A Day (Or Months) Late

I should have posted a follow-up to my 2009 resolutions yesterday. But I guess today is as good as ever! Last year, I posted a very loooooong list of things to do around the house. But we'll get to that in a second. Let's first talk this year's resolutions:

• Finish 2009's list
• Blog once a week!

I used to love it then it began to feel like a chore. I made a concentrated effort to stop spending so much time online. It was nice! But I do miss updating with projects and I'm very behind on my Google reader. Like 2000 blog posts to read! lol


Ok, so let's see how well I did with the 2009 list, considering I pretty much did NOTHING to the house in the last few months.

Living Room/Dining Room
1. Replace all outdated electric outlets
2. Hide the cords in the entertainment center
3. Paint the baseboard
4. Replace damaged floor boards
5. Attach quarter round
6. Replacement blinds for backdoor
7. Decorate entertainment center
8. Rug to help anchor the space
9. Organize entryway closets (one for hanging items, one with shelves and baskets)
10. Paint interior of entryway closets (Um... one down, one to go)
11. Finish painting exterior of built-in
12. Prime and paint interior of built-in (and start using it to store things!)
* Wish list: flat panel TV (come February!), new couch and chair, more grown-up coffee table

Kitchen
1. Replace GFI outlets with matching ones that I bought a year ago
2. Replace damaged floor boards
3. Attach baseboards and quarter round
4. Replace ugly fluorescent light above sink to something more modern
5. Hook up the garbage disposal that was installed nearly 18 months ago
6. Start planning for new Ikea kitchen cabinets and countertops in 2010 Now I just need the funds! lol

Laundry Room/Mud Room
1. Prepare walls for painting (sanding area where cabinets were removed)
2. Paint ceiling
3. Paint walls (same color as living room)
4. Install tile Halfway there!
5. Organize space for shoes, coats, hats, etc.

Hallway
1. Replace outdated eletrical outlets
2. Repaint with satin finish
3. Paint baseboards
4. Hang pictures

Master Bedroom
1. Replace all outdated electric outlets
2. Repaint
3. Purchase comforter and duvet cover for new bed
4. Install closet organizer (already purchased) Decided against this idea
5. Purchase matching lamps for nightstands
6. Paint doors and baseboards

2nd Bedroom
1. Replace all outdated electric outlets and light switch
2. Install new carpet
3. Remove 50% of items and give to Goodwill Hah! Removed close to 90% of the items!
4. Install shelves (already purchased) What the heck was I even talking about here??
5. Paint doors and baseboards
6. Prime and paint interior of closet
7. Find a better way to hide litter box
* Wish list: Bed for guests (Hmm, guess I'd have to move the litter box then!)

3rd Bedroom (a.k.a. Man Room)
1. Decor for walls
2. Paint baseboards and doors
3. Give 75% of stored items in closet to Goodwill
4. Paint interior of closet

Bathroom
1. Finish flooring in linen closet
2. Paint walls
3. Recaulk tub Hallelujah! Silicone caulk is the guaranteed way to go. Even the bathroom-designated latex caulk isn't worth it. Silicone is a little messier but WAY better.
4. Replace toilet Wasn't on the 2009 list but was on the Ultimate list. The leaking toilet just forced us to do it this last year. And I love it! Well, as much as you can love a toilet.

Exterior
1. Plant grass in bare spots
2. Add additional ornamental grass to front yard
3. Plant ground cover on side of house Changed this to hosta and halfway done!
4. Finish weeding and mulching retaining wall
5. Clear overgrown weeds from back fence LOLOLOLOL No longer on the list. It was just groundcover but I'll PAY to have someone do this.
6. Dispose of the ginormous tub of river rock
7. Paint exterior of workshop
8. Scrape and paint all trim
9. Replace both water spickets One down, one to go!


Whew! I got a lot done but I feel like I failed because there's still so much to do. (I know I'm just too hard on myself!) But the house improvements are never ending anyway, right?? :) I hope everyone had a great holiday and you'll be hearing from me soon!

New Year's Resolution Revisited

I had this insane idea to make a ginormous to-do list as my resolution this year. There were 50+ items on that list! Fast forward to July and I knocked out maybe half a dozen items. I decided to have some friends over for Matt's upcoming 30th birthday so it was time to get my butt in gear.

Here's where things stand so far:
(Many pics to come!)

