Happy New Year!

No resolutions, just a huge to-do list. Now that Christmas is over, and the New Year is upon us, the thought of all the projects still to be done is overwhelming. Days are too short, and weekends are definitely not long enough.


The winter to-do list starts here...

Fix (or replace) the garbage disposal. Broken since Thanksgiving, the clogged drain is starting to get the better of us.

Sew and hang the family room curtains.

Sew the throw pillows and covers for the family room couch.

Hang remaining pictures in the game room.

Paint the small guest bedroom.

Clean out all closets on the first floor and organize (there are more closets than anyone could ever need, yet we've stuffed them full of coats, tools and loads of miscellaneous crap)

Re-do the mudroom/laundry room (below). Now that we have a new front loading dryer, the closet doors don't close, leaving the washer and dryer exposed. There is some wallpaper to tackle in there as well, of course. The bi-fold doors will have to be removed, and the shelving redone so that it is more functional.

Sand and paint the old coffee table that will be transformed into the new TV console.

Finish the blue guest room, including finding or making a headboard, new curtains, and hanging up pictures. I'd also love to find the perfect pair of bedside tables. I'm waiting for the Craig'sList gods to send them to me.

Paint and reupholster my new chair and bench. (Separate posts to come!)

I'm sure there are a million more things I could add to this. Starting with miles of wallpaper that needs to be addressed. I think I need to get back to working on the wallpaper for a little while each night after dinner. Even 30 minutes to an hour would help us make some headway in the dining room and powder room. I'm really thinking that before our next dinner party we should make some progress in the dining room, or people will think we've given up.

I did manage to scratch one thing off my list in the last few hours of 2010. After scrubbing the master bathroom top to bottom, I finally installed the shade for the window. It was so quick, I wish I'd done it ages ago. We actually bought two for the same window, one grasscloth at Christmas Tree Shops for $17, and another bamboo at Lowe's that we liked much better. Once we found the bamboo shade I'd intended to use the first one in the mudroom. The bamboo ended up being a touch too wide for the inside mount, but the grasscloth fit perfectly. It really is embarrassing how long it took us to get that done, but oh well.

I'm looking forward to a winter of weekends home. Don't tell Dave, but I secretly can't wait to get back outside and work on the yard. Once spring comes, I know we'll be outside 24/7, so we've got to get cracking on the inside. If only we could attack the wallpaper with the same determination as we attacked the yard.