Hello and Happy Monday! This week is starting off so much stronger than last week – we had a nasty GI bug travel through our family and to say it was no fun is an understatement. Thankfully Ollie and I escaped it but the majority of my time was spent taking care of everyone else and helping aid recovery in whatever way I could. I did manage to get in some time towards the end of the week finishing up another stenciled wall in the guest bedroom so we’re continuing to make progress there!
While the stenciled wall is coming along, it is obviously somewhat tedious and a long process, so I’m going to be sprinkling in some smaller projects to break up the monotony. This week I decided to take some time to do a bit of “spring cleaning” of my project to-do list. Basically, I have a list in my head of the things, both big and small, that I want to accomplish in my house and I’m going to challenge myself to complete a few of the small things this week. I realized that several items were started or connected to the month of March in a previous year, so in the spirit of March almost being over yet again, I decided to tackle all those March-related things.
1. Finish Upgrading the Rustic Dresser
In March 2022, I shared how I made some mistakes in buying this dresser off Facebook Marketplace, which I originally intended to upgrade for my sister’s nursery (thankfully I found a much better option!) This one has just been sitting in our workshop for a year and it is beyond time for it to move on and go somewhere else. It’s already sanded down and Justin recently replaced a missing board on one side. This week, I’m going to stain +polyurethane it and then donate it to a family in need in my community. I’m glad to get it out of our space and very thankful it can go to someone else who needs it!
2. Update the Staircase Gallery Wall
In March 2021, I shared how I started a gallery wall by our spiral staircase. My goal was always to continue to build on this and add pictures as our family grows and now feels like the perfect time. Most importantly, we need to add some photos of Ollie! I’ve been collecting photos and frames to add to the wall so this should be a pretty fun and easy task.
3. Finish the Playroom Baseboard Trim
Also in March 2021, I updated and painted the window trim in the playroom. I later went through and painted the baseboards to match the wall color. The ONLY thing I didn’t paint was the piece of trim at the bottom of the wallpapered wall – I couldn’t decide if it should match the blue of the other walls or be a white to blend in more. I’ve decided on white and it’s time to get it painted and finished!
4. Make a Simple Phone Call!
And finally – also back in March 2021 (what a busy month that was!) I painted the front door of our house. This is significant because notice in the top left corner of the picture how the white paint stops? IT’S STILL LIKE THAT. Two. Years. Later.
It’s been a halfway-painted, two story foyer for 2+ years and it’s to the point now where I’m so used to it it doesn’t even really register for me how ridiculous it looks, ha! I cannot actually paint the second story level of our foyer because it’s way too high and complex, but I’ve just never gotten around to calling/getting quotes for hiring it out. So this week, I’m making the calls. This is probably the easiest item on the list and yet somehow the one I’m looking forward to the least (what is it about making phone calls!?) but I’m hoping that the fact that I’m writing about it here will help keep me accountable. It’s high time our foyer gets finished!
I’m also hoping to keep plugging away at the guest room stenciled wall – my mother-in-law is coming to visit on Friday for a week so we’ll see if I can get another section done before she arrives!
simplify the chaos 