hello 2011

I feel like a total slacker for not posting last week! Having the week off work was awesome and I thought I’d definitely be posting here, with all of that free time. Obviously, that didn’t work out. I really enjoyed the extra time and had lunch with Tyler a couple of days – I love being able to see him during the day [which doesn't happen often, since we work on opposite sides of town] and I got several new projects around the house started – some of them I even completed! I painted the master bedroom and bathroom – we absolutely LOVE the results, I’ll post pictures soon. I also started painting the downstairs ceiling.

[tangent: did you know to use only a flat finish on ceilings? I did not know this and I feel like a total dork for using eggshell on our ceiling downstairs. I knew as I started painting that something was wrong, but I kept hoping it would dry better, so I just kept going. Unfortunately, it never got better. After some googling, I realized that you need a flat paint because other sheens show the brush strokes really bad. The eggshell looks like semi-gloss on the ceiling - I guess the different plane makes the sheen stand out more? I dunno. Total mishap there. But I learned a valuable lesson! When I painted our bedroom I used a flat sheen on the ceiling and it looks perfect, so that is good news.]

We also started painting the shelves in the loft, but didn’t get them finished. Hopefully I’ll get that done this week – the loft is a total mess! Everything that was on the shelves is now stacked all over the floor and every available surface. The dogs chewed on the corners of a couple of books, so we learned another lesson there: no books stacked on the floor. We are going to repaint our downstairs ceiling this weekend – in a flat finish!

I also wanted to share some goals I have for 2011, in hopes that it will keep me focused and that I’ll actually get them done:

• install closet system in master closet
• replace carpet in bedrooms
• lay laminate wood in loft and hallway
• replace upstairs baseboards
• re-landscape front yard
• landscape back yard
• replace counter top in master bathroom
• move kitchen cabinets
• paint kitchen cabinets
• pour concrete counter tops in kitchen
• lay laminate wood in kitchen and downstairs bathroom
• replace baseboards in kitchen and bathroom

That’s all the major stuff I’d like to do this year. We’ll also be painting and refinishing furniture and lots of little things around the house. I’m sure we won’t get everything on this list done, but it’s nice to dream, right?