It’s Time For Spring Cleaning!!

Okay, I know this is a decorating blog, but what’s the point in having a beautifully decorated home if it’s not clean, right? So with the weather being soooooo incredibly gorgeous yesterday (and with rain on the way this weekend), I decided to take advantage of it and do some long-overlooked projects outside.

Since we live in a little condo, our outside projects are really pretty minimal (very thankful for that!!). But there were some pretty big ones that I’ve been putting off since we moved in almost four years ago.

I’m embarrassed to say, but I don’t think I’ve cleaned the outside of my windows the whole time we’ve lived here. It’s just such a pain, because our screens actually screw into the window with specialty-type screws that you can’t just use a regular screwdriver on. It really requires a certain tool, but yesterday, I decided to try with the pliers. It was a hassle, but it finally worked.

While the screens were off, I thought, why don’t I go ahead and replace these screens. They definitely needed to be replaced. They were old, rusted in places, and had holes and tears in them. So off to Home Depot I went to pick up the needed supplies. I also picked up a can of black spray paint to give the dull, scratched screen frames new life.

This was my first time to ever replace screens, so it took some trial and error, but I’m very pleased with the outcome.

Now the view out of my windows is super clear…and I have a much better view of the community bike rack! 😀 Again, please try to contain your jealousy. We can’t all have such gorgeous views. 🙂

I just love ’em. No scratches, no dirt, no rust, no holes.

And while I was at it, I also removed the three little cross bars that were attached to each window screen. They just got in the way, and they weren’t needed at all. They also would never stay straight, and that was hard for this perfectionist to handle. I forgot to take a before picture of mine, but you can see below what my neighbor’s looks like.

And this is what mine looks like with them removed (and shiny new screens).

My windows are open in that pic, which is why there’s no glass reflection in my windows.

Anywhoo…it’s still not finished. I want to get some black oil-based paint and paint the frame that the screen sits in. With the screen frames being really dark black now, the frame that it sits in looks off-black. That just won’t do!

And now that I have pretty new screens and clean windows, my front door needs some immediate attention.

It’s time to remove all of the dirt and grime that winter left behind.

As well as the cobwebs.

And I need to touch up all of the nicks and scratches that I leave when I carry my remodeling tools and supplies in and out of the front door.

But I’ll leave that for another day. For now, rain is on the way, so I’m going to leave my windows wide open, and enjoy the view of a Texas thunderstorm through my new window screens.

Hope y’all have a wonderful weekend!