Speaking a goal out loud.

[saffronhare]

Boy, do I have Autumn Fever today.

I don't wanna do any work at all, just plan and draw and be in love with my family and my house. What a marvelous thing it is to have kids who are getting better at amusing themselves/helping/staying alive, so that we can do some of this stuff when they're awake now. Much more time that way. Plus, having zylch around is great, for her destructive and constructive powers are well-balanced.

Onward -- Whereas much earlier this year, I declared that steaming of wallpaper had to end because the weather was going to get too hot, I see in the near future a time when it'll be too chilly to have windows open for ventilation while paint is drying.

In very little logical order, here's what I'd like to have done between now and Thanksgiving:
1. paint and glaze brown trim in the dining room
2. shelf ledges and "green faces" installed and painted/glazed in the dining room?
3. glaze and decorative paint on hallway/entryway/stairs walls
4. hallyway/entryway ceiling refurb
5. paint and glaze trim in the hallway/entryway/stairs (likely the same brown as in the dining room)
6. hang mirror and some art in the hallways
7. replace light fixtures in hallways/entryway/stairs?
8. pull up carpet on the stairs once walls are painted but before trim is painted
9. get window hardware and curtains for Princess Boredom's room so she can stop putting on a show for the neighborhood
10. get estimates on foundation repair (to include fixing the landscaping grades), as well as tearing up the nasty back patio and replacing the breezeway walls, etc.

A lot of these items will only take a day or so of dedicated effort, taken separately, even on my own. Really, by this time next year we will have accomplished most of what can be done cheaply. Beyond that, it's actual tearing down of walls, refinishing of floors and replacement of appliances and such. Here's what I'd like to do between Thanksgiving and, say, Beltane:

Upstairs Bathroom
new flooring; new faucet; finish stripping wallpaper; treat and repaint walls; put up nifty dolphin trim; reframe and hang mirror (This could seriously be done in a weekend and a couple of late nights with not a lot of money but a lot of dedicated energy. Too bad there's really only room for one standard-sized ass at a time in there.)

Master Bedroom
get window hardware and make curtains to hang; burn the stupid roller blinds; develop a plan for the closet area and hang the full-length mirror; pull up all the goddam carpeting (The first layer will be relatively fast and easy. The second layer will be painful to look at and remove.) I'm flirting with the idea of simply pulling up the first layer some Saturday when agrnmn is at work and then attacking the Ugly Layer one square yard at a time over the next few weeks. The sight of it will be motivating. Really.

Living Room & Foyer
steam the bejesus out of those walls; clean and repair walls for painting come spring; clean off the closet walls; develop an agreeable painting plan, including ceiling refurb; make some slipcovers? re-tile the entryway?

Basement -- It doesn't make a lot of sense to do tons to the basement before foundation work is done, but we'd like to actually finish it off (insulation and walls and all) so that it can eventually serve as a crafting/sewing area.
significant clearance required; refurb the laundry area; conversion of pool table to actual craft table? moving the storage shelves? removal of Goofy Piano? need room to teach Princess Boredom the special joys of stripping and power-sanding furniture to refinish it