I’ll be finishing up the studio bathroom project this weekend. I only have a few minor projects left to do there: touch up paint, install the wall light, install the new faucet, hang the artwork, install the new toilet paper holder and new hand towel ring, and clean the floor. The part that will really take up most of my time this weekend is cleaning the surrounding areas (the back entrance and the studio) and putting away all my tools and supplies. So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I hope to have photos of my newly completed studio bathroom on Monday.
And after that, I decided that I’m definitely going to take a break from interior projects and go out for a while so I can tackle some projects on the front of our house. I have so many little projects that have been on my list for so long that they have become a running joke for my mom and me.
Almost every time he comes over, he mentions my fallen shutter on the front window and I tell him, “You can’t rush projects like that. I still have a little more planning to do before I’m ready to tackle that project.” And we laugh, we move on and I forget about it until the next time I come. But that shutter has been closed for much longer than I’d like to admit because it’s embarrassing to have put it off for so long.
I also need to finish painting the trim around that window. That’s been left unfinished for… well… I don’t even know how long. I was painting it, doing my best to finish it before the sun went down, and my neighbor came over to chat with me. We chatted for a long time and when she left, it was too dark to paint, so I stopped. And I never went back and finished it. The next day, I was on another project. So that also sat undone for an embarrassingly long time, and I’m sure my neighbors (and my mom) have probably given up hope that I’ll ever finish it.
I’d also like to tackle the front porch baseboard, which is yet another project I started and never finished. I used that lightweight stone veneer and you’re supposed to paint it or use a protective coating if you’re going to use it outside. But since I never finished it, I never got to the painting stage. And now much of it is brittle, cracked and peeling. Then I need to take it off and start again. But this time I don’t want stone. I have a completely different look in mind.
I’m also going to use this time to fix up the front porch. I eventually want to replace all the cedar boards on the porch and replace them with composite boards that never have to be stained again. But I don’t want to tackle any major projects like that right now. So for now I’ll stick with the easier things. The front door needs a good cleaning and possibly a new coat of paint. The dryer vent should be painted so it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb. The columns would need some repairs and a new coat of paint. And I’m still looking for the perfect stain/sealer for the cedar porch. I’ve tried three different brands of wood porch stains/sealers and was not very impressed with any of them. I also have some new, larger lights that I would like to place on either side of the front door so I can use these smaller ones in my workshop.
I’d love to come up with a final plan for the area in front of our breakfast room windows. I have our landscape plan as a long-term goal, so maybe I can implement a part of that plan right now. I would love to find a water feature that I can place in that area. That area really needs some interest and color.
And I really want to get rid of the white paint on the vertical border on both sides of my studio. They were never supposed to be painted white. None of the vertical trim in our house is painted white because it looks too busy, but when we painted the house, the painters painted those trim white. I hated it this whole time, but I never took the time to repaint it. So that’s definitely on my list.
And then I’d like to tackle the new bedroom door. I don’t have a solid plan for that door steps/ramp yet, but I’d like to come up with a plan and do it. The door to my studio, on the other side of the house, also needs steps. I put that project off for a long time because it didn’t make any sense to build the stairs when we didn’t even have a driveway there. But now that we have a driveway, I have no excuse to keep putting it off.
I’m not sure exactly how much time I’ll spend on these outdoor projects. I just know that right now these projects excite me and I can’t wait to get out there and get started. When I think about starting a big interior project, I feel nothing but dread. So I think this is just the break from the big interior projects I need right now.
I think our house might be really nice, but these unfinished projects are probably the only thing people see when they walk by our house right now. I would like that to change. I want our house to stand out as the nice house on the block, not the house with the fallen shutter or the house with the unfinished porch baseboard. So I’m really excited to get started on these projects and see how much I can get done before I feel like I’m ready to go back inside and tackle the next big interior project.
So if all goes as planned, I’ll finish up the studio bathroom this weekend and then head out on Monday to start these outdoor projects on the front exterior of our house. I’m so excited about this detour and break from interior projects!
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 upper that my husband Matt and I purchased in 2013. Matt has MS and can’t do physical work, so I do most of the house work myself. You can learn more about me here.
