Clean One Room Completely – Weekend Projects 2020

So many weekend projects focus on getting that one thing done, the thing you put off, forget to do, or can’t seem to find the time for. Crossing something off your long list of home projects feels awesome, and there’s a tangible payoff in enjoying a spotless coffee maker, pristine rugs, or freshly washed throw blankets. Getting that one thing done is worth it, every time.

But if all your weekend projects are about going deep on one tiny chore, you’re going to miss out on the incomparable feeling of one totally pristine room. No clean coffee maker feels as good as walking into a room that sings in its quiet but insistent perfection—something that can only be gained by cleaning it top to bottom in one fell swoop. And that rarely happens. So let’s do something this weekend to change that.

Picking the room you’ll clean is part of the fun. Will you choose your bedroom, so you can enter a space that envelops you in calm at the end of the day? Or will thoroughly cleaning the living room bring the most joy to your home? Maybe getting all the junk out of the guest room, where you’ve been tossing clothes you mean to donate or give away or sell and other stuff you don’t feel like dealing with will lift the biggest weight off your shoulders.

No matter what room you choose, following these principles and tips can help you make the task as efficient as possible so you can enjoy your newly refreshed space as soon as possible:

Rather than going back and forth to the cleaning closet and risk getting distracted from your clean-room mission, bring your entire cleaning kit into the room before you begin. This includes things like cleaning sprays, the duster, and your floor mop.

Don’t make the mistake of cleaning just what looks visibly dirty. Give the room the royal treatment it deserves and it will reward you by wrapping you up in a job well done and the comfort of spic-and-span cleanliness.

Once you think you’ve cleaned everything in sight, find one more thing to clean. Maybe this is spot cleaning the upholstery on the armchair or polishing the wood on your dresser. This extra step not only gives you a chance to give some care to a possibly neglected area of the room, but it also enhances the feeling of home; investing in a space makes it feel even more like it’s yours.

To put a capstone on your achievement, add an extra finishing touch. You don’t need a bigger prize than the cleaned room itself, of course, but adding a vase of greens clipped from the yard or filling that newly cleaned tub with eucalyptus leaves and Epsom salts in preparation for a bubble soak, well, that’s a love letter you help your room write to you.

You can catch up with weekend projects right here. Share your progress with us and others by posting updates and photos on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #atweekendproject.

Remember: This is about improvement, not perfection. Each week you can either choose to work on the assignment we’ve sent you, or tackle another project you’ve been meaning to get to. It’s also completely okay to skip a weekend if you’re busy or not feeling the assignment.