Back to Work!

I've said it before & I'll say it again - it's time to get back to work on our house.  Winter is over, and the lists have begun.  A few things have gotten accomplished, and a few previous plans will be back underway.  This winter, we added an extra shelf in our coat closet, we got a new dishwasher, a "new" shelving unit in our hallway & more. I'll upload photos soon with details.


I decided to start with a fresh look for the blog for 2012 & hopefully a fresh outlook on our home - making it wonderful and comfortable for us.

All starts with a trip to IKEA, and we'll go from there.  Our projects will begin this spring, with a makeover on the second floor of our home.  It's time to find another way to store our clothes so that we can make room for an extra bedroom.  Our third bedroom has been our closet for nearly 5 years now, and eventually, we'll want to think about having another resident in our home - and we will be needing that bedroom!  Not anytime soon, but we might as well get started with the projects! We have clothes to move, carpet to remove, walls to paint, and so much more.  And the funny thing is, I'm really really looking forward to it!

This summer we will work on the outside of our house, and get some much needed window repairs, and continue to make the inside something we love.

I'll be sure to check in and start updating again soon - this time I really do promise.  I'll bring the camera with me to IKEA, always good for a few photos!

CasaSugar's Weekend DIY

Another Friday, another great group of fun crafts for the weekend.

My big project for the weekend is to make a bed for our new doggie!  I am going to take two older pillows that we don't use, and measure them for a cover.  The plan is to use velcro on one end, so that it can easily be taken apart and washed.  I plan on hitting up the discount fabric section of my local JoAnns & getting something comfy for our newest addition:

Here are some other project that everyone can try out this weekend.  Some of these I personally plan on doing as well!

1. Embroidered Portraits
2. Make a frame for your simple mirror
3. Make your own Missoni Throw - which I have already linked on my Pintrest
4. A dye-dipped basket shade
5. Stencil your upholstery
6. "Cross-stitch" your Glasswares!  I pinned this & will be doing this in some fashion.  LOVE!
7. Make your own Wood Cutting Boards

Check out the links to all of these crafts on CasaSugar

Check out my Pintrest Account HERE

And, most importantly, have a super weekend of DIY!

The Making of the Lists

Hello Everyone.  It's been a while since I have checked in.  We have been going through some financial issues lately, which unfortunately has made me shy away from the blog.  We have windows to fix, teeth to fix, house parts to fix & a new semester of college for my husband - which now that we are married, he gets FAR less financial assistance.

So we have been living pretty tight lately, forcing me to put a lot of projects on the shelf.  I haven't wanted to spend the money.  So what I wanted to do last night was to sit down, and put together a list of things to do to the house.  Because I am the queen of lists, it helped me to organize my thoughts, and also to start having something to "check" things off of.  While the list is overwhelming, there are certain things that we can start doing to check off the list, that have little or no cost associated with them.

So I decided that I wanted to take the list public - make myself start accomplishing things, so that our house can get "done", so that we have something to enjoy for the next few years, while we start to squirrel away pennies to save for our dream house.

I also want to start getting into showing everyone how we are doing things on a budget, how we are saving money, so that all those other people out there, who are struggling to make ends meet, can see that there is a way to achieve your goals without spending a lot of money.

But now we must get on to the good stuff...

THE LIST

The Living Room

1. Pull up the carpet

2. Refinish the floors (if required)

3. Make sliding "c" end tables

4. Hang artwork/photos

5. New Lamps

6. Refinish end tables

7. Rug(s)

8. Reorganize shelves on either side of fireplace

9. Silicone/caulk joint between baseboard & floor, once exposed

10. Acquire bookcase with glass doors to store movies

11. Clean out fireplace

12. Make Birch candles for fireplace (as seen HERE)

13. Find better location for Game Board & organize coffee table

14. Build second shelf in coat closet (above existing shelf)

15. Organize coat closet - making room for vacuums & shoes!

16. Purge old coats

17. Buy new large plant for room

The Dining Room

1. Pull up carpet

2. Refinish floors (if required)

3. Fix broken sash cord in window

4. Repaint trim after window repair

5. Silicone/caulk joint at baseboard & floor, once exposed.

6. Make new burlap table runner

The Kitchen

1. New Flooring - Rubberized Vinyl Sheet Flooring (with stamped tile pattern)

2. New Countertops (decide material)

3. Matching Pulls/Knobs for all cabinet doors

4. New Dishwasher

5. New Fridge (it will die in the not too distant future - better put it on the list!)

6. Smaller Microwave, maybe even one that can be mounted over the stove to give more counter space

7. Bench for mudroom

8. Window treatment for back door

9. Paint back door

The Half Bath

1. New shoe mold @ tile

2. Fix broken tiles (we are having an issue where the floor is moving a bit too much.  It cracked two of our tiles under the toilet.  We aren't going to fix it now, because it isn't obvious, but we will have to fix it eventually)

