House projects...

The problem with spending multiple hours every day nursing Charlie is that I am also spending multiple hours every day staring at my house. While I nurse I make grand plans and come up with all sorts of ideas that I have absolutely NO TIME to accomplish. This doesn't stop me from trying though. I've started a good number of projects, but haven't finished a single one of them. Maybe by Charlie's first birthday I'll have a few of them finished. Why do I do this to myself?

Here are a few of them...

1. After John graduated from college he needed a dresser, so we found this one at a yard sale and I painted it and added new knobs with the help our friend, Mark. I really like the dresser and I'm kind of sentimentally attached to it, but it isn't great for kids. You have to pull on both knobs at once or else the drawers won't open correctly. So, instead of it taking up space in Charlie's room, I thought I'd try it out in the front room as an entry table. It totally doesn't work here...way to huge, but I don't know where else to put it, and I don't have a plan B for the entry. So here it sits.


2. I moved this bench into the house from the patio so that I can have a comfy place to feed Charlie while Henry plays in the front room. The problem is, the white cushion cover on the bench is totally ruined and needs to be replaced, so I have temporarily covered it with some blue and white gingham fabric...which totally bunches up and looks awful most of the time. When I was up in Fresno with Denise (literally less than 24 hours before she gave birth to Levi) we went fabric shopping at a great discount fabric store in Fresno. I bought fabric to make a bench cushion and recover the pillows on the bench. When do I think I'm going to have time to sew those? I have no idea...


3. While at the Fresno fabric store I bought some gray and white stripe fabric to make new curtains for Charlie's room (which are actually already done...hooray!) and decided that I would take the old white curtains and hang them in front of the closet...I was completely over the sliding closet doors! Henry kept smashing his fingers and you couldn't access anything in the center of the closet, so curtains it needed to be. But...the white curtains are too short to completely cover the closet opening. No big deal, I bought fabric to add to the bottom to make them long enough. I just don't have any time to do this. So, for now, these closet curtains are sporting the high-water look...


4. I also need some additional toy storage in Charlie's room. Henry LOVES playing in here, so most of our toys have made their way in, I just don't have anywhere to store them. I'm sort of toying with the idea of moving Charlie in with Henry and then designating this as a playroom. John just rolls his eyes at me when I tell him this. He thinks we should see how Charlie sleeps in the crib before we do anything drastic. He's probably right...


5. I moved the armoire (that was formerly housing our old, beastly, TV) into Charlie's room for more clothes storage (keeping track of hand-me-downs takes some serious organization!). I want to paint it white but I don't know when I'm ever going to get to that project...


6. We replaced the armoire in our family room with the billy bookcase that was formerly in Henry's old room and added doors to the top portion. We got a new flat panel TV and it fits perfectly in the center section. We did this because the armoire/old, beastly TV combo wasn't working for us anymore. This has been a HUGE improvement for us. We also reoriented the couch so that it faces away from our bedroom door in the corner which is so much better. I hated having people sitting on the couch and staring into our messy bedroom! (I guess technically this would be considered a completed project...yeah me!)


7. I was kind of done with having all of my W's on the wood panels, so I took them off and have started to try to create some sort of gallery wall. When will I finish this? Who knows?

8. We have quilts/blankets EVERYWHERE in our house. I love this, but I want a way to store/display them. I'm on the hunt for an old wooden ladder that I can put in the family room to serve this purpose. I found one in Fresno for $40, but I'm hoping to stumble upon one for cheaper. Anyone have one they want to get rid of?


I am, however, keeping up with my 2 most important projects...



My house will be in disarray for a good long while, but my boys are coming along nicely, I think. And really, that's all that really matters, right?