Progress

As such things go, we began the process of converting our guest room into a nursery.  Once the books were downstairs, the bed needed to go. The frame and mattress both went to different friends and yesterday M. started to assemble some of the furniture we got.  We decided to go with an Ikea Kallax unit to use as a changing table, so that has three sets of legs to raise it to a better height for changing.  The color scheme for the room is yellow, aqua, and white, with a sea life theme. 

On top of the Kallax unit are the drawers for our new bathroom vanity.  We decided, after getting extremely high quotes to redo the bathroom in it's entirety, that since the bathroom is in mostly good shape and we really just want a new vanity, to put in a new vanity.  First we have to have a plumber come in and insulate the pipes properly, and then we will need to install the vanity.  (I'm using the term "we" lightly, I think my responsibilities will include keeping M. company.)

So the big to-do list between now and October includes the following:

Nursery:

• Assemble crib (one it comes in)
• Make mobile
• Paint dresser
• Hang artwork
• Purchase glider
• Check windows/walls for lead paint
• Hang Elfa

Bathroom

• Clear out storage cubes
• Call plumber, have them repair pipes
• Install new vanity and sink

Office

• Install new Elfa desk
• Get rid of old desk
• Move old Elfa out
• Purge and organize crafting supplies

Misc.

• Radon inspection
• Make room for upright freezer in the basement
• Clear out shelving between closets
• Bolt everything to the walls

That's all that's on the list that I can think of for now, but things are starting to get awfully cute around here:

Spring has Sprung!

March is always weird here in Maryland, and the weather oscillates between springly sixties and oh-my-god-this-winter-will-never-end-it's-so-cold.  But! Daylight savings time means we can get some projects done in the evenings, and soon our weekends are freeing up as well. So it's time for some Spring To-Do listing!


Checking out our house to dos, there are a number of outdoor projects that have been put on hold that we plan to tackle this spring.  Spring is also when we were planning on redoing our upstairs bathroom and possibly build a deck, so we need to start calling contractors. 


Outside:

• Paint side and rear door - I no longer have any desire to paint the front door, but we do need to paint the side door and the rear door is pretty ugly.
• Install doorbell
• Weed front sidewalk/steps
• Add something decorative to the left of the steps
• Add window boxes
• Clear excess plant pots, etc. from parking pad
• Powerwash cement in side alley
• Remove concrete post and wall (phase 2)

Master Bathroom

• Renovate to add double sinks, narrow door, large medicine cabinet, heated tile, insulate wall behind sink to avoid frozen pipes, resurface tub. 
• Build cubby into wall behind shower for additional storage
• Replace radiator with exhaust fan
• Hang curtains
• Spray paint washcloth basket - I made a very sad attempt at this once using acrylic paint and it did not come out well, so we've been waiting for it to be nice enough outside to spray paint

We are also going to be doing some large scale spring cleaning.  When putting away my winter outfits, I'm going to have to admit to myself that I have a very large number of sweaters and I wear like, four of them, and I'm also going to have to downsize my hoodie collection from four to perhaps two.  I'm considering consignment as an option for my nicer pieces that I haven't worn, rather than donating them, but that means storing them through the summer to consign at the beginning of the fall. 


I am also continually downsizing my considerable fabric collection, but recently learned of an opportunity to donate homemade baby quilts to children who are taken from unsafe homes by CPS here in Baltimore City, so I'm hoping maybe my mom and my sister, who have been sewing together recently, might be interested in a little quilting party to help me stash bust and do some good. 

To Do List

So here was our to-do list a couple months ago, and I wanted to update it so you can see how much progress we have made. I've also added new items in blue.

 Outside:

• Paint front and rear door
• Replace side door
• Replace door knobs and re-key
• Install doorbell Technically we did, it just didn't work properly and so now we need to:
• Add a door knocker 
• Weed front sidewalk/steps
• Add something decorative to the left of the steps
• Add window boxes
• Add corner protectors to cement wall by parking pad
• Clear excess plant pots, etc. from parking pad
• Powerwash cement in side alley
• Remove concrete post and wall (phase 2)

Kitchen:

• Rearrange food storage
• Hang hanging fruit basket
• Add some kind of pull out or lazy susan to deep corner cabinets to make more usable
• Buy new kitchen floor mats

Dining Room:

• Buy new rug
• Buy new dining room table
• Get rid of old dining room table
• Set up dining room table
• Empty of everything that should be in the laundry room
• Hang artwork
• Hang curtain holdbacks

Living Room

• Hang artwork
• Find a home for and hook up printer
• Get rid of extra bookcase
• Add fireplace mantle
• Get fireplace cover
• Get new rug(s)
• Get new remote for TV

Stairs:

• Hang photos

Bedroom:

• Build vanity
• Get nightstands
• Hang artwork
• Hang mirror
• Hang jewelry box
• Add second set of curtains
• Find pegs for bookcase

Guest Room

• Organize bookshelf
• Hang artwork
• Hang mirror
• Get office boxes out  

Closet

• Add better shoe storage
• Figure out where to store purses
• Organize and purge clothing

Office

• Unpack boxes
• Put everything away
• Figure out paper/office supply storage
• Figure out scrapbook paper storage
• Touch up paint
• Move cubes back from bathroom once we renovate bathroom

Master Bathroom

• Renovate to add double sinks, narrow door, large medicine cabinet, heated tile
• Better towel storage
• Build cubby into wall behind shower
• Replace radiator with exhaust fan
• Hang curtains

Downstairs Bathroom

• Paint
• Hang curtain
• Add mirror to storage
• Paint storage cabinets (we decided not to do this but installed a medicine cabinet instead)
• Better organize laundry storage
• Add shower curtain, bathmat
• Add shelving
• Hang over-the-toilet storage cabinet