Living Room/Dining Room
1. Replace all outdated electric outlets
2. Hide the cords in the entertainment center
3. Paint the baseboard
4. Replace damaged floor boards
5. Attach quarter round almost there
6. Replacement blinds for backdoor
7. Decorate entertainment center
8. Rug to help anchor the space
9. Organize entryway closets (one for hanging items, one with shelves and baskets)
10. Paint interior of entryway closets
11. Finish painting exterior of built-in
12. Prime and paint interior of built-in (and start using it to store things!)
* Wish list: flat panel TV, new couch and chair, more grown-up coffee table

Kitchen
1. Replace GFI outlets with matching ones that I bought a year ago
2. Replace damaged floor boards
3. Attach baseboards and quarter round
4. Replace ugly fluorescent light above sink to something more modern
5. Hook up the garbage disposal that was installed nearly 18 months ago
6. Start planning for new Ikea kitchen cabinets and countertops in 2010

Laundry Room/Mud Room
1. Prepare walls for painting (sanding area where cabinets were removed)
2. Paint ceiling
3. Paint walls (same color as living room)
4. Install tile 50% there
5. Organize space for shoes, coats, hats, etc.

Hallway
1. Replace outdated electrical outlets
2. Repaint with satin finish
3. Paint baseboards
4. Hang pictures

Master Bedroom
1. Replace all outdated electric outlets
2. Repaint
3. Purchase comforter and duvet cover for new bed
4. Install closet organizer (already purchased)
5. Purchase matching lamps for nightstands
6. Paint doors and baseboards

2nd Bedroom
1. Replace all outdated electric outlets and light switch
2. Install new carpet Installed tomorrow!!
3. Remove 50% of items and give to Goodwill
4. Install shelves (already purchased)
5. Paint doors and baseboards
6. Prime and paint interior of closet
7. Find a better way to hide litter box
* Wish list: Bed for guests (Hmm, guess I'd have to move the litter box then!)

3rd Bedroom (a.k.a. Man Room)
1. Decor for walls
2. Paint baseboards and doors
3. Give 75% of stored items in closet to Goodwill
4. Paint interior of closet

Bathroom
1. Finish flooring in linen closet
2. Paint walls
3. Recaulk tub

Exterior
1. Plant grass in bare spots
2. Add additional ornamental grass to front yard
3. Plant ground cover on side of house 50% there, but planting hosta instead
4. Finish weeding and mulching retaining wall
5. Clear overgrown weeds from back fence
6. Dispose of the ginormous tub of river rock
7. Paint exterior of workshop 50% there
8. Scrape and paint all trim
9. Replace both water spickets 50% there

Yowzers. I can't believe I've gotten all of that done! Of course, I could have done it without my sidekick: coffee. Eh, and maybe Matt. :)

When Big Projects have Little Visual Payoff

It's an awful feeling when you slave away for 2 full days and have very little to show for your work. :( I've mentioned before that we had some water damage to our floors a while back. The laminate started to separate at the seams. Most cracks were the width of a penny.

We've made a lot of progress but the change isn't huge. It's not like when we went from pink carpet and walls to laminate and warm taupe walls:





Two days later, we're about 75 percent done. We just have to do the two entryway closets, a small portion of the dining room, and the kitchen. My knees are bruised, the tendons in my wrists kill, and my hamstrings are so tight! Oh, and I have a couple oddball cuts and dings. (I'm a klutz!)

In the thick of it:


I've had to be super organized when we pulled up the flooring. (While it might not look like it from the above pic! lol) Most of the boards weren't damaged. The ones that were just happened to be in the MIDDLE of the room so everything had to be pulled up. I marked which boards to toss, which ones could be reused if the end was cut off, etc.



See those cracks?!





I marked the underside of the good boards with numbers so we could lay them back down in the same order. It was all about efficiency and reusing what we could. Matt thought I was crazy! But I'll have more than half of the 10 boxes leftover.

I even marked the quarter round (which we had never gotten to installing) so I'd know which room and area the pieces belonged when we put it back together. I have no idea what EW stands for though! lol Entryway? Or East-West and I forgot to mark the room??



Our disarray of a living room as we had to move everything from one side to the other:



(At least I was able to coral those cords nice and neat while they were exposed.)

There are no "after" pics because, well, it photographs exactly the same. lol But it will be nice to have a real kitchen floor instead of a concrete one!

