Get my house in order

still working on it. i get one part done and another needs more attention but it’s getting there!

I am actually doing it…throwing away things, painting, installed a ceramic tile floor where ugly carpet was….new, smaller furniture.

I did the gutter myself! It was hard but obviously do-able. I changed the way the gutter drains and will tie the down spout into the french drain once that is built.
the funny thing is it hasn’t rained much since the gutter went up so i’ve yet to check my handiwork except with a garden hose!

i am waiting on a bid from a handiman who will install some french doors and do some updating on a room for me.

a nice solid rain yesterday showed me some water issues in the yard. due to the recent hurricane and the removal of some trees in my neighbors yard it would appear the grading of the area has been changed and there is a little river running alongside my house which is causing water to leak into one room.
i’m changing the priority list and off to get some gutters and material for a french drain.

I put a lot of projects off because my partner had promised we would tear down this old tiny home and rebuild a new one as is being done in my neighborhood. Well, after almost a decade of being told this and in light of recent events in my relationship, I’ve decided that the old home is not going to be torn down and so I must get it fixed up. I’m doing it all myself and what I can’t do myself I’ll hire someone to help me. I’m having to pay for it all myself, too, which is in keeping with the reality of my situation.

so far I’ve had the bad wood on the outside of the home replaced and I am picking a door for a previous study that is now going to be a bedroom. I also cleaned and restained the outside furniture.

next will be re-do the gardens in front and back
then replace the kitchen counters
the wood floors need to be redone
paint outside
paint inside
refinish the bathtub
replace bad wood on outside bench
new window treatments (1” aluminum blinds- ugh!)

I’ve continued to focus on the house as my pet project, must be about two months into it now. I hosted a house party last weekend without being self-deprecating about the state of things. Okay, I might’ve deprecated the dried up garden and the dirty windows and the peeling exterior paint and the dandelion farm I call a back yard, but those are all in the process of being fixed up, or coming soon in the project queue, or simply not primary concerns. I just grabbed a to-do list I made a while back, and with a few changes and additions, here’s my status:

COMPLETE:
* replace roof
* replace front door lock
* fix upstairs bathtub
* fix living room ceiling
* clean studio lounge area
* install studio lights
* clean studio sink area
* deck outside studio
* organize studio office area
* clean and decorate upstairs bedroom
* clean downstairs bathroom
* buy or build a bed
* hang art in studio
* clean up porch

IN PROGRESS:
* upstairs windows
* downstairs windows
* clean up yard

REQUIRED TO MARK THIS CHALLENGE COMPLETE:
* clean out basement
* finish painting studio
* paint bedroom
* hang art in bedroom

EXTRA CREDIT:
* rewire living room
* remodel upstairs bathroom
* hire new gardener
* repaint porch
* power wash siding

Two nights of cleaning in one week! I usually like to spread that amount of tidiness out over vast expanses of time. My housemate got inspired by Monday’s jumpstart and checked off a couple to-dos herself. And they happened to be ickier parts of the process that I was saving for last. If you consider that the basic cleanup tasks number about twelve, and that five of them are already done…I can’t believe I waited so long.

Then there is the fun part of continuing to find artifacts from my past. I found the goofy poster I put out seeking guitar students in 1994, the cease-and-desist letter I wrote to somebody who’d stolen an entire website of mine, and the four-page essay on my house’s history, quirks, and maintenance needs written by the prior owner. The last discovery was the most timely, of course…I read it a few times and got even more enthusiastic about the home fancification project. It will be a cool place again, soon.

Yeah, that “starting in earnest” thing I mentioned three months ago…that wasn’t exactly how it went. If it started in anything, it was a parallel universe. But the constant stream of strangers my housemate has been hosting for summer parties lately inspired me to shape up a bit. Yesterday, at long last, I started on the studio project for reals. I divided the giant cleanup into a checklist of bite-sized chunks. I played 80’s music to evoke the era during which I last did maintenance work, and checked off the first task: sorting through a junk pile of boxes and music gear in one of the corners. In four hours of work, the whole project seemed to turn from seeming monstrous to seeming manageable. I got more done than I’d planned, and discovered some cherished old snapshots in the process. Starting really helps.

I am about to consider this goal as done…because…when is a house ever in order? I did several things already, but much more can be done I am sure. This weekend I will hang this last thing I ‘ve made on our kitchen wall and that will be the official acomplishment of this goal!

Dropped off another 4 bags to the recycling and fundraising bins today… Am taking baby steps but getting there slowly!:)