every cloth has it's own color thread and a couple have two where I ran out in the middle of making one. I use these for cleaning glass surfaces since they are lint free after so many years of use. They are all different sizes, I just ripped the sheets without measuring and I love them. Actually I think I'll make some more!

Another fave is using an old tooth brush for those hard to reach spots. You wouldn't believe the amount of gunk that's hidden in that very spot above. 

Speaking of brushes, here's another, a dish washing one which I use to clean the shower drain with. If you haven't cleaned yours in a while you're in for treat when you remove that cover...

 What is she doing you might ask. What you see is one of my best ever travel souvenirs. I found it in a Japanese home store in Hong Kong a few years ago. It's a slightly abrasive eraser with which you can remove lime scale. You use it like you would a normal pencil eraser but on your bathroom surfaces. It rubs away the lime scale perfectly and doesn't seem to damage or scratch the surface.

There's a glass shelf in the downstairs bathroom which sits very close to the shower and it inevitably gets wet and because its a horisontal surface lime scale builds up. This does not come off just by wiping so while cleaning this morning I took the opportunity to show you a before and after using the eraser. It comes off like magic, and like I said, as far as I can see, no scratching. I don't do this every week mind you, only once in a while like when it looks like in the before photo. In between I wipe as well as I can.

EDIT: Do any of you know where these erasers can be found on-line? Please let us all know in the comments.

EDIT#2. Thank you for all your suggestions! I think we found it or a very similar one + a few more for other types of stains. I've added them to my Amazon Store. The grey one seems to be the equivalent of my japanese eraser. Thank you Suzanne!!!

Another thing I love to use while cleaning is old towels, ecpecially scratchy ones, since they are a little bit abrasive and pick up dirt better than a smooth rag. Behind faucets and pipes I use a see-sawing action, you know the same as when you're drying your back after taking a shower, pulling the ends of the towel back and forth. Works like a charm.

Oh, and for those shower walls and the bathroom floor I use this. When I first got it it was such a revelation and a relief not to have to scrub so much, the long handle gives you the force you need to quickly and simply clean your large bathroom surfaces. I should get paid for that testimonial.

Do you have any fave cleaning tips you care to share?

Yay, it's Friday! Have a nice weekend!!!

Clean

   

Here's another one of those posts where I fear you may all go -"So nothing new!" but I'll post it anyway because I love this microwave cleaning method.

For some reason or other we don't have one of those lids that you place over your food in the microwave. Don't recall ever having one actually.

The problem without a lid is only to obvious in the photo above. Yuck, someone heated Spaghetti Bolognese in there yesterday and it's now completely dried and sticks to the surface like cement.

Nemas problemas folks! Just put a microwave safe bowl of water in there and if it's really caked on like here add a drop of dishwashing liqud. Close the door and put on high for a few minutes until the water boils and it gets steamy like a sauna in there.

Open door, carefully remove bowl (which is very hot so use oven mittens!) and wipe the inside with a damp cloth. Clean! No elbow grease needed!

Drying Fitted Sheets

 Friday! Now that I don't go to the office on Fridays anymore I clean the house in the morning after Wille and Martin leave and in between working on my book all day I do laundry.

 

This may be one of those posts which is of no interest to anyone but myself. But as I came up with the idea to dry our fitted sheets by hanging them on hangers as opposed to try and hang them all bunched up on a line this domestic task became so much simpler and less space consuming. Of course if you have a dryer you'll probably dry them in there. You guys can stop reading now.

I have a fairly tall space in the laundry room where I can hang them on a rod under the ceiling but by using two hangers you can do a similar thing in a not so tall space. Also this works equally well with fitted sheets for double beds, I then simply hang each corner over a hanger.

Hope you have a great weekend! We have had some snow today and if it stays until tomorrow without melting away I'll try to get Wille to help me make some snow ball lanterns. See ya!