House Goals for 2012

You may remember this post where I listed all of our to-do things for our house.  Um, it's a long freaking list.  Let's review and see what's been done.  I've added new goals (re-wrote immediate goals) in red, which I hope to finish this year:

Kitchen

• Paint
• Backsplash
• Install garbage disposal
• Under cabinet lighting
• Secure toe kick trim
• Finish restoring island
• Flip laundry room door to open into Laudry room
• Stainless fridge?
• Farm sink?

Breakfast Room

• Install bead board and trim
• Repair cracks in wall
• Paint
• Paint hutch
• Farm table
• Repair threshold
• Replace chandelier light fixture
• Paint globe light fixtures
• Repair/Replace cracked window
• Fix leak in roof.  Again.
• Replace back door?
• Add storm or screen door
• Upholstered seating on one side of table?

Living room

• Weather strip for door
• Paint vents
• Repair phone jack
• Hide cords
• Touch up crown molding
• Drop leaf table
• Find another drum table for the other side of the couch
• Reupholster chair cushions.  Or just get rid of the couch.
• Replace coffee table with ottoman or more appropriate table.
• Family tree art/project 
• Hang silver trays

Dining room

• Paint vent covers
• Install crowm molding
• Rug?
• Recover chairs
• Replace light fixture

Master Bedroom

• Paint
• Build out closet
• New bedding
• Paint wardrobe
• Artwork
• Do something with the fireplace surround.  Paint?  Strip?  Tile?
• Repair floor by window
• Replace window pane.  (Ahem, Chris. . . )

Entry/Staircase/Computer landing

• Hang mirror or artwork by front door
• Reupholster bench.  Or get rid of it.
• Bookcase under stairs
• Paint
• Replace doorbell
• Small rug for computer area
• Address chandelier. . . clean crystals, replace bulbs, clean fixture without killing myself.  Or replace with a larger fixture.
• Replace attic ladder with a metal ladder.
• Paint ceiling.

Small downstairs hall

• Paint
• Make shelving a bookcase
• Paint inside wall of bookcase
• Replace light fixture

Playroom

• Paint
• New curtains
• Organize closet
• Clean rug
• Recover loveseat (replaced it instead)
• Make/Hang chalkboard
• Add another bookcase or costume storage
• Hang art display system
• Clean out/donate books

Boys' room

• Paint
• Organize closet
• Add a dresser
• Hang photos or art
• Update photo collages
• Matching bedding
• Bedskirt for David's bed
• Rug?
• Hang wall lighting
• Replace overhead fixture?

Guest room

• Address fireplace.  Convert to gas? (We've decided to leave it as is right now - I don't think a gas fireplace and a five year old developmentally delayed child are the best combination in a bedroom.)
• Strip/paint/tile/something fireplace surround.  We cleaned this up, and I think we're leaving it as is for now.  We need to secure the screen, and call it a day.
• Hang mirror or art over fireplace
• Clean transom
• Paint
• Curtains
• New bedding?
• Rug?
• Art?
• Closet shelving and hanging system
• Lampshade for black lamp
• Cushion or pillows for window seat
• Add crown molding
• Fix loose outlets

Laundry room

• Cabinets over washer and dryer
• Add a cabinet for linen storage
• Paint
• Hanger for brooms, etc.
• Reroute pump to outside
• Install back door
• Clean/paint light fixtures

Patio

• Rug
• Figure out the light.  Make it work.
• Paint concrete?
• Rework the seating to make it more of an outdoor room
• New patio furniture
• Paint the flower stand.  Or love it the way it is.
• Paint candle holder/lantern thingy
• Add a stair?
• Add concrete planters?
• Hang flower holders
• Window box

Exterior

• Side the remainder of the house.  Yikes.
• Paint.
• Repair trim above front windows
• Replace upstairs windows
• Gutter/French drain system
• Reinsulate crawl space
• Repair loose roof panel(s)
• Pressure wash porch
• Paint porch floor, stairs, and rails
• Re-do porch columns?
• Replace front light
• Clean weeds off of front of house
• Make crawl space opening larger
• Clean/paint lattice under porch. 
• Trim out lattice
• Add back door to laundry room

Yard

• Fence back yard
• Cut down tree?
• Massive yard clean up
• Remove kennel after fencing is put up
• Weed killer on front walk  This will be an on-going project.
• Prune bushes
• Plant a garden
• Add two more bushes along the side of the porch
• Rip out three small ugly bushes near patio.
• Rip out two little trees in island area.
• Electricity to the shed?

Dream List/Far in the Future

• Build a detached garage
• Finish the attic and add another 1000+ square feet
• Add a second bathroom

Updated House Photos

We had to take several photos of our house to include in our dossier information for our adoption. 

