I made a list over last weekend of house projects I reeeeaaally want to get done this year. Some have been dragged out for far too long (like the basement) and then there are the ones we’ve been saying we need to do since the first year of living at the house. Last weekend I must have had a fire lit under me because I already started on one of the projects—repainting the baseboards. So here’s what I’m hoping gets done this year!
1. Basement: We are seriously on the home stretch with this one, you guys. However, I feel like I have been saying it for like…ever. The cabinet around the gas meter has started, and the door under the stairs needs to be started completely over. Someday there will be a dry bar down there, but in order for the basement to be completed in my mind, the gas meter cabinet and door under the stairs are what’s left.
2. Baseboards: One of my goals this year is to get the baseboards on the entire first floor repainted. They have yellow stains on them from when our hardwood floors were refinished before moving into the house almost four years ago. The guest room’s were done when I repainted and the bathroom doesn’t have any, but everywhere else needs to be touched up. Last weekend I was able to get the baseboards in the hallway, kitchen and dining room done. The living room and office will be next, followed by our bedroom.
3. Quarter Round Molding: Tim has been wanting to do this since we moved into the house. It’s also a nice way to make the baseboards look finished. There’s a spot in the dining room where the wood floor’s planks don’t meet the baseboards evenly, so adding quarter round would help hide that. But in order to install the quarter round, the baseboards need to be repainted and ready to go. I’m not sure if I’ll end up painting the quarter round white to match the baseboards or leave them wood to match the floors. I think I’m leaning towards white.
4. Landscaping: I seriously think this has been on our to-do list the last two summers, but hopefully we can get to it this year. The wooden railroad ties in the front yard are rotted and need to go. We’re hoping to do a stone wall (similar to this) or edging (like this) to replace the wood ties. It just depends on what we do with the bushes—keep them, replace them, add other plants. We also have to factor in that our yard slopes down a bit.
There are a few other smaller projects I want to do this year like putting the finishing touches on the office (still waiting on my chair to come back from being reupholstered) and repaint our bedroom, but those won’t take quite the effort.
—m.