I keep fielding the question of “So now that the laundry room is done, what’s the next project?”
Well, there are four that will be going on at once. Which sounds overwhelming, but it should make sense in a moment.
Project One – The Cottage : Plumbing and The Bathroom
Since we had the pipes burst and the flooding disaster, the number one project is getting the plumbing back together at the Cottage, and subsequently finishing the bathroom (and then the house – goodness, we need to get it finished and rented).
This is where we started out in the Bathroom….
….and this is where we are now.
Wallpaper down, floors ripped up, and plumbing to be completely redone and moved. You know, and then a whole bathroom to put in. I have it designed – fingers crossed that it goes smoothly.
 Project Two – Martin Place : The Porch
When we restored the exterior, we didn’t quite have enough funds to be able to restore the porch. To be honest, we still don’t quite have enough funds now, but rot is continuing to eat away the wood, and we’re going to find a way to get it restored. Most of the the porch will be replaced, and while we’re going to try and do what we can with it ourselves, the structural issues are a bit too much for us, so we’re going to hire out most of the project. I feel like this will be a project that will be much more of an impact than we can imagine. We’ve lived with the porch for so long – I bet we’ll be astonished at the change. She’s getting a facelift!
Project 3 – Martin Place : Front GardenÂ
I don’t like gardening. I LOVE looking at pretty gardens, but between allergies and not being strong enough to yank weeds out, I sort of hate it. And we haven’t done anything to the exterior landscaping at all. My friend Veronica, however, LOVES gardening, and she’s been growing starter plants for me, and she’s mapped out everything and designed our whole front yard. I’m super glad she is taking on this task, because I have zero desire to. It’s kind of a jungle out there.
You can see my neighbor’s house here. Her gardens are magnificent, and ours looks sad next to hers. She spends a lot of time on hers that I don’t plan on doing, so ours is going to be a bit more low maintenance.
We’ll clear the yard and plant, and paint the fence black. Hopefully we can knock this out in a weekend or so!
Project Four – Martin Place : Balcony Bedroom and Bathroom Mini-Makeover
As you may or may not remember, right now we live primarily on the third floor, which doesn’t have air conditioning like the rest of the house does. We do have screens on the third-floor windows now, which is an improvement over last year! Although, the draw-back to screens is that I no longer see puppy heads sticking out of the windows when I get home each day! We DO have a portable air-conditioner – as the windows are too small to support window units – but it doesn’t really help once we get past 80 degrees, which translates to about 110 on the third floor. So, I’m going to do a small makeover on the clearest of the bedrooms downstairs, so we can spend our nights in relative comfort. RIght now, most of what needs to be done at the Cottage (our priority) are things that I can’t do alone, like plumbing. So, when Doug is finishing up his work day, or on the early days of summer break when I’m on my own, I’m going to take down the wallpaper, repair any walls, paint, and sew some curtains. While I’m at it, I’ll do the same in the adjoining bathroom. My friend Chad said I’m ridiculous for taking time to redo a room that really isn’t that bad, but as I told him, I have seasonal allergies and won’t be able to sleep with all that floral wallpaper. But really, it’ll be a good project for me to do on my own.
The Bedroom :
The Bathroom :Â
So there you go! Now you know what’s next! Hopefully it all goes smoothly.
Whoo, thanks for the shout out! haha. Well, maybe taking the wallpaper down isn’t that crazy. It has to happen sooner or later regardless. And now I’m getting a better look at it. I assume the ceiling fan blades are reversible. I was relieved to see that mine could be flipped over to something that wasn’t ugly – one less (tiny) expense. And I’m absolutely drooling over your door hardware. But you knew that already. Do I see fake gold paint dry brushed onto it though?
I think the bathroom one (the last picture) has some faux paint on it. But, yes, the hardware is awesome. The most redeeming quality of the room, besides the fact that it has a balcony. And who cares if the ceiling fan blades are reversible? I HAVE A ROOM OF SPARE CHANDELIERS.
oh what was I thinking? Also, if you ever see a nice flushmount let me know! I found some at a salvage yard in Philly (the one that sold what was plundered out of the Divine Lorraine) and they wanted 300 for them.
What kind of paint are you using on the iron fence? Ours needs some freshening, but I’m not sure what product would be best. Bet you won’t be sad to see the bunnies go!
I’m going to use a rustoleum spray paint that’s good for metal. Really, what I should be doing is sandblasting it before I do it, but we aren’t sure if we are keeping the fence and arbor past this summer. If we keep it, I’ll probably sand blast it next summer and hand paint it with a paint suitable for metal. But for a simple fix for now I’ll just spray it (after a light sanding and scraping of any flaking paint). I’ll use some poster board or plastic sheeting as a spray shield to avoid hitting grass or sidewalks or people.