Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Office update

As mentioned in this previous post, I was desperate for a small desk for incoming mail, bills, and all that other miscellanea that accumulates during the week...

Ta da!


I ended up ordering most of the stuff listed in that post. Still need a cute chair and possibly a lamp. Maybe a wastebasket as well? But at the least, we are in business.

In the meantime, I organized and reevaluated all the books on the book shelf. The trunk will stay in that spot or possibly will move upstairs to the guest room.

Just for fun... we've come a long way from this:

2 years ago

But...

The office still needs some major work - we have a gigantic gash in the ceiling where we had a leak. And by "gash", I mean half the plaster ceiling is hanging and needs to be replaced. The radiator needs a custom cover built. We need a new ceiling fan. The large desk needs an organizational overhaul as well as an aesthetic overhaul. We need to cozy it up with a rug. Check in with me next year to see where we stand.


Saturday, February 18, 2012

to-do ... late winter / spring edition

Sorry for the lack of posting... besides being super busy, I'm in the middle of a million different projects.  
So-- that means no neat before-and-after photos.

Here's a glimpse of what is happening around here, in to-do list form:

1) We committed to, and ordered two tables from Ballard Designs. to use in front of our sofa...


I'd also like to add a couple of pouf cushions and throw pillows to the room...

* * *

2) I put 1 coat of polyurethane on our stairs. It dried quickly. But I haven't been able to commit to a second coat. I will have to do that one night right before we go to sleep; start at the bottom of the stairs and paint ourselves into a corner for the night, so to speak.


After that, I'll have to prime and paint the risers as well as some other touch-ups around the stairs.

* * *

3) After I finish painting the stairs... there is a lot of touch-up work to do everywhere...
- touch up wall paint around the house
- patch and repair hole behind bedroom door
- patch and repair ceiling area next to stairs
- touch up white trim around the house
- touch up wall paint around the house
- finish white paint inside closet of 3rd bedroom

All that should in theory take about 1-2 hours of my time, but I will procrastinate for months I'm sure...

* * *

4) Acquire and have lighting installed:
- dining room chandelier
- vestibule sconce
- front stoop ceiling light
- upstairs hallway ceiling light
- upstairs master bedroom ceiling light
- upstairs 2 small bedrooms ceiling lights

* * *

5) Basement:
- repair and paint floor
- paint walls
- order treadmill
- workout everyday
 


5) Bedroom:
I've been pulling together furniture and accessories to give our bedroom a boost. Here's a sneak peek at the old screen our contractor was about to throw out. I spent some time repairing it to look like this, but it needs to be spray-painted and hopefully used as a headboard...

We also need to order a new duvet cover for our new comforter.
And we need better bed-side lamps.

* * *

6) Office
I really want to fix up our large desk to resemble this:
In addition we desperately need to:
- repair gigantic crack in the ceiling
- install new ceiling fan
- cozy it up with a rug
- custom-build a radiator cover
- get a cute cheap chair for my billing station

* * *

I think we can accomplish most of this over the next few months. Here is a look at my to-do list from a few months ago - a lot of the big projects were surprisingly accomplished!!