3. Finish attaching sink to wall with longer screw & silicone around edge of sink bowl.

4. Artwork & Baskets to finish decorating

The Third Bedroom

(I don't have an image for this room, but will edit it soon with a picture.  This room is now our closet, but will eventually be a nursery, when we decide to have kids)

1. Pull up carpet

2. Refinish floors (as required)

3. Rug

4. Paint walls & trim

5. Silicone/caulk joint at baseboards & floor

6. Remove closet door & build two shelves above rod (the closet door is right behind the entry door - too many doors in such a little space)

7. Make curtains for 2 windows & closet door

8. New Furniture

9. Fix Broken window & dropped sash

Guest Bedroom

(Again, no photo here, and not a lot of work to do)

1. Pull up carpet

2. Refinish floors (as required)

3. Rug

4. Paint walls & trim

5. Silicone/caulk joint at baseboards & floor

6. New curtains for two windows

Master Bedroom

(Not a great picture, but it gives you an idea.  Ignore the sheets - we need new sheets, in fact, lets make that number 1, shall we?)

1. New Sheets!

2. Pull up carpet

3. Refinish floors (as required)

4. Rugs - including maybe making a couple of t-shirt rugs (example HERE)!

5. Silicone/caulk joint at baseboard & floor

6. New Wardrobe, like the one seen HERE at IKEA

7. New bench @ window

8. Finish building nightstand, paint

9. Decorate nightstands

10. Enlarge existing closet opening & case opening

11. Make new curtains for 2 windows & closet (closet curtains are temporary)

12. New bi-fold closet doors

13. Fix broken window & dropped sash

Hallway

1. Pull up carpet

2. Refinish floors (as required)

3. Rug

4. Paint walls & trim

5. Silicone/caulk joint at baseboards & floor

6. New bookshelf

7. Photo Wall

Outside

1. Paint railings at front porch

2. Paint porch floor

3. Replace any warped porch pieces (all three porches)

4. Repair damaged siding on garage

5. Paint garage

6. Finish cleaning up the planting beds & move plants around

7. Patch issue in roof over mudroom

8. Table for front porch & back patio

This is the bulk of the work that we'd like to do.  Eventually, we'd like to put baseboard heaters in the finished attic space, so that it can technically be called a bedroom.  We also have some cleaning and organizing to do in the basement.  But that is our list.  Daunting, no?

The goal will be to start going room to room & crossing things off.  Unfortunately because my mind is always working, a few things might get added too.

Hopefully we can get started on some of the easier ones first.  Like pulling up the carpet in the bedrooms - where the floor doesn't have to look perfect right away.  I would really like to get started in our bedroom, since there is quite a bit of work to do there.  We'll see what happens next!

CasaSugar's Weekend DIY

Welcome back to getting on track and getting over some of the craziest busy summer ever!  I'd like to take a break in my crazy week, and subsequent weekend to bring you Casa Sugar's Weekend DIY.  I always love the projects, so I thought I'd get back to posting them for you all again!
 

DIY Rug! Find all the details HERE

This week's projects:

1. DIY Photo Booth
2. Nautical Napkin Rings
3. Wall Art with Office Supplies
4. Make Your Own Rug (picture and link above)
5. Frame and Hang Bandanas for a Punch of Color

After this weekend some of the busy will wear down and we can get back to work on our own house!  Our list of summer projects is building up, but the number of weeks to get it done is getting smaller!  Here is our list:

Fix & Clean up Planting beds & add peat moss
Scrape, Sand & Paint porch railing, columns & balusters
Replace portions of garage wall & paint garage
Fix portions of old railing on two porches
And new, as of this weekend:  Fix leak in roof over mudroom!

Needless to say we will be busy, but if you are looking for something to do, check out the projects above.  Here is the link for Casa's Weekend DIY 
Here you will see all the projects, find all the links & see all of the photos.

Have a great weekend everyone!