I have to say I'm pretty pleased with the progress we've made since we bought the house ten months ago.

We've managed to keep ourselves (OK, Chris) pretty busy.

Our backyard is looking pretty decent, despite the ring created by the horses we had at our birthday party in April.

We've replaced this patio set since these pictures were taken with a new (to us) rectangular table with six chairs.  The table and chairs need to be painted, and I will get new cushions.  Photos to come when that project is completed!

Nothing has changed in our breakfast room.  I am on the hunt for a small loveseat or sofa to put under the windows, and I'll remove two chairs from the table.  I was going to take the one from our office when we got a church pew to replace it, but the pew is miniature and won't be adequate seating for our clients.  I will likely just wait until we replace the couch at our office and take that, because it's the perfect size (and even material) to go in this space.

Kitchen is still the same.  I still haven't painted the island table.  And I still haven't added a backsplash.  We did change the curtains over the sink.  We took down the panels and added some bamboo shades.  I will put these on the breakfast room windows too, but there are never enough in the size I need at the store when I go looking for them.

Our master bedroom remains unchanged from pretty much the day we unpacked, with the exception of the new armoire.

My fabulous friend Kelly had a baby and couldn't use this black armoire in the baby's room.  She asked if we could use it.  If we could pick it up, we could have it.  Um, hello.  We picked it up.  It's a Pottery Barn armoire that was originally a tv cabinet.  I really wanted to be able to use it in the playroom, but it weighs approximately 1,378,385,098.4 pounds and there was no. way. that was going up the stairs.  So Chris altered it to store clothes, and it's perfect in this space.  I'm toying with the idea of painting the rest of our bedroom furniture black to match and painting our walls gray.  I would love to do gray walls with yellow and white accents in this room.  I promise it will probably be the last room to complete.

I still typically have our couch covered with the slipcover.  Thankfully it's machine washable, because it spends about 25% of it's time in the washing machine. 

We've painted the entry, and I love it.  We will use the same paint upstairs at the computer area and in the hallway.

And I'm still SO glad we've removed the stained glass panel and replaced with clear glass.

I've considereded moving the computer down to our entry and making this a sitting area.  That could still happen since I recently discovered in our computer history the googling of some inappropriate words. . . and Jack got blamed for it despite the fact that he is unable to spell.

No changes here.  I can't make up my mind.  And I feel like as soon as I decorate this room they will change their minds about what they're interested in.

No change in the laundry room either.  And I promise there won't be for a looong time.

I wasn't bold enough to go orange in the entire playroom.

I just couldn't do it.

I'm thinking either a gray or a khaki for the other three walls.  For now, we're a happy shade of cream.  And holding strong.

The curtains are a good-enough-for-now option.

Next up?  Finishing Katie Ruth's room, then probably on to some beadboard and wainscotting in the breakfast room!

House To-Do- List

Are you ready for this?  It's a big one.  Thankfully we have the next thirty-ish years to get it done. . .

Kitchen

• Paint
• Backsplash
• Install garbage disposal
• Under cabinet lighting
• Secure toe kick trim
• Finish restoring island
• Flip laundry room door to open into Laudry room
• Stainless fridge?
• Farm sink?

Breakfast Room

• Install bead board and trim
• Repair cracks in wall
• Paint
• Paint hutch
• Farm table
• Repair threshold
• Replace chandelier light fixture
• Paint globe light fixtures
• Repair/Replace cracked window
• Replace back door?
• Add storm door
• Upholstered seating on one side of table?

Living room

• Weather strip for door
• Paint vents
• Repair phone jack
• Hide cords
• Touch up crown molding
• Drop leaf table
• Find another drum table for the other side of the couch
• Reupholster chair cushions
• Replace coffee table with ottoman
• Family tree art/project for big wall

Dining room

• Paint vent covers
• Install crowm molding
• Rug?
• Recover chairs

Master Bedroom

• Paint
• Build out closet
• New bedding
• Paint wardrobe
• Artwork
• Do something with the fireplace surround.  Paint?  Strip?  Tile?
• Repair floor by window
• Replace window pane.  (Ahem, Chris. . . )

Entry/Staircase/Computer landing

• Hang mirror by front door
• Reupholster bench
• Bookcase under stairs
• Paint
• Replace doorbell
• Small rug for computer area
• Address chandelier. . . clean crystals, replace bulbs, clean fixture without killing myself

Small downstairs hall

• Paint
• Make shelving a bookcase
• Paint inside wall of bookcase
• Replace light fixture

Playroom

• Paint
• New curtains
• Organize closet
• Clean rug
• Recover loveseat (replaced it instead)
• Make/Hang chalkboard
• Add another bookcase
• Hang art display system
• Clean out/donate books

Boys' room

• Paint
• Organize closet
• Add a dresser
• Hang photos
• Matching bedding
• Bedskirt for David's bed
• Rug?
• Hang wall lighting
• Replace overhead fixture?

