Spring Cleaning with Ask Anna day 1

Curtains. I used to love curtains till I got a 2 story tall window that needed curtains. Now I don’t love them as much anymore.

You see, back home in Norway it is customary to change your curtains at least twice a year. We have summer curtains and winter curtains. Summer curtains are light and airy to let as much sunlight in to our houses, but at the same time block out some of it. Winter curtains are thick and heavy to block out the darkness and the cold, but usually colorful enough to make your room happy.

This is why I love curtains, it is an instant cheap makeover. Not so much when you need two story high curtains. You need over 20 yards of fabric to make them and a neighbor with a very tall ladder who is not afraid of highs to hang them. I don’t have 20 yards of fabric and I don’t have the money, time or energy to make new curtains. Yes I actually made the ones I have.

These are my Target curtains and they are brand new. Would think I wouldn’t have to clean them then, but alas no. A couple of very little hands has managed to smear tomato sauce on the white ones. Down they go and in the washer on Delicate. 1 hour later they were back up again and what do I see?

Someone’s precious little hand prints. How can that be? I take a look at the window behind my curtains and lo and behold the windows are filthy. Full of little handprints. A good dose of window cleaner and a microfiber rag later the windows are shining and my curtains are clean.

These are the curtains I made about 4 years ago. After I made them we discovered that our electricity bill went down. They actually act as an insulation in the winter and in the summer they repel heat at least to a certain degree. But look at the dust. I just realized that I have not had them down since I put them up. My oh my how embarrassing, I don’t even want to think about the tall ones right now. In the washer on Delicate setting and 1 hour later they are back in the window (that I just washed too). So easy and so fast.

My children’s bedroom just got new curtains last fall and I decided to skip them and take them down in the fall to clean them.

Our master bedroom just got a makeover and with that came new curtains as well. I probably should have taken the time to iron them and I might when I put up the new curtain rod later this week when it arrives.

So that was day 1 of Spring Cleaning with Ask Anna. Come join in, it is never to late.