A Big To Do (List)

Along with the excitement and promise of a new house comes an endless list of things to do, spaces to decorate, places to organize.  In theory, this kind of thing is right up my alley.  In practice, I find myself going a little crazy.  I need a list, and I need it bad.

I think you all know that I am uber-organized.  I like things to be neat, orderly and under control.  Since we moved to the new digs, I've felt totally scattered and like a small rabid animal with whiplash going back and forth between what project to do next: the living room - I want it white! I need curtains! no no no the dining room! I want that room green-grey maybe sea salt like the old kitchen? no darker! no lighter! no no no the staircase! paint the risers white! wait, no the den! I should paint the mantel! oh how about the laundry room? What about the kids' rooms? What about the guest room? Oh, the office I need to make a desk! I need a door knob! I need new light fixtures! I need hand towels! I need rugs!  And now I (and you) need a drink.

So I took advantage of the long July 4th holiday weekend, had a few drinks, calmed the heck down and  came up with a plan for my new house.  It took awhile but now I finally feel a bit more organized and a lot more relaxed.  Here's the plan: first up - organize the four clutter hot-spots in the house; second up - tackle the lingering little projects that if I don't do now I will never do and finally, get to the fun! First get a few pillows for the den and make curtains for that big window and then move on to the living room/office and then the laundry room.

I need to get a handle on the clutter areas.  I've found four spots in the house where it's accumulating:  (1) the closet/craft room in the kids' playroom; (2) the laundry room; (3) the kitchen desk area and (4) [gulp] the garage.  Here is the evidence:

closet/craft room

laundry room

kitchen desk

garage

Once I get a handle on those areas, I'll handle those little projects that I've been putting off. These include:

1. Paint den console table white.
2. Organize white Cubeical in den for kids' toys.
3. Organize and tidy up the den: baskets for blankets and magazines, square away all the toys.
4. Patch up the hole in the drywall in the playroom (hole was necessary to install cable in the master bedroom). 
5. Wood putty time: putty and paint kids' windows and laundry room doorway.

Once these loose ends are taken care of, I will set my sights on doing a few little things in the den to hold me over until I'm ready to paint.  I really want to hang curtains on the window (and this calls for a trip to Calico Corners, where they have the most *amazing* blue and white fabric that I have been coveting) and buy a couple more pillows for the room. Here's the fabric. swoon.  At $24/yard, I want to see it in person and hopefully use a coupon when I buy though.

The den won't be "done" by any stretch of the imagination, but it will be enough to make me happy until I am ready to tackle painting.  You know I love paint, but the paint in this room will have to go in the kitchen, breakfast area, entryway, and the upstairs and downstairs hallways. So for the moment, I'm happy to put off that big project.

When the curtains and pillows in the den are squared away, I'll set my sights on the living room (aka "the library") and the laundry room.  I'll celebrate finishing my clutter-busting projects by buying paint samples for the library.  Be still my heart!  I am definitely planning on some shade of white or cream for the walls.  Hopefully knowing that the fun of painting and decorating await me will inspire me to hurry up and get through all the things I need to do!

See you swoon,

{to do list picture found here}