Over the July 4th weekend, Rick has been keeping himself busy working on one of our 2010 renovation goals (which is surprising given his penchant for starting new projects, like staining our stairs).

He’s been braving the North Carolina heat and clearing out the brush at the back of our yard:

He’s been making fantastic progress, stopping every now and then to snap a few pics to send to me. At the very back of the brush, he’s made a good clearing…

And between the trees, he’s starting to make headway clearing out smaller trees and brush:

What’s taking the most time is clearing out the random menagerie of bricks and breeze blocks that have been long buried in the undergrowth…

These leftover bricks must be a gift from the previous owners (and builders of the house).  I guess burying them in the back yard was easier than getting rid of them the normal way. Rick says they must have been there for years because the trees have actually grown around some of the bricks…

So far he unearthed a truck load of bricks…

Oh yeah, and a copperhead snake.

That’s a new critter to add to our list! (read about the deer, moles, bats, spiders and bugs).

I love my husband.  Insert gratuitous picture here:

Wishy woo. I married him because of his body mind DIY abilities.  My grandmother constantly reminds me how lucky I am because he saves me so much money.  You know, in gigolo fees.  Oh yeah, and not having to hire a plumber, electrician, or general contactor during our house makeover. What can I say? He is multi-talented.

When I left to visit my family in the UK for 9 weeks, I left him a to-do list, written on some old whiteboard we had hanging around from my PhD days:

Ok, I didn’t expect him to do ALL of this stuff.  Just most some of it.  I thought of the list as a good way to focus his attention on specific projects around the house.  You see, I know my husband.  Over the past 10 years of being together, I think we both have a pretty good handle on each other’s great and not-so-great characteristics.  Rick tends to have a little bit of “need-a-bit-of-get-up-and-go-itis” (aka “my-get-up-and-go-has-got-up-and-gone”), coupled with a smidge of DIY Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.).  I wasn’t too concerned about the former – Rick usually likes to keep really busy while I’m away as it makes the time go faster. I was a little worried about the DIY A.D.D.  In the past, he has had a tendency to start new projects… and there are many around our house … rather than finishing old ones.  Seeing as we outlined our renovation goals for 2010, I thought it would be useful to focus his more-than-capable DIY skills on these projects, rather than starting a new one.

It was a great idea. In theory. 

Two days after arriving in the UK, he informed me that he was working on a surprise project.  I need to mention for anyone that doesn’t know us as a couple, typically I am the pragmatist and Rick is the creative dreamer.  So a new project can range anywhere from “surprise, I installed a new faucet!”  to  ”surprise, I ripped down the garage and am building a new 3 story extension!”.

So, needless to say the surprise project was  not on the previously mentioned to-do list.  After a few days of working on said project, he finally let me in on the secret.

Yep, he’s sanding and restaining our stairs! The orangey pine-ish (that’s a word, right?) color is being replaced with a lovely deep chocolate walnut-ish color.  And eventually those white wooden spindles will be replaced with wrought iron ones.

So far, he’s done most of the sanding and has stained the rails…

I think it’s going to look fantastic! When it is finished. So, I guess we’ve just added another project to our 2010 to-do list

Back at the turn of twenty-ten, I set out our  renovation goals for the coming year.  Three months later, let’s take a look at how we’re progressing.  We have seven spaces on the to-do list this year: foyer, downstairs bathroom, dining room, office, garage, yard and library.  Some projects are smaller whilst others are more time (and budget) consuming. Let’s break it down one by one.

Goal 1: Foyer

• Finish drywall on headers – put up sheetrock, then mud, sand, dust, mud, sand, dust [ad infinitum]
• Prime and paint drywall
• Paint other walls 2^nd coat
• Install narrow shelving units in wall cavity

Progress: PARTIAL

We have started putting up sheetrock and mudding in some areas, like the header in the left-side living room.  We’ve still got to finish putting up the sheetrock on the right-side header, then mud+sand til our hearts’ discontent.

