Fun Monday - the Big Project (and Hiatus)

I'm hosting Fun Monday for the Month of June and this week, I want to know what your BIG project is for the summer!  Sign up with Mr. Linky at the bottom of this post if you wish to participate.

UPDATE:   DUE TO AN APPARENT LACK OF INTEREST IN BLOGGING (IT IS HOT OUT THERE, ISN'T IT?), FUN MONDAY WILL GO ON HIATUS FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER.  WE'LL GIVE IT ANOTHER TRY COME SEPTEMBER.


Anyone who knows me knows that I'm always in the midst of some project.  So far, I've remodeled two bathrooms, painted the interior of the house a couple of times and started laying a floor upstairs.

There will soon be another repainting in the livingroom, diningroom and stairwell.  I also need to do some work on the stairs themselves.  I'd really like to finish the upstairs bathroom sometime this year - I have a new sink, new faucet and new lighting (the toilet's already been replaced and the tub fixed) but I still need to decide on a countertop.  I'm planning my kitchen, though that redo will probably have to wait a year or two until I can afford an electrician and some new appliances.  I just hope the stove will hold out that long. 

In addition to those indoor things, there's outdoor things.  The garden area I'm trying to create for one, but as I've discovered, getting rid of banana trees is like pulling out grey hairs.  Get rid of one and three more sprout up in its place.  The exterior of the house needs to be painted.  The deck needs a little work and gutters really should go up soon before the foundation gets washed out from under us (not a priority during this drought, however).  This doesn't even include landscaping issues and the usual lawn work that has to happen.

Oh, and I've reconnected with my semi-artsy side in that I've taken up crochet again and am planning some sewing projects.

I'm a busy person, so who can blame me if I get sidetracked or even just tired of juggling all these home improvement balls?  There are plenty of incomplete projects around the house, but I do have one project that I really MUST take care of this summer:  The Garage.

The laundry area is a disgrace.  Cluttered, dusty and there are plenty of creepy crawlies wandering around in there.  Could be that this is where my translucent spider of a couple of posts ago hitched a ride into the house and into my bed.  As you can see in this picture, the interior is unfinished.  There's just tar paper, studs and brick between my "laundry room" and the great burning/freezing outdoors.  I'd like to add a little insullation and some kind of finish - panelling or drywall out there to make it more like a room and less like a shed.

The trick to this is, of course, cleaning out the garage itself.  It became a catch-all when we moved in for everything we didn't know what to do with.  And a storage place for things that didn't fit in the house but shouldn't be left outside.  See that little gray box in the left picture?  That's my circuit box.  Can't do any kitchen, light-replacement or electrical work until I can actually get TO the circuit box, now can I?  Buried under there is my grandmother's little desk, which I'd like to move into the house, an entertainment center I'd like to sell, a chair I want to fix, and a pile of books and videos that rightly belong in a garage sale or library.  Oh - and those two lamps in the back?

I actually bought those at a garage sale thinking I would refinish them, refit them and use them.  But first I have to GET to them...

See that tall cardboard box standing up in there?  That's the remains of the mattress I took apart.  I still want to redo some chairs I have in my house using those materials.  And right in front of the AC unit is a table saw buried under some stuff that I bought to finish doing the floors upstairs.  It seems that I'm great at starting stuff, but not so good at finishing them.

However, I really do need to get this garage in order this summer.  It's kind of becoming a firetrap and I really don't need  housefire on top of everything else.  At the moment, our high temperatures are in the upper 90's and lower 100s, so I can't do this just yet without having heatstroke, but as soon as it cools down a little....

If you want to join in, just sign up below!  I'll be interested to see what kind of big projects you've got going this summer!