Friday, March 5, 2010

{Project: Spring Break}

Mr. Pie and I have spring break off together. It's been sooooo long since we've had a whole week off of school and work at the same time! We thought at first that we would try to head out for a few days and grab a hotel in a new city and do some exploring, as we like to do. Or grab a hotel for a night in a city that we know and love. We kept procrastinating on those plans though and couldn't really figure out why. Usually if we're procrastinating it means our hearts aren't in it.

Then today we were talking about our plans again and started listing a key project (or two) around the house that we may also want to get done... and then THAT list started growing. We decided in the end that we would spend the whole week getting all these little projects done instead of going out of town and in the end we would feel a lot better about it.

So, here's the list of all the stuff we want to get done on our spring break.

Bedroom:
-pull out all the furniture to dust baseboards/window sills, clean carpets, wash curtains
-close up this weird vent we have that is actually the back of an old useless fireplace, do the same to the front in the other room. We're thinking silicon
-clean the blinds with bleach in the tub
-clean out closet? (eep!)
-empty out all drawers and find a ton of stuff to donate

weird back of fireplace thingy that blows
dust in to our bedroom


Bathroom:
-scrub it down from the ceiling to the floor
-pull up the weird plastic border stuff we thought we could get away with using instead of baseboards
-remove the peel-and-stick tile that is shifting on the floor and replace with tiles that are the right size so they stay put
-install quarter-round
-block up that weird hole in the closer that the cat uses to go in to the walls. Organize linen closet
-sand off the paint on the cabinet and re-stain it some colour close

this cabinet was going to be painted white at the same time we
painted the walls, but then I decided I liked it as is


oh dear god that's embarrassing


Living/Dining Room:
-move furniture to clean baseboards, rent steamer to clean the rugs and carpets, wash curtains and soaking blinds in the tub with bleach
-buy & install real curtain rods. Burlap window valence? Whatta ya think?
-spray paint the brass coloured chandelier with the bronzey colour. What do you do with those glass pieces? Spray 'em white? Etching spray to get rid of that ugly flower pattern?
-move the bookcase over 3"

Burlap valences to hide the blinds under?


Chandelier Before


Kitchen:
-scrub from the ceiling to the floor
-put a new coat of paint on the kitchen cabinets
-spray paint that weird metal cabinet thing the same shade of white
-install a new faucet to replace the one that's not going to last much longer
-build a little box to lift up the small kitchen cart we're using to extend the counter space so it's the same height as the counter
-organize the shelves beside the laundry.

weird white metal shelves that need to be the same colour white


wheels need to come off and then add a small
box underneath to boost up the height

Backyard:
-build a composting system (the one we have now is just a blue garbage bin and is hard to turn)
-buy some really big planters to start a small garden this spring. Fill with compost and get ready to plant!

an example of a possible compost bin
using wood pallets



I'll need to make a list of all the materials we'll need from the hardware store so we only have to make one trip. The big ones are about an hour away and it would suck to have to keep running back and forth. We've got our work cut out for us but I'm actually really excited to get all this stuff done! Wish us luck!

I'd love to hear your opinions on all the questions I asked in the midst of my list! Is everyone else in the mood for Spring Cleaning too?

9 comments:

  1. Wow, I'm so impressed with all your energy! That list is LONG! But I agree, it is so much fun when you're done. And isn't it weird that there always seems to be some project or another that needs to be done, no matter how much you do?

    Good luck on all your cleaning and fixing! Let's hope you find some tome to knit some too :)

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  2. Lol knitting? hehe I don't think the list should be too bad if we do it over 7 days. The kitchen is the big room, but the other ones won't even take a whole day I bet. :)

    Then again, I always underestimate how long projects will take. lol

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  3. Wow Sarah, I'm so impressed, giving up your vacation to do work around the house! I bet you'll be glad once you've finished though; it's so satisfying when you complete those little nagging projects.

    Make sure you get away some time though; it sounds like you need a break with your busy schedule!

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  4. Wow that's an impressive list. Good luck with all that. And just one trip to the hardware store? Come on. Mr. Pie knows, I'm sure, that multiple hardware store trips are half the fun :)

    Oh...love the photo of your kitchen with Popeye in it. Classic.

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  5. Josh: I think the photos of my house will become like a regular "where's Waldo" but with Popeye instead. hehe

    We don't mind multiple trips to the local harware store, heck we walk there! It's the multiple trips to the big Lowes 40 minutes away that are annoying!!

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  6. Hi Sarah, just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to comment on my photo tips. And as you are an expert knitter, I was wondering whether you had any easy baby-knits here... Looking for a simple project for a simple knitter... Guess you are too advanced for that ;-)
    Happy spring cleaning!

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  7. Impressed! And it has taken me almost a full year to remove all the wallpaper from my kitchen (well, maybe I shouldn't say that yet, since it isn't done...)

    For the chandelier shades - instead of spray painting the glass (which might not work out so well), I'd just replace the shades with the kind that can clip onto the bulb. I did that with our old chandelier and it looked great!

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  8. Sarah,
    I love the way the chandelier turned out! Is the fireplace door to your bedroom removable so that you can have a little fireplace in your bedroom? That sounds like it might be neat if the fireplace is still useable. (It sounds like it may not be though?) Anyway, good luck with all the repairs! I can't wait to see more! :)

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  9. Faith: The little fireplace door is actually the back of the real fireplace, but it hasn't been functional for a long long time. It's totally closed off in the front and all that little door does is blow dust in to the bedroom. hehe

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