Guest room

• Address fireplace.  Convert to gas?
• Strip/paint/tile/something fireplace surround
• Hang mirror over fireplace
• Clean transom
• Paint
• Curtains
• New bedding?
• Rug?
• Art?
• Closet shelving and hanging system
• Lampshade for black lamp
• Cushion for window seat
• Add crown molding
• Fix loose outlets

Laundry room

• Cabinets over washer and dryer
• Add a cabinet for linen storage
• Paint
• Hanger for brooms, etc.
• Reroute pump to outside
• Install back door
• Clean/paint light fixtures

Patio

• Rug
• Figure out the light.  Make it work.
• Paint concrete?
• Rework the seating to make it more of an outdoor room
• New patio furniture
• Paint the flower stand
• Paint candle holder/lantern thingy
• Add a stair?
• Add concrete planters?
• Hang flower holders
• Window box

Exterior

• Side the remainder of the house.  Yikes.
• Paint.
• Repair trim above front windows
• Replace upstairs windows
• Gutter/French drain system
• Reinsulate crawl space
• Repair loose roof panel(s)
• Pressure wash porch
• Paint porch floor, stairs, and rails
• Re-do porch columns?
• Replace front light
• Clean weeds off of front of house
• Make crawl space opening larger
• Clean/paint lattice under porch. 
• Trim out lattice
• Add back door to laundry room

Yard

• Fence back yard
• Cut down tree?
• Massive yard clean up
• Remove kennel after fencing is put up
• Weed killer on front walk
• Prune bushes
• Plant a garden
• Add two more bushes along the side of the porch
• Electricity to the shed

Dream List/Far in the Future

• Build a detached garage
• Finish the attic and add another 1000+ square feet
• Add a second bathroom

First Projects of 2011

We've started our projects already this year!  We added some tie backs for the upstairs landing area window.  Previously they just hung straight, which was fine, but I wanted them to be opened up a bit more.  There are no blinds on this window, so we're still able to easily close them at night for some privacy.  I'm glad we did this, because it makes the whole upstairs hallway more bright.  And at $6.00 at TJ Maxx, they were a steal. 

Our second project was an all day project.  Henry has no dresser - he and David share.  Their clothes are just getting too big for this to work anymore, and they are wearing different sizes in pants, so it gets confusing for them when they're picking out their clothes.  I don't have an extra dresser, and don't have a lot of patience so I wanted to make something work now until we get another dresser.  (Because you know I'm too damn cheap thrifty to just go to the store and buy one. . . it will have to come from craigslist, Goodwill, etc. )  We had two of these cube organizers in the playroom.  And lots of crappy broken toys, McDonald's toys, things nobody plays with anymore, and just junk filling them.  Chris and I cleaned out allllllllll of those toys yesterday and condensed two organizers to one.

I moved one of the cubes to the boys' room to use as clothes storage for now.  It's worked really well!  And I like how it looks in the room, which basically looks like a dorm room at this point.

We've also added that solar system painting to their room recently.  We saw one just like it at Homegoods several months ago for $40.  I was tempted to buy it, but didn't.  I think at that point we were still in our old house and hadn't even considered buying this one.  I didn't really have anyplace to put it in their old room.  We got this one at Goodwill for $4.00.  FOUR DOLLARS!  I was so excited.  I know that David won't be into the solar system forever, so I'm much happier to pay $4 for something like this.  And it's really cute - it was definitely a steal.  This room will be one of the next to be painted.  I'm thinking khaki.  And I hate that the bedding doesn't match on all of the beds, but David really loves that solar system comforter.  I'm picking my battles here, people!

We rearranged the playroom to give them some more actual playing space.  You may note the two different curtains. . . They will eventually be the blue, but the other is hanging in the boys' room until I finish making the panels for the second window.  My mother made the plaid curtains 10ish years ago, and they've been in several rooms (and houses!) since then.  I have them hanging in our guest room as well, my mother has a set as a shower curtain in her house, and my sister has a set in her living room.  I love the fabric, and it's oddly still available in the store.  I may use a corresponding fabric in our guest room to make a cushion for the window seat.

We have hung some canvases that the kids have painted in their playroom, and hung a wire system we bought at IKEA ages ago and never used.  I get SO MUCH art, papers, etc. sent home from school, and D&H never want me to throw it away.  This gives us a good way to display their favorites.

