Obsessed With Checking Things Off The List

Do you ever get so focused on a project that you let everything else fall by the wayside?

That's how I feel about our "get the house ready to sell" list. I look at it several times a day to see how much progress I've been making. I scour it looking for things I can delete off the list.
Yes, delete. 

The list is on a spreadsheet on my computer. I have a list on the spreadsheet and a calender with the projects on the list scheduled for during the week and on the weekend. It's booked with things to do to get the house ready to sell ever single week and weekend until the end of April.

Unfortunately, the items on the list aren't very exciting...you know, something that would make a good blog post. The things on the list are things like painting the front door frame, painting the back of the guest room door, finish the kitchen shelf paper, etc. 

Yes, very exciting!

I think there are 4 blog posts in the list: 
1. New tile and frameless glass shower 
2. New paint for the master bathroom 
3. Garden tour after the new mulch is down and 
4. A final house tour when it's all done.

That's it.

If you've been following me for awhile you know that I've been sick (sick in bed sick) since last year because I'm healing from lyme disease. I haven't been in bed the whole time, but I've really lacked the energy to do a lot. Fortunately, I've been feeling really great and have energy(most days) the past 3-4 weeks. I've had some energy and felt ok since the beginning of September-off and on. You can read my other blog if you really to know the details. You can find it HERE.

I'm so grateful that my energy has returned just in time to work on this list. Mr. DIY could not have done this large list all by himself by the end of April.

Mr. DIY painted the walls in the toilet area of our Master Bath. He'll be painting the rest of the bathroom after we reno the shower. I love the new paint color - It's Silver Strand (taken down 25% lighter) from Sherwin Williams. 

I've been busy painting all the trim in the house, including the baseboard and door in this area. 

I painted the little box that's on the toilet with some Annie Sloan chalk paint and used some sandpaper to distress it a bit.

Here's how it looked before:

Here's my favorite quote these days...

That's all I have for now...back to painting!

Hope you're having a good day

Pam

2010 Projects Wrap Up

It's been a busy year for projects around here...seriously busy! All of the big projects, except for one were finished in July because we put our house on the market. From January through the end of June there wasn't one single weekend that we didn't work on projects. Most weekends we worked both days. A few weekends we only worked one day.

Here they are:

Guest Room:

new curtains & bedcover- not much of a project, but big impact!

 Master Bath and Master Closet:

installed tile floor, raised vanity.

Master Bedroom
Made draperies and found new nightstands.

Bonus Room:

Installed a closet(it was a nook) & built & installed a closet organizer

Upstairs Bath: 
Almost a total reno.

Painted walls & vanity light, installed tile floor, added a small cabinet, new towel bars and new accessories.

Powder Room:
painted walls and  mirror.

Oldest Daughter's Bedroom:
Lots of projects in this room! See other link here.

Youngest Daughter's Bedroom:
Another one of my favorites, but we still have to make some bookcases for the window wall.

Painted and decorated. There are a lot of smaller projects within this room. Look under the labels section on the sidebar.

Foyer: 

Added crown molding and lighting below shelf above Front Door

Basement:
This was done a few days before Christmas last year.

Built mantel shelf 

Had the stonework installed

Laundry Room:
installed new tile floor and added accessories

Garage: 

painted floor and walls

Kitchen:
Had new granite counterops installed & we did the tile backsplash  and added new corbels on back of the bar.

Front Yard:
We installed an irrigation system ourselves.

A Big Project Within A Project: Daughter's Armoire

There were a few small projects I didn't mention, but the above were the big ones. It's been a very productive year for us and it has been rewarding to see them all done. 
I've already started a project list for 2011, but will share that with you another time!


Happy New Year to all!!!

Pam

Projects Completed in the Last 12 Months

When I see the following list, it makes me wonder why we procrastinated getting all of this done before. It would have been so much easier to do a few more projects every year than waiting to do them all in 12 months- especially the tile projects! I am looking forward to getting some rest. If our house sells, that will be good, but we might have to start all over again.  If our house doesn't sell then we will just have maintenance, but no new house projects! That would be good, too! OK, there might be one or two projects we would do!!!

