Well, it is a new year. 2017! Doesn't that just seem amazing? It is also amazing that it takes me half a month to acknowledge the new year, but hey, given my erratic and sporadic blog posting, I figure any readers I have out there would expect nothing less.
The new year always does bring about a sense of freshness and revival, a chance to make a new start in whatever way you desire, be it big or small. 2016 was a busy year for us, maybe not quite as busy as 2015, but busy enough. I am not a big fan of making New Year's Resolutions, but I do like to think of a list of things I would like to accomplish in the new year.
Making a new house and land feel like home can be a challenge. It made matters worse that we were incorporating all of my things that had been in storage for the past year. As I unpacked boxes, I really tried to do a lot of soul-searching about whether I really needed the items, if they truly brought joy, and so forth. I made a sincere effort to keep the spirit of less is more with me. And I feel like I did a pretty good job for a first pass. There were many boxes of items donated to my mother-in-law for her garage sales. However, the reality is that we still have boxes that haven't been unpacked. These boxes contain mostly non-critical items like fabric, yarn, books, decorative linens, décor items, and light fixtures, so it has been easy to sort of ignore them and let them languish in a corner of the shop or storage shed. J has been remarkably easy going about the pile of boxes in the corner of the shop! Unfortunately, the reality is that I don't really know what to do with all of it.
When it comes to decorating and placing things, it sometimes takes me time to think through how I want things to be. I go through every possible scenario of where to hang different pictures and so on. In truth, I could just hang something, see if I like it, and move it elsewhere if I don't, but I don't like having numerous holes in my walls if I can avoid it. Also, the stud spacing in our house is not the standard 16" center-to-center, which has caused some problems when it comes to hanging heavy objects. And, I don't like hanging things on walls I plan to paint soon; it just makes more sense in my mind to wait until after I've painted.
I do feel like I need to move forward with getting more of these things unpacked and put away, so I have come up with some short-term goals to accomplish in the next few months. I am trying to give myself a reasonable amount of time since I'm also trying to sew and complete my SWAP by April 30. Here's a list of things I would like to have done by the end of the first quarter of 2017 (March 31):
1. Paint the hallway and kitchen. The color is the same one that we used in the living and dining room areas and we have some paint left over. I just need to take the time to mask everything off and get it done.
2. Hang items in hallway.
3. Purchase or build a shelf to store movies. When J and I married, our combined movie collection grew to over 400 (and we didn't have very many duplicates). We might be able to go through and trim it down some by getting rid of those films that we really don't care as much for, but I don't see a huge purge happening here. We both love watching movies and I expect our collection to continue to grow, especially as we both have some varied interest in the films we enjoy. Thus, we need to find some type of storage shelf, either freestanding or wall-hung, to house our collection. I am currently researching different options available to purchase.
4. Finish hanging items on dining room walls. I started working on this during New Year's weekend, but I need to finish it up.
5. Rearrange and place furniture in living room. For Christmas, J and I decided to buy chairs and ottomans for ourselves. They are currently on order; his should be in around the first of February with mine coming about two weeks later.
6. Finish unpacking and purging books. Decide where to add bookshelves.
So, that's my main house to do list for the next few months. Hopefully, I will make some progress on these things soon.
The new year always does bring about a sense of freshness and revival, a chance to make a new start in whatever way you desire, be it big or small. 2016 was a busy year for us, maybe not quite as busy as 2015, but busy enough. I am not a big fan of making New Year's Resolutions, but I do like to think of a list of things I would like to accomplish in the new year.
Making a new house and land feel like home can be a challenge. It made matters worse that we were incorporating all of my things that had been in storage for the past year. As I unpacked boxes, I really tried to do a lot of soul-searching about whether I really needed the items, if they truly brought joy, and so forth. I made a sincere effort to keep the spirit of less is more with me. And I feel like I did a pretty good job for a first pass. There were many boxes of items donated to my mother-in-law for her garage sales. However, the reality is that we still have boxes that haven't been unpacked. These boxes contain mostly non-critical items like fabric, yarn, books, decorative linens, décor items, and light fixtures, so it has been easy to sort of ignore them and let them languish in a corner of the shop or storage shed. J has been remarkably easy going about the pile of boxes in the corner of the shop! Unfortunately, the reality is that I don't really know what to do with all of it.
When it comes to decorating and placing things, it sometimes takes me time to think through how I want things to be. I go through every possible scenario of where to hang different pictures and so on. In truth, I could just hang something, see if I like it, and move it elsewhere if I don't, but I don't like having numerous holes in my walls if I can avoid it. Also, the stud spacing in our house is not the standard 16" center-to-center, which has caused some problems when it comes to hanging heavy objects. And, I don't like hanging things on walls I plan to paint soon; it just makes more sense in my mind to wait until after I've painted.
I do feel like I need to move forward with getting more of these things unpacked and put away, so I have come up with some short-term goals to accomplish in the next few months. I am trying to give myself a reasonable amount of time since I'm also trying to sew and complete my SWAP by April 30. Here's a list of things I would like to have done by the end of the first quarter of 2017 (March 31):
1. Paint the hallway and kitchen. The color is the same one that we used in the living and dining room areas and we have some paint left over. I just need to take the time to mask everything off and get it done.
2. Hang items in hallway.
3. Purchase or build a shelf to store movies. When J and I married, our combined movie collection grew to over 400 (and we didn't have very many duplicates). We might be able to go through and trim it down some by getting rid of those films that we really don't care as much for, but I don't see a huge purge happening here. We both love watching movies and I expect our collection to continue to grow, especially as we both have some varied interest in the films we enjoy. Thus, we need to find some type of storage shelf, either freestanding or wall-hung, to house our collection. I am currently researching different options available to purchase.
4. Finish hanging items on dining room walls. I started working on this during New Year's weekend, but I need to finish it up.
5. Rearrange and place furniture in living room. For Christmas, J and I decided to buy chairs and ottomans for ourselves. They are currently on order; his should be in around the first of February with mine coming about two weeks later.
6. Finish unpacking and purging books. Decide where to add bookshelves.
So, that's my main house to do list for the next few months. Hopefully, I will make some progress on these things soon.