We did a MAJOR toy purge yesterday and had to sneak two huge garbage bags of toys for Goodwill out of the room.  David was whining all day that he didn't want to give any of his toys away, but I promise he won't even notice what's gone.  We will do some sort of larger storage system in this room when we get to the playroom on our redecorating list.  Right now we have small things in the bin organizer, and I made round tags for each bin so they will know what's in them.  We have larger toys, train tracks, and costumes on the floor next to the cube.  One issue in this room is that the closet has no shelving.  It's a decent closet, but it's virtually unusable until we shelve it.  Chris is going to cut down some shelves this week and put them in so we can get some of that put out of sight.

The boys got this Lego table for Christmas.  We found it (where else?!) on Craigslist, and it was in excellent condition.  I was going to make them a Lego table, but this table cost less than the materials would have cost me to make one.  And it came with two chairs!  The same table new on Amazon.com retails for $289.99, so my slightly used table at $40.00 was a steal!  They have already gotten $40 worth of playing out of it.  I'm so, so happy we have this space for them - the boys love it, and I love that their toys aren't scattered all over the house.  I would love to paint this a cheery color - maybe yellow?  Chris and I can't really agree on a color (big surprise!), so this room is on hold until we do.  I also want to recover the little couch, but won't do that until we decide on paint. 



Crafty, Crafty

We had ourselves a crafty weekend. 

First, I made a coffee filter tree.

I would seriously cover my children in coffee filters if that wasn't weird.

Everything I glue them to comes out cute.

I first saw this on The Nester's blog.

Why does her's look bigger? 

Bigger tree thingy to start with?

I'm making the second one tonight for the other side of the table.

And putting them on cake stands.

Today we were busy, busy.

Jack painted a picture.

Then painted himself.

Then had his first bath of the day.

First of three.

What?



I made these curtains for the boys' room.

They started out just polka dot.

Then I remembered I still can't do math.

And didn't buy enough fabric.

What a moron.

No worries.

I sewed the striped on top, then put a cute ribbon in the middle.

Problem solved.

And cuter than the original.

I had extra fabric left from my dining room curtains.

And extra fabric left from the boys' curtains.

And I love monograms. . .

I used the canvas as a case, and appliqued their initials onto the front.

I will stuff them and use them as pillows for their beds.

You know, when they're made.

 (On Saturday and Sunday, only.)

The pillows will be Christmas gifts.

Because every little boy hopes for a personalized pillow under the tree.

House Tour

Let's have a little tour, shall we?

Clearly this is the bathroom.  The only bathroom.

My favorite part about this picture?  David and Henry were taking a bath when I took it.  

The dining room is up next for paint. . .

And for some attention to the windows.

I. love. my. living. room.

I got this table at a little junky antique store over the weekend for $40. 

It's perfect for this space.

I love this lamp - it's a rooster lamp, and it's pair is in the foyer.

This is the view from the living room to the bathroom. 

There's a storage area behind the door that has our towels, etc. stored. 

However, I am in search of a pie-safeish cabinet for the towel storage.

I love our breakfast room.

I have a lot of my milk glass and some silver pieces in the hutch. 

I was iffy about it at first, but I really like it. 

I will still paint it eventually, I think. 

I have play-doh and art stuff stored in the bottom for the boys.

This is, hands down, the best $200 I've spent since we moved in.

That little storage cabinet has our dog stuff in it.  And nothing in the bottom. 

Trust me, it won't take long to fill it up.

I love my kitchen.  Like, pink puffy heart love it.

The drawers?  Perfect.

The cabinets?  Perfect. 

I probably would not change a single thing about it.

Ignore the dirty dishes. . .

And box of cleaning supplies. 

At least you know I clean.

I thought about not showing the laundry room. 

Because it's a mess.

But. . . how clean is your laundry room?

We do laundry in here, nothing exciting.

Having an actual laundry room , as opposed to a laundry closet, is fabulous.

This is our foyer, which has changed several times already. 

The S is on the chair because we are hanging the S "collection" on the walls around the chair.

And I thought about cleaning all of this up, but a decorator doesn't live here.

A 2 year old does though, and he's been playing in the chair.

All of the boys are in the same room. 

I have matching bedding for them.  In a box somewhere.

David's bedskirt is also in that box.

This is the playroom, which is adjoining the boys' room. 

David looked at the photo and said, "Well, the playroom is only half a wreck."

Our office area is this little nook at the top of the stairs.

I really like it for this purpose.

It's exactly the amount of space we need.

And it's cozy. 

We've got a few more things to add, but not major changes

Not shown?  The master bedroom, porch, patio, and guest room.  Those are not fit for public viewing yet.

Hopefully they will be soon. . .

It's not perfect yet, and I suspect it never will be, as we'll always be changing something. 

However, for only being in for three weeks, I'm very happy with the progress we've made!