It feels like we are in a renovating cyclone right now. While there aren’t any huge projects going on, there are a lot of small things that we haven’t finished up yet from past large projects. Some of these things I honestