Clearly I’ve had bedrooms on my mind lately 🙂 With all the hubbub of the One Room Challenge, I’ve taken some time to think about a lot of what goes into making a bedroom a happy and inviting place to be. I mean, I know decor and paint and wall treatments can up the joy factor – but truth be told, I like to start at an even more basic level than that.
I feel best – BEST – in my rooms when they are fresh, clean and smelling oh-so-lovely. If you’ve been following along, you’ll recall the great drapery fiasco that I encountered midway through One Room Challenge Week 3. Oh dear.
Well, the silver lining in all of that was I had a great excuse to just pull the entire room apart and give it an amazing deep clean. (I’m becoming more comfortable admitting how much I enjoy laundry… haha)
It started with the drapes because I knew in my heart that if I was going to have to rehang the same panels, I wanted them to at least feel brand new. So down they came. I have four gorgeous white panels in the room – two by the closet and two at the main window. I also stripped the bed, including the mattress cover.
Down to the laundry room we went. And guys – I’m sorry for the absolute DISASTER that is this room at the moment. This is a view of this space I rarely share and it’s definitely a nook that I’d like to spruce up at some point. This basement has been a two-year long makeover 😀
My trick for washing drapery panels? Wash them ALONE – as in don’t add anything else into the wash cycle. I use COLD water and the smallest load setting and I also use the Permapress setting. If you are doing sheets or larger items, the Permapress setting actually helps reduce wrinkles a bit!
So here’s the thing, our laundry machines are old. They came with our house. They are not as efficient or as good at getting out stains as the newer models. This all means that I am constantly searching for the most economical and efficient way to keep our things clean and smelling lovely. I used to spend a lot of time pre-treating stains and adding bleach and all that – but then I discovered these laundry pods by Arm & Hammer and they are a mega time saver. They have the OxiClean and Baking Soda right in them = stain fighting and white brightening.
I pop my panels in the dryer for about twenty minutes and – here’s the next trick – hang them back up slightly damp! Open the windows and let the fresh scent waft into the room. (Told you I’m a laundry nerd!)
While the washing was doing its thing, I brought the vacuum up to the bedroom and did the floors, toss rug and the mattress. Nothing says fresh like a nice clean mattress. I just sprinkle it with baking soda and give it a couple good once-overs with the crevice tool.
Then my bed was ALL set for my brand new bedding! (Pssst – did you see this week’s One Room Challenge post? It’s all about how I decided what bedding to use for the Master!)
Speaking of which, before staging the bed, I did do a full load of linens and pillows. I don’t know about you, but I wash our bed linens weekly. 
It’s just one of those things I cannot let go. And when I get new bedding, I wash it before putting it on the bed. All bed linens are washed in HOT water, permapress and tumble dried on high. Our linen takes a beating with three animals and a baby and I find using the Arm & Hammer pods with hot water helps to get some of those icky, ‘life happens’ stains out. (Don’t even get me started about the unplanned load of laundry I had to do when we accidentally locked Zuzu up in the bedroom when we went grocery shopping. OMG.)
For feather down pillows, I wash them in cold, in a balanced machine. Then I dry them as much as possible in the dryer, but then leave them in a cold room to completely dry out – usually for 24-48 hours. This will help kill the remaining mites and gross things that can live in pillows 🙂
I know I sound silly – but this process really helped me get through the last push of the One Room Challenge. Making over a room from top to bottom not only means design challenges, but days of having a messy house. And taking the time to bring freshness and spring into my almost-complete space was like a sanity booster for me.
It also gave me an excuse to finally address our linen cupboard. I KonMari’d it HARD and it’s much more manageable now. I’d like to make it look both organized and pretty before sharing it with you though – so I’m going to hold off until after the bedroom. A girl can only handle so many makeovers at once 🙂
And I can’t even BELIEVE that next week is the full reveal of the bedroom! Decluttering and decorating is in full swing. I’ve ordered some gorgeous fresh blooms for the occasion and I cannot wait to show you the entire space!!
-E
xoxo
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