Here's the list of projects completed in the last 12 months. The projects with the * by them were completed since January 1. I can tell you there hasn't been a single weekend where we didn't work on projects.. Most weekends we worked both days. We did have a few where we worked only one. Whew!

Guest Room:

painted

new (Craigslist, garage sale)furniture

new curtains*

new bed cover*

Master Bath:

painted walls

bought new mirrors

painted vanity lights

added crown molding

installed tile floor*

Made Master Bedroom draperies*

Bonus Room:

Installed a closet (used to be a nook) *

installed closet organizer*

 

Upstairs Bath: 

Repainted*

added new small cabinet*

new shower curtain*

new towel bars*
repainted vanity light*
refinished artwork*

installed tile floor* 

Powder Room: repainted walls*
Refinished mirror*

Oldest daughter's bedroom:

repainted 

redecorated*
Update:
organized armoire: you have
to see this. Click HERE.

Youngest daughter's bedroom:

repainted

redecorated*
(see updated bookcases HERE and HERE)

Foyer: added crown molding below shelf above Front Door*

Basement Family Room:

built mantel shelf 

had the stonework done
We finished this space off
(somewhat) several years 
ago. Mr. F did most of the work. We hired and electrician and had a friend
help with the sheetrock. 




Basement Bathroom:
Several years ago, we finished the bathroom ourselves, with the exception
of the granite.

Finally installed the towel bars &
toilet paper holder.
New artwork.

Deck: repainted

Front Porch: replaced posts, removed railing 

Laundry Room:
painted walls

installed new tile floor*

Garage: 

painted floor* and walls*

Had new granite counterops installed*
Mr. F and I installed the tumbled tile backsplash*
Added the bar top corbels*

Are we crazy or what? Of course this list doesn't tell the whole story because there were lots of projects within those listed. All of you diyers out there know what each project entails - the numerous trips to the big box store, Walmart, Homegoods, TJ Maxx and Marshall's! And all of the choices! It is so much easier to help someone else make decorating choices for their homes than to make a choice for ours. Are you the same way?

I enjoy doing diy projects around the house, but I am glad our house projects are finished...... for now.

Have a great day!

Pam

So Many Projects .... So Little Time

Are you like me & have a LONG list of projects needing to be started or finished? Being a DIYer, our home has always been in a state of endless projects. And, we can't just work on one at a time, but have several going on at one time!
We've really kicked it in to high gear around our house beginning last summer because we are planning on putting our house on the market.

Here's what we've done so far:

* Guest Room: painted & decorated - After living in our house for 9 years the room was still painted the white builder primer paint.

I am not so good about taking before photos, but I dug around &
actually found a few before photos. This one was taken by my sister.
Wow, draperies are from the previous house & don't match the comforter)

* Master Bath: Yep, this room was still the builder white, too. Installed crown molding, replaced the large mirror with 2 picture frame ones & repainted the vanity light fixtures. You can see the progress we've made in the Master Bath here.

Our Master Bath before painting. Ughhh, is what
I said every time I went in here!

* Master Bedroom Draperies: Had the fabric for at least 2 years.
* Bonus Room: Installed a closet so we could list the house as a 5 bedroom.
* Upstairs Bath: Repainted.
* Powder Room: repainted a neutral color over the bordello red.
* 2 Bedrooms (2 daughters): Painted both, redecorated one. Almost finished  with one that is coming out REALLY well.
*Foyer: added crown molding below shelf above Front Door
* Basement: built mantel shelf & had the stonework done
* Deck: repainted
* Front Porch: replaced posts, removed railing
This is all in addition to decrappifying the entire house and basement!


Whew, I guess we've been busy.

Now here's what we still have to do:

* Master Bath: Tile floor. This is our next project coming up a few weeks
* Laundry Room: Tile floor
* Upstairs Bath: Tile floor
* Bonus Room/Office: install a closet organizer
* Upstairs Bedroom: Paint trim
* Porch: build a new rail
* Garage: Paint walls & Floor
* Family room, Foyer, Hallway: call a painter!

We are going to try to get this all finished by the end of May. That leaves us only 3 months! There is a project planned for EVERY one of our weekends. We are definitely going to be busy. I will post the after photos soon.

Do you have multiple projects going at one time and have "Design ADD" like me? Or, do you stick to one project at a time?

Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!!!

Pam