Deep Cleaning 101 - The Living Room and Dining Room

With the 4th of July holiday last Monday, I did not post my Deep Cleaning post as planned.  I didn't want to leave you all hanging (I know, you are so excited, aren't you?)  If you want to see the previous posts, just click here.

First up is the living room!!

 The "after" pictures:

 So, the big thing I try to do when I deep clean the living room is to organize, clean out, and move toys.  It helps when my kids are gone - I'm able to do this without "help" (hehehe)

And, the dining room before . . .

 And the after:

No, my dining room doesn't always look like the "before" . . .that is what it looks like after cleaning other rooms because my dining room table is my drop zone.  As I'm cleaning - I put stuff there, and put it all away at the end .  Honestly, I spent a full day cleaning the bedrooms, living room, and dining room while my kids were gone a few weekends ago.  I planned it that way knowing it would be easier to clean!

Here are my deep cleaning lists:
Living Room:  Because we "live" in the living room, it gets the most picking up on a daily basis so this deep cleaning (according to Flylady) takes place on the last days of the month - sometimes it is only one day, sometimes it is a full week.
1) Clean out/organize all toys
2) REALLY dust - move things, dust knick knacks, etc
3) Move furniture and vacuum
4) Wash insides of windows
5) Vacuum under couch cushions
6) Wipe down trim/baseboards
7) Clean off my desk

Dining Room:
1) Dust everything
2) Scrub chairs and table (all of those sticky fingers!)
3) Clean blinds/insides of windows
4) Wipe down ceiling fan
5) Wipe down baseboards
6) Move table - move rug - steam mop the entire floor; put rug back and vacuum the entire rug; move table back (I need my husband for this - the table is too hard to move by myself)


Now for reality:  This week, following my routines, I should have deep cleaned my kitchen again.  Well, it has been hot and humid here - all I'm doing is keeping up with simple routines.  And today, if you walked into my house, you'd find toys not neatly organized anymore . . .it is so hot in the evenings in the house that we are  not doing our normal clean-up but just putting the kids in bed and hiding in our room, where it is cold.  We only had one and a half bearable days last week - on Thursday I did the basics in the kitchen but that was it.  (On Friday -we went to the park!)  Even though I'm trying to keep up with the deep cleaning plan - until fall, when it is cooler, my cleaning is dictated by the weather!!!