When we removed the the foyer walls and replaced them with headers to open up the space, we were left with two small partial walls either side of the entryway.  These are helpful in visually delineating the two living spaces without taking up too much room.  But we’re going to be adding more functionality to these puppies in the form of shelving.  In each cavity, we’re installing tall, narrow bookshelves for a built-in cabinetry look.  The shelves are built and have been placed in the space:

Now we have to sheetrock them in, then eventually trim around the outside for the custom built-in look. Once all the sheetrock has been mudded and sanded, we can prime and paint … well, everything. 

Goal 2: Downstairs bathroom

• Finish grouting, molding and decorating

Progress: COMPLETE!

Another one down (ok, the first one down), the first one bites the dust! Sing it, Freddie!  Tiling, grouting and molding have all been finished.  The decor has been … well … decorated.  This transformation is so jaw dropping that it needs a separate post.  Ok, maybe its more like I took way too many pictures to post here. So, watch this space, the big reveal is coming soon! But for now, here is a teaser photo…

Goal 3: Dining room

• Install trim boxes and chair rail
• Paint walls 2^nd coat, paint ceiling

Progress: PARTIAL

Twenty three boxes have been measured, cut and nailed to the wall. That’s 167 feet of trim, and approximately 980 brads nailed in and filled with putty.

Next up?  We’ll caulk around the boxes and paint the trim to make them seamlessly blend in with the wall.  We’ll paint another coat of the charcoal grey on the upper walls and then finally remove all the painter’s tape (as long as it has been up, it feels like a design feature).  The last step will be to put up the chair rail running around the room.  Add a few finishing touches (artwork, decorative knick-knacks … oh yeah, floors and replacement windows) and this room will be finished!

Goal 4: Office

• Finish painting walls
• Get  new office furniture to make office space more efficient (and less ugly)
• Move living room furniture to front living spaces

Progress: ALMOST COMPLETE!

This room has had a total makeover.  The walls have been painted (thanks Alyssa!), gone is the makeshift desk, the book cases have been replaced, and all the junk necessary office items seen in the picture above have been organized and housed in more efficient and appealing furniture.  The big reveal is coming soon, but for now here’s a teaser pic…

Goal 5: Garage

• Replace door, rails and opener on remaining two garage doors
• Tidy up and organize garage

Progress: NOT STARTED

This is one of two projects we haven’t made a start on yet.  With all the renovation projects going on in the house, the garage serves mainly as our storage space/work area and unfortunately will probably be one the last spaces to receive attention.

Goal 6: Yard

• Clear brush from back section
• Fence in rest of yard

Progress: PARTIAL

Rick has made some progress clearing out that dense brush area at the back of the yard.  He has cut down several small trees and piled the wood into neat piles:

We still need to work on clearing some of the bigger trees before we can clear out the smaller greenery and brush.  But we’re getting there!

Goal 7: Bedroom-turned-library

• Finish header – install last supports, remove studs
• Finish drywall – put up sheetrock, then mud, sand, dust, mud, sand, dust [ad infinitum]
• Prime and paint drywall
• Paint other walls 2^nd coat
• Remove existing railing – replace with new wrought iron railing

Progress: NOT STARTED

This is the second project that we are yet to start working on. We really need to finish the sheetrocking of the foyer walls below before we can install the new railing.  With our pack of dogs running around, we need to have some kind of partial boundary in place (whether it is the current stud wall or the new railing) to prevent them from going ker-splat over the edge.  So, for now, this project is on the back burner whilst we finish downstairs.

All in all, I think we are making good progress with our renovation goals for 2010.  Two projects are complete – the bathroom and office reveals will be posted soon.  Three projects are in the works – the foyer, dining room and yard will hopefully be finished shortly.  Only two out of the original seven projects are yet to be started, which I think is normal given that our priorities are elsewhere in the house for now.  How are you coming along with your resolutions?  Are you making good progress or have the goals bit the dust?

