Hold on to your hats!

The 'ol blog has been pretty boring as of late. I've been trying to get back into a routine and it isn't going so well! So, here's a long, boring post about how we're about to be unboring :)

So, for some inspiration and motivation,

I present the Fall version of the

We also have a Project List that is just general things we want to do here, in no particular order.

And, we have the "Too bad we don't play the lottery, but if we did and won, this is what we'd do to the house" list.

But, we are realistic and Dave Ramsey budgeters, so here is our Fall/Winter list. 

It might look involved to some... it might look bare to others :) But, most of these projects will be free, cheap, or something that we already have purchased and just haven't gotten around to doing.

The Tale of the Two Toned Counter Tops: 

The off white one will be getting a coat (or two) of counter top paint that we purchased when the stove died and we added the dark counter into the kitchen.That stool is also getting some of its height removed and a coat of White Ivy paint.

Boring entryway that was once covered in outdoor carpet:

The neighborhood cats LOVED coming and marking their territory on that carpet. It quickly got the boot and the concrete got a dousing of bleach! I've not touched this for 2 years. I wasn't sure what to do. Now, the plan is to paint it to look like old bricks. (I'm always open to tips, suggestions, and other ideas!)

We started this next one with a trial run in the hallway upstairs. All of the bedrooms, the hallway, and the stairwell have hardwood floors underneath the carpet. We weren't sure what the floors looked like, so we started small. They look good, so the rest of the upstairs and the stairs are going to be going bare! No refinishing, just carpet removal with a good cleaning.

The only problem, is that the stairs have been painted at some point:

The steps and kick plates both have an off white/peach/yellow on them. It looks like there was once maybe a carpet runner down them (?). So, on the stairs, we can't just rip up the carpet. We might sand them down and refinish.... or, we might just paint them. I was planning on sanding and staining the steps and painting the kick plates, but I'm leaning towards painting the whole shebang now. I already "ski" down them from time to time now, so I want to look into ways to make them safe but not slick (and puppy nail resistant, as much as that's possible).

Ugh... this next one has been a DOOSEY (how do you spell that?)

The downstairs bathroom

We started this project a while ago. A year ago. We had a leak. Luckily, knock on wood, cross your fingers, we took care of by digging ditches in the backyard and installing drainage tile and gravel underground. But, this leak had been here a while. A long while with no one knowing. 

One thing we don't mess with: mold. And this room had it... all shades and colors. We bought expensive masks and tore out gross drywall, pulled up linoleum, and bleached it all down. We also purchased some air purifiers. Then, we let this room sit. I still go in from time to time and spray bleach on it all while holding my breath and run out. It's mold free, but I just want to make sure. We also wanted to make sure that the leaks were fixed before we touched it. So, leaks are fixed. We bought most of what we need to redo this back when it all happened, so this should be a cheap fix. And, it's tiny, so it shouldn't be a lengthy project (that's typically the seal of death for a short, cheap project though). Just a note: if you click on the link above, you see how we fixed the leaks, what the bathroom looked like in it's multicolored molded glory, and what we had to do in the kitchen because of it... that leak really made our Project List go awry for awhile!

And, the motherload project- The room above the garage:

 Last year, Dustin moved some ductwork around and this room is now the warmest in the house in the winter. We never used it until this past year. Starting in October this room is getting it's carpet ripped out, a painted ceiling, painted walls, and new hardwood floors (maybe the floors we salvaged from Dustin's great grantparents farmhouse). It's also getting some new lighting. We love hanging out in this room. We don't necessarily hate how it is now, but it is just so incredibly dark and the carpet just feels gross. (truth be told, when we first moved into this house, the cats were quarantined to this room only. There was a territory battle and someone peed in the corner next to the litterbox but where the treadmill now is. We discovered this last year. If you look closely there, you can see that we ripped that carpet out and laid down a piece of linoleum. We knew this project was coming so we just needed a quick fix.). 

I'm excited and ready to start! But, Dustin's job goes through mid-October, so we will start them then when he's here all day every day for a few months. I've also been loading up on classes while I work on my doctorate. I'm getting burnt out so when I finish the three (yeah, ugh... three) I'm working on now, I'm slowing my pace a bit. Luckily, (I guess it's lucky...) once I finish these, I'll be getting into my dissertation classes and will need to slow down anyway. 

There are some other things on the Project List too. Most of them are Dustin-only things and involve the garage :). He also thinks we need to go through out closets this winter (yuck). Yesterday, he dropped the bomb that we are also going to pull everything out of our kitchen cabinets, clean them, and go through stuff this winter (triple yuck....Sometimes his Navy/OCD cramps my packrat style! :)) I also still have a ton of smaller things I plan to work on too. I like having smaller projects to work on as breaks from the computer, so I seem to get more done when I'm busiest.

But for now, I need to write some essays so I can take that break!