The Wish List

We bought this house knowing it would be a project house. But it's totally liveable as is. We're just incurably picky people. Here is a list that we're compling of things we BOTH want to do at the house in the next few years.

1. Paint the exterior. It looks TERRIBLE. We have finally agreed on a color, and his carpooling buddies are going to help him this spring during one of their "short weeks" (meaning they have more days off than they work). Oh, and they're doing it gratis. Bless them.

2. Lay new carpet in the kitchen/dining room. Yes, that sounds totally backwards. We have hardwoods in EVERY ROOM of our house except the kitchen/dining. And I thought I would HATE the carpet. Turns out I LIKE having the carpet - I just hate THIS particular carpet. The problem? It's GLUED down. Beautiful.

3. Paint the master bathroom. I almost started this project already. Yep, you guessed it. There is a problem. WALLPAPER. Oh, and not JUST wallpaper. Three layers of wallpaper (that I counted). So I have to decide if I devote a week or more of peeling, scraping, etc or just sealing it up and painting over it. It wouldn't be a big deal if the wallpaper wasn't of big, scary horses.

4. Paint the front room. This was going to be a "before we move in must-do." But....yep, wallpaper. The more we've lived here, the more its actually growing on me. It's period-authentic to this house and is just homey. The problem is that it's just not US. We have mahogany leather furniture, a 60 inch HDTV and an Xbox. There is a lack of blend in that room. This we know: we must seal and paint over it. It's stuck with superglue or something and trying to strip it would result in re-sheetrocking. We have a color selected though - I'm thinking summer 2009.

5. Crown moulding in the front room. Need I say more?

6. Paint the stairwell. This leads to what I affectionately call "the dungeon." It's not bad, really. It's just not the newly finished basement that I left behind. I think if the passage-way to the basement was more inviting, it would make a world of difference. But you guessed it. Wallpaper.

7. Let's move back outside. The grass is in. It's green, it's lush, it's GORGEOUS. Now we need a deck.

8. And landscaping.

9. And a swingset.

10. And a new fence.

If you are looking for Christmas ideas....gift cards to Lowes are appreciated. Or donations of time if you are bored. :)