Spin Cycle: Fixer Upping

I finally did it.

Perhaps I should clarify.

When we bought our house, there were quite a few improvements we wanted to make. Nothing that had to be done immediately, but certainly many things that we had every intention of making happen fairly soon. I will spare you the rather long list.

We have now lived in our house for NINE years, and virtually none of these improvements have been made. Jimmy is perhaps the least handy human being on the planet Earth, so a professional must be hired, and we just never have the extra cash. Now, of course, even more improvements need to be made because the house has fallen apart over the years. Which means that the list of to-dos has been re-prioritized. Refinishing the hardwoods, which had been right at the top of my list for the first few years, has been shoved down to the bottom of the list.

Right now, the following three projects top the list...

• Paint the exterior of the house. We have a cute little Craftsman bungalow, but we've never liked the house color, it's a dull gray with dull blue trim. But more importantly, it's looking shaaaaaaby, peeling and crummy. And if we wait any longer, wood's going to start to rot, and then we're in BIG trouble. It must be done, and done now. We're thinking green with cream trim and burgundy accents...

• Convert the garage into a teaching space for Jimmy. Jimmy has been coaching acting all of these years in our living room. It's ridiculous. He needs a private space for his work. While his students don't mind being in our living room, it's certainly not very professional, and it drives me crazy. I feel like I spend half of my life hidden in the back of the house being quiet. If he had a little mini-theater out there, his students could enter through the side gate of the house and I wouldn't have to worry about them again. Woohoo!
• Tear down and replace the falling down back stoop. Preferably with a deck and a pergola, but that's probably too expensive. This is one of those chain reaction things. If you're painting the house,  you might as well...

So, I finally did it. I called a contractor/handyman friend. We're going to have to liquidate a mutual fund or something to pay for it, but it really must happen. I'm kind of excited. And maybe, once our little house is fixed up, it will book some more location work, and pay for the improvements itself. It's nice when the house can pay its own way.

Wish me luck. It's going to take me a couple of weeks just to clean out the garage so that it can be worked on. I promise to take before and after pictures!

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Check out our other Fixer Upper spinners! There's still time to add your post on Fixer Upper to the Linky below. And come back on Monday to find out Ginny Marie and my Spin Cycle topic for next week!

 

 

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Comments

[carolbaby]

When we bought ThePalace(OfLove) around two years ago, we swore we would never be those people with a half-painted house and half-completed improvements.

But of course we are those people.

Must do something about calling someone ... at some point.

[Janice]

Love the Craftsman style homes. Best wishes with the remodels. You will enjoy the results for years!

[Ginny Marie]

Converting the garage sounds like such a great idea for both you and Jimmy! I can't wait to see before and after pictures! Maybe when Jimmy's not using it for coaching, there could be a space for your writing??

[Arnebya]

Oh, good luck! We have a handful of things that we're determined to start AND FINISH this year too. I'm looking forward to it.

[VandyJ]

Can't wait to see the results. Those colors sound great. Our craftsman type house has darker versions of those colors and it really perked the place up.

[Kristina Walters @ Kris On Fitness]

I love you house! Good luck with the updates! It's very exciting to make new improvements like that.

[Alaina]

Oh wow, what a beautiful house!