From I-Do to To-Do

Thirty-six days ago, I married my best friend.  It was a beautiful day and we were blessed to be surrounded by so many family members and friends!  We've been home for a week (after our honeymoon and two back-to-back family vacations, which were punctuated by two weddings at which we were guests) and we're finally starting to settle into our home. We've had a busy year.  I graduated from college, we planned a wedding, we worked, and I moved.  My husband, Matt, bought our home two Junes ago and it is a labor of love for both of us.  Now that we're both living here, I want to start chronicling our adventures and misadventures in our home as we update our house and give it the handmade touches that will turn it into a home.  The goal of this blog is to track our progress and share our life with our family and friends.  In the past two years, we've painted all of the common areas and installed laminate wood flooring on the first floor.  We did a room swap in the process and turned our family room into a dining room, which left us with a much larger great room.  We've also done smaller projects during this time: refinishing several furniture items, creating artwork, etc.  Not a very impressive beginning.  With our mishmash of furniture and belongings from childhood through now, we have a long way to go before our house becomes a home.

So, with out further ado, here is Mr. Incomplete To-Do:

•  Master Suite
  
• Paint bedroom and bathroom
  
• Remodel master closet
• Install hard floors
• Find and install new light fixtures in bedroom, bathroom, and toilet room
• Install baseboards
• New shower
• Strip, sand, and refinish vanity
• Replace all outlets and switches with white hardware
• Build armoire-like cabinets in empty area behind door
• Build storage cabinets in vaulted area
• Find comfy reading chair
• Build or buy really tall, shallow bookcases
• Find creative doors for our closet
• Office/Craft Room/Guest Bedroom (two rooms that need to serve three purposes... but we haven't figured out agreed upon how we will divvy up the space)
• Paint
• Rearrange every item of furniture and every item on the walls
• Install hard floors
• Replace all outlets and switches with white hardware
• Great Room
• Repaint
• Rearrange
• Built-ins under the stairs
• Replace all outlets and switches with white hardware
• Install baseboards
• Kitchen
• Repaint
• Add island
• Strip, sand, and refinish cabinets
• Rearrange cabinets to fit all our new wedding gifts
• Replace countertops
• Fix the weird floor edge angle
• Dining Room
• Repaint
• New light fixture
• Replace all outlets and switches with white hardware
• Jack and Jill Bathroom: Mickey-themed
• Paint--Disney/Behr's "Smackeral of Hunny"
• Find linen tower
• Strip, sand, and refinish cabinets
• Powder Room: Botanical-themed (white, shades of green, bright pops of yellow)
• New sink hardware
• New light fixture
• Paint--Light, limey-green
• Strip, sand, and paint medicine cabinet
• Laundry Room
• Paint
• Add shelving above washer/dryer
• Create a storage solution for cleaning supplies
• Back Yard
• Replace bushes with flowers
• Create outdoor living space
• Build chicken coop
• Build composting bins
• Build raised platform area using bricks
• Replace current patio with bricks
• Add raised beds for kitchen garden
• Install clothesline
• Front Yard
•  Less bushes, more flowers