Steve and I have talked about so many things we want to do during the ambiguous time frame known as "soon" that I finally had to pin him down to some details. He calls it "indulging Colleen's crazy." I don't disagree.
There are some projects I can do myself. And there are some projects that are too scary or big or require upper body strength that I don't possess. Steve and I made a list of the projects that were on our to do list that just couldn't be done without Steve doing the heavy lifting (literally and/or figuratively). We added how long we thought we'd need to accomplish each project and an over-estimate of how much it would cost so that we don't outpace our bank account or our time off.
Here's what we came up with.
Gate Project ($300) 2 weekends
Right now we have a piece of X-fence screwed into our fence and the side of our house to keep our dogs in the back yard. We'd like to install an honest-to-goodness gate there to make it safe to leave the dogs in the back yard for extended periods of time and less of a pain to move the push mower from the back yard to the front and vice versa.
Paint Exterior ($600, 10-15 gallons) 1 weekend, assuming Colleen masks prior, does trim work afterwards
-wash outside (Colleen)
-mask windows, doors (Colleen)
-spray (Steve)
-trim (Colleen)
Timing for this project will largely depend on the weather. We need a clear, not-too-hot weekend for painting, two dry days beforehand for washing and masking, and at least a few dry days afterward for curing. Would be easiest to do when Colleen can be available all or most of the day.
Mantel ($200) 1 weekend
As referenced here. The sooner this is done, the better. Pencil drawings are really cool, but not when they're marking a mock-up of a mantel directly on your wall.
Tabi & Will’s Bed ($500) 4 weekends
I mentioned here that my dear sister-in-law is getting married to the man of her dreams this winter. We are making them a bed as our wedding gift, so it'll probably be best to start this project in fall.
Buffet ($200) 2 weekends
As referenced here. There's no need for speed with this project, so it'll probably wait until after we finish Tabi & Will's wedding bed. (That sounded less scandalous in my head....)
Driveway- not this year
You haven't seen it on my blog yet, but let me tell you that our driveway is a hot, weedy, uneven mess. Fixing it up is going to cost more money than we can part with this summer and will require a lot of time and effort to do it well.
Shed- not this year
Again, $$ and time are our restraining factor.
Landscaping- not this year
Zero dollar landscaping budget says fuhgeddaboutit.
Deck to nowhere- not this year
It makes sense to wait to deal with this little architectural gem until we tackle the landscaping so that we're sure things will look cohesive.
It's amazing how doing something as simple as making a list can suddenly show you the path forward. The gate, painting the exterior, and the mantel will be all the projects Steve can handle between now and the time I return to work full time in late August. I felt so much calmer about these projects! They feel do-able now!
So then I moseyed over to check the forecast. Here's what I saw:
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| Am I on Punk'd? |
Dude, this is western Washington. I could probably count on my fingers how many times the local 10 day forecast was populated with yellow suns and 0% chance of precipitation. Plus, look at the temps- mid 70s. Not too cold, and perhaps more importantly not too hot (it's a known fact that Washingtonians melt when the mercury hits 85 or better).
There was only one thing to do: We had to paint the house this weekend. As in, I need to wash the exterior and decide for sure on paint colors tomorrow. Talk about quick turn around time!! Ack!!
Guess who is making a trip to the local paint department for chips and sample pots, stat? More coming about this project soon!!
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