The List

Some of you have asked for sneak peeks of the new house so here it is in the form of a massive photographic to-do list. Brace yourselves. It's going to get ugly. 

1. Hang some stinkin blinds. This house didn't have a single window covering. We bought new blinds but I have only gotten around to hanging a few of them so I still have these lovely trash bag and duct tape curtains in a couple of the rooms.

2. Remove a million of these annoying hooks and patch the holes. Okay, it isn't really a million but there is one in the master bedroom, four in the kitchen and eight (8!!!) in the living room. Who in the world needs that many plant hangers?

3. Paint everywhere. It's hard to tell from the photo but this particular wall was covered in disgustingness of an unknown origin. I washed my hands repeatedly while dealing with it. Another room is covered in crayon drawings. You can also see in the top left corner of this pic that they started painting over things in some of the rooms but never finished so there are just crappy beige splotches everywhere.

4. Patch a bajilion holes. Just painting wouldn't be so bad but there is a ton of prep work that has to be done beforehand. Apparently the previous tenants like to switch up their decor a lot (which I totally understand) but they never filled in any of the old holes so every single wall is covered in holes that have to be filled (sometimes taped) and sanded before painting.

5. Put up closet doors. The spare room closets and the coat closet (in the very left of this pic) are all missing doors because they were too damaged to salvage. So those all need to replaced. The closets that currently have doors don't open and close because the new carpet is too thick so they will also need to be cut down. 

6. Build shelves for my craft supplies. Looking at this photo I also realize that I need to:

7. Sort and purge craft supplies.

8. Replace baseboards. There are random baseboards missing and I have no idea why. Sigh. As you can see in this pic, I painted along the baseboards (or just the bottom of the wall if there weren't any) before they put in the new carpet since it is always a pain to get the bottom edge once the carpet is in. I think the bright white looks so much cleaner and fresher than the beige and has a nice contrast to the carpet.

9. Replace the ugly kitchen light fixture. It may not look so bad in this picture but it is nasty and dirty. I also cannot stand the clinical look of these florescent lights.

 

10. Do something with this wallpaper/paneling. Not only is it ugly but it is textured too. I don't really want to rip it out because I have no idea what condition the drywall behind it is in (if there even is drywall) so I may cover it with my own texture.

11. Caulk everything. I'm not sure why they used quarter round as "crown molding" in the first place but what I *really* don't understand is why they never caulked it or any of the other trim that they put up.

12. Replace the contact paper on the shower window. This is another one of those things that I don't understand: Why do all houses built in the 60's/70's have a window in the shower? Who thought this was really a good idea? It's creepy, it doesn't work for ventilation because if you open it while you are showering the neighbors get an eyeful, and no matter how hard you try to keep it dry, the wood around it will eventually rot. 

13. Fill thousands of little holes in the wainscoting. This kind of goes along with not caulking the crown molding. Why put it up in the first place if you aren't going to finish it and make it look nice? At least I know it is on there really well because there is a nail every four inches.

14. Install new shelves in the pantry. The current shelves are all wonky, too deep and there aren't enough of them. 

15. Replace all of the light switch and outlet covers. Every single one is either missing or it has been painted over to match the wall cover instead of being replaced in a complimentary color. It would also be nice to replace the outlets and switches themselves since they are all brown but that one is pretty far down on the list of importance.

16. Paint the laundry "room" doors. SO. UGLY.

17. Clean all of the disgusting windows and repair the screens.

18. Patch the big freaking hole that Shelby made in the living room wall. When installing the air conditioner he forgot to check for studs before cutting the hole in the drywall so he and Steve (friend/boss/landlord) had to move it over several inches so they would only have to cut through one stud instead of two. Now I get to fix it. :p

There are also at least twenty more things that need to be done outside but I am just trying to focus on the interior for now. I want to get all of this stuff done first so that I can actually feel comfortable in my home instead of getting a nervous twitch when I look at every thing that needs to be done. I also really want to get to the fun decorating part!

Just so this post isn't completely filled with ugliness, I will leave you with a peek of Jer's freshly painted bedroom (the one with the mysterious nastiness in photo #3). It feels so much better already:

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