Winter Break To Do, 2011

So I didn't do too great on my last to-do list, but I blame that on the fact that I started working in a research lab on campus, while taking full-time classes, and dealing with my totally insane but adorable foster dog Slim (who had since been adopted):

Nonstop craziness, all day...

...every day.

200+ photos to finally get a couple in focus. Not exaggerating.

Look at that face. Adorable, but no idea how to get along with other males, and constantly getting into fights with my Davinci and bullying my Goliath. And he peed on EVERYTHING, and then the boys peed on everything again, and it was a vicious cycle of constant urination (thank you, former owner who never got him neutered, that was a lot of fun). Which is why you see him wearing a belly band in the photo above. Because I'm only willing to replace my curtains once.

Anyhow, now for a new list! Hopefully more readily achievable!

• Repaint the dining room Tempered Gray (the same gray that the rest of the house is painted)
• Finish fixing the cat stairs
• Refinish the fireplace
• Sort and organize all the paperwork in the office (again)
• Line the back of the office hutch with fabric

And maybe:

• Replace all the quarter round on the floors
• Start painting the trim and doors white

The Neglected Office.

Normally I would refuse to show something like this. It's embarrassing. It's my office. Or at least, I want it to be my office. Right now it's more like the catch-all of everything that hasn't been organized yet. For almost two years it has remained in utter chaos.

This is an improvement actually. Well, it looks worse, but that's because things have been coming out of hiding and getting put away properly. Everything on the desk used to be INSIDE the desk, and I've gotten rid of about half the boxes that were in there previously. Yesterday we installed the IKEA Lack shelves above the desk (that the cat ripped out of the dining room wall). She loves the office, and has decided to climb on them in here now. Cats....

The IKEA Expedit bookcase used to be in the bedroom, but as my collection of paperwork has grown exponentially, I co-opted it for storage in the office and we moved the little dresser that matches the vanity out of the guest bedroom and into the master bedroom.

One of my summer goals is to get this room organized and functional. My husband is going to build a table following this design to house the printer and probably also the sewing machine.  I can't wait to get this room under control.

Summer 2011 To Do.

This summer, I would like to:

• Finish painting all the trim and doors white (They are currently this ugly yellow-beige. What would you call that? Beijlow? Whatever, it's hideous)
• Install shelves on the other half of the laundry room
• More book storage
• Restain the bathroom cabinetry an espresso color (And possibly the kitchen, but I'm hemming and hawing over whether I want a dark stain or white paint)
• Replace the lighting in both bathrooms (well, we got the guest bathroom done at least)
• Replace the fluorescent light fixture in the kitchen
• Finish organizing all the boxes of paperwork in the office and make it a usable space
• Get an estimate for gutters and rain barrels 

My husband also offered to paint the exterior of the house. It's butter yellow, which is probably my least favorite color in the world.  I also think it makes the white door look really out of place.

See:

I'm envisioning a sage green or soft brown, or maybe a dove gray, with a creamy white for the trim (maybe black). But do I really wanna spend the money on all that paint? The existing paint isn't in bad condition, except for where the garage door rubbed against the trim and picked up some of the dark teal. And eventually, if we stay here long enough, we want to replace all the wood siding with Hardieplank cement fiberboard siding and redo the insulation, and we'd have to paint again then. But, that's a ways off, and maybe the house will need to be repainted again by that time anyways.