I’ve often wished I were taller.
If I wasn’t a mere 5 feet, 3 inches, I could stand in a crowd at a concert and never have anyone blocking my view. I could reach right up and grab that perfect apple out of a tree, without having to make do with the leftovers thrown to the ground by Mother Nature. And in the grocery store, I wouldn’t have to ask tall strangers to get me that last can of chick peas that is just out of my reach in the middle of the highest shelf.
If I were taller, I could also operate my home more efficiently by saving a few steps. For example, I wouldn’t have to go fetch my stool every time I needed the cheese platter — the one that only fits in the cabinet above the fridge. I wouldn’t have to get the step ladder out to change a light bulb. And I wouldn’t have to pretend I didn’t see the cobwebs that seem to grow overnight on the very top corners of my cathedral windows.
There’s no denying that cathedral windows are beautiful, especially when they look out on a lake view like mine. But with cathedral windows come tall ceilings, which also necessitate the need for a fan to circulate all the air that escapes up to the heavens. Which leads us back to those cobwebs. And dust on the fan blades and window sills and spider webs in those can’t reach corners.
The fan I inherited when I bought the house is a bit shabby looking — a yellowed white with a few knicks here and there. But I’m living with it because I’m afraid to hear my electrician tell me he doesn’t do cathedral ceilings (just like the furnace repair gal said she didn’t do roofs) because he just didn’t have a ladder tall enough and had never mastered scaffolding.
But the dust and the cobwebs? Well, that’s something I just can’t live with.
So here’s my solution: For the cobwebs in the top windows, and the dust that inevitably builds up on the ledge up there, I use my trusty Swiffer and my kitchen stool. For the dusty fan blades, I use the step ladder and the Swiffer, being careful not to lean back too far in my zeal to clean the next blade that I fall off my perch and land on my glass coffee table (another dust catcher, but that’s another story). For the corners of the cathedral ceilings, where the cobwebs and spiders love to hang out, I attach a Swiffer dry cloth onto the end of my telescopic window-cleaning gizmo (the one I had used to sweep spider nests off the outside of the house every morning until I discovered Spider Man Mitch and his magic potion). It’s not as effective at getting right into the corners as the straight-edged toggling Swiffer head, but it’s the only thing that can reach that high. It gets the job done.
Got a house with cathedral windows? If you’re preparing it for sale and think you’re done cleaning, don’t forget to look up — way up! — to make sure there are no cobwebs or dust bunnies hanging around. You don’t want to give buyers a reason to say, “I bet those ledges up there are really hard to clean!”
That’s exactly what I thought when I toured my house before I bought it. But then I looked out to the lake and that gorgeous view. All thoughts of scaffolding vanished instantly. It’s hard to explain. But gazing out those soaring windows at that big blue sky, I felt 12 feet tall that day. And I knew, this house fit me perfectly.
It still does. Even if I’m really only 5 feet, 3 inches and have to carry a foot stool and step ladder around with me.
Tags: cleaning
I also have cathedral windows and high-up places for dust to land so I share many of your problems.
While I don’t like spiders, they are interesting to read about. Did you know that it’s a myth spiders “live” in drains in your house? What they’re actually doing in and around damp places, like sinks and faucets, is looking for a drink. Sometimes spiders drink water that falls on their webs as dew. I’ve even heard of someone watching as a spider seemed to drink the water from a snowflake that landed on its web and melted. And some spiders, like the black widow, don’t drink in any conventional way. They get their required moisture from eating their prey!