Getting a Jump Start

I have started on my New Year's Resolution To-Do List. I figured with 56 items... that's about an item a week, right? Well, some of them are pretty easy so I've (almost) knocked out a couple already!

We have replaced some of the electrical outlets in the house. They were old and a few must have gotten bent because nothing would plug into them! (Not even non-polarized plugs.) To make matters worse, they had been painted over by the previous homeowner.

Before:



After:



Hah! Difficult to tell, huh? lol But I swear, it's these little details that really makes a difference in the house.

Apparently the hallway used to be painted a lime green:



I also started painting the hallway. I originally painted it about a year ago with flat paint. (Ralph Lauren's Canvas, I believe.) I thought, two adults? It can't get that dirty. Wrong! There are grimy hand prints everywhere. I had some leftover Kilim Beige by Sherwin Williams that I had used in the master bedroom. (I am repainting again because it doesn't look good in the bedroom.) I ran out before I finished my first coat. Oops! I made a quick run to WalMart to have them color-match it. No biggie since the second coat will be from the same can.

Before:



After:

Well, that's coming tomorrow. It still needs a second coat but it is looking so much better. I never realized how much the sheen matters in such a small space. The first night I couldn't figure out what the glow coming from the hallway was. It was a nightlight in the dining room reflecting off the wall! Crazy. I will finish up tomorrow morning and post pics. Then I'll get starting on repainting the master bedroom!

Biting Off More Than I Can Chew

Happy New Year to everyone! I'm not a big one for resolutions but I am a list-maker. So my resolution is to start tackling more projects around the house, big and small. Our budget is tighter than usual because Matt's hours have been cut at work. (A reflection of the current economy.) Therefore, my projects will be the most visual bang for the buck. The list may be long but I can't wait to start crossing things off!

Living Room/Dining Room
1. Replace all outdated electric outlets
2. Hide the cords in the entertainment center
3. Paint the baseboard
4. Replace damaged floor boards
5. Attach quarter round
6. Replacement blinds for backdoor
7. Decorate entertainment center
8. Rug to help anchor the space
9. Organize entryway closets (one for hanging items, one with shelves and baskets)
10. Paint interior of entryway closets
11. Finish painting exterior of built-in
12. Prime and paint interior of built-in (and start using it to store things!)
* Wish list: flat panel TV, new couch and chair, more grown-up coffee table

Kitchen
1. Replace GFI outlets with matching ones that I bought a year ago
2. Replace damaged floor boards
3. Attach baseboards and quarter round
4. Replace ugly fluorescent light above sink to something more modern
5. Hook up the garbage disposal that was installed nearly 18 months ago
6. Start planning for new Ikea kitchen cabinets and countertops in 2010

Laundry Room/Mud Room
1. Prepare walls for painting (sanding area where cabinets were removed)
2. Paint ceiling
3. Paint walls (same color as living room)
4. Install tile
5. Organize space for shoes, coats, hats, etc.

Hallway
1. Replace outdated eletrical outlets
2. Repaint with satin finish
3. Paint baseboards
4. Hang pictures

Master Bedroom
1. Replace all outdated electric outlets
2. Repaint
3. Purchase comforter and duvet cover for new bed
4. Install closet organizer (already purchased)
5. Purchase matching lamps for nightstands
6. Paint doors and baseboards

2nd Bedroom
1. Replace all outdated electric outlets and light switch
2. Install new carpet
3. Remove 50% of items and give to Goodwill
4. Install shelves (already purchased)
5. Paint doors and baseboards
6. Prime and paint interior of closet
7. Find a better way to hide litter box
* Wish list: Bed for guests (Hmm, guess I'd have to move the litter box then!)

3rd Bedroom (a.k.a. Man Room)
1. Decor for walls
2. Paint baseboards and doors
3. Give 75% of stored items in closet to Goodwill
4. Paint interior of closet

Bathroom
1. Finish flooring in linen closet
2. Paint walls
3. Recaulk tub

Exterior
1. Plant grass in bare spots
2. Add additional ornamental grass to front yard
3. Plant ground cover on side of house
4. Finish weeding and mulching retaining wall
5. Clear overgrown weeds from back fence
6. Dispose of the ginormous tub of river rock
7. Paint exterior of workshop
8. Scrape and paint all trim
9. Replace both water spickets

Whooo! That seems like an awful lot! But spread across 52 weeks, I don't think it will be so bad! We'll see! It will give me lots of blog posts I think. lol