Summer Projects

June 1, 2008

We officially ended our school year on Friday, so I'm ready to face the summer projects. I'm trying to be a realist this year. I have just a few projects planned that absolutely must get done:

1) First and foremost, paint the kitchen.

It's been about 10 months since I peeled most of the wallpaper off; you can see one of the last remnants there in the corner, where I can't reach (a-hem, Dr. H.). That is absolutely the first project of the summer, and if it's the only one that gets done, I'll take that.


2) Next, the sunporch must be straightened and made clutter-free.

This is a project that I do every summer because during the winter, the sunporch becomes the junk room. Every single thing, large and small, that does not have a home, finds one in the sunporch. So this extremely cute room (which is currently a craft room, but someday may be my writing nook) with loads of potential charm is a disaster area by spring. Every year. But this time I am vowing to keep the sunroom clean and well-used. And that leads into #3...

3) Figure out how to use my new space.

So, a little background for those of you who aren't avid, dedicated, obsessed readers of my blog: we bought this house because it has a 1-bedroom apartment attached to it (separate entrance) so that my parents could live here in the winter, as they've done for 7 years. But this year my parents up and bought a house a half-mile down the road. And so here we are with an extra bedroom, bath, kitchen, and living room! And another closet and even some storage! I haven't really absorbed this yet, but once we clear out my parents' furniture and what-not, we need to figure out how we're going to use this extra space. I'm thinking that this living room might become the library/game room. I'm picturing the walls lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a couple of comfy sofas. And of course all the junk from the sunporch, neatly organized. But I'm still processing.

So those are the projects. This week I have two goals. First, I'm going to get the keys to my parents' new house (they are still in New York working toward putting their house their on the market) and take a couple of loads over there. And second, I'm going to finish getting the last chunks of wallpaper off. (And as a separate goal, I'm going to get this year's school books and such put away!)

So tell me about your summer projects!