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions.  Don’t get me wrong – the ideas and motivations behind resolutions are good. After all, no-one plans to gain more weight, smoke more cigarettes or be a crappy friend in the upcoming year.  I dislike resolutions simply because if I don’t follow through with them, I feel like a failure the rest of the year.  Usually, that’s about 11 months. I guess I am not alone in this – research shows that anywhere between 78% to 97% of New Year’s resolutions are broken. 

According to this psychological study, you will be more successful at keeping your New Year’s resolutions if you do these three things:

1) tell someone about your goals
2) focus on the benefits of success
3) keep a diary of your progress. 

So, my blog friends, I want to share with you our goals for completing renovation projects around the house in 2010.  Sharing of goals - check.  Outlining our resolutions is a good way to help plan projects for the upcoming year.  And come the end of twenty-ten, we will be able to look back and evaluate how well we’ve done in tackling the projects.  Optimism – check. And of course my dear blog readers (all three of you), I will keep you updated of  every step of the way. Progress documented – check. 

So here’s how our DIY resolutions for 2010 stack up.

The majority of our projects will be done on the first floor; namely in the foyer, the bathroom, the dining room, the office, the garage and finally, the yard. We only have one main project in the works to be tackled upstairs, and that’s in the bedroom-turned-library.

Let’s break it down in more detail.

1. Foyer

When we moved into the house last year, one of the first projects we tackled is taking down the walls between the two front rooms and the foyer.  The walls came down, the headers went up …. but we never really finished putting the drywall back.

One of our goals this year is to finish off the drywall and get those studs covered up and painted. After all, the stud look is sooooo 2009.

2. Downstairs Bathroom

It’s taken a while but we’ve almost finished the downstairs bathroom renovation.  Almost.  The bathroom started off looking like this:

Since then, we’ve tiled, grouted, painted and made-over the vanity.  What’s left?  We have just a tiny amount of grouting to do and the crown moulding to finish.  Then we can make the big reveal!

3. Dining room

We swapped the inherited deep-red paint for a more sophisticated, modern color palette:

To finish things off in the dining room, we are planning on installing chair rail and trim boxes on the lower part of the wall. Flooring would be a nice touch, but I’m not sure we’ll be able to get to that this year – let’s keep our fingers crossed.

4. Office

The office / living room is where we have spent most of our time in 2009.  On the first day we moved in, we set up all the essentials in this room – you know, the TV, the computer and some comfy chairs. And that is pretty much where they have stayed as we renovate the rest of the house.  We’ve accumulated more and more junk necessary items over the year, piling them on top of each other, so that the office now looks something like this:

Don’t judge. Something drastic needs to be done in this space for 2010.  Notice the half painted wall?  Another “let’s try and see what this paint color looks like” moment, waiting to be finished.  So, the plans for this space is to finish painting the walls and ceiling, and make this space more functional as an office.  That will mean moving our living room furniture into one of the front rooms.

5. Garage

The immediate plan for this space is quite straightforward: get the garage doors working!

Rick has already spent sometime taking down one of the dilapidated garage doors and replacing the rails and opener.  One down, two more to go.

6. Yard

The very first project we tackled in the first week of moving in was to fence in a small portion of the back yard so that the dogs had a safe, contained space to play in and do …well, what it is dogs do in yards.  At some point this year, we’d like to get the rest of the yard fenced in:

We also plan on clearing out that dense brush between the trees before summertime kicks in.

7. Bedroom-turned-library

The last thing on our 2010 to-do list is to finish off the headers and railing in our bedroom-turned-library project upstairs.

 

Most of the studs have come down, the header is in place – we just need to remove the remaining studs.  Then we plan on installing a new rail along that wall to meet up with the handrail going to the bedroom.  Eventually, all the wooden spindles will be replaced with wrought iron ones, and the wood will be stained a darker brown. Oh, and finishing painting the walls might also be a good idea

So, that’s our renovation goals for 2010.  I’m not sure how many of these projects will get done, but here’s hoping it will be a productive year. At the very least, at the end of the year, we can look back at this post and laugh at how optimistically ambitious we were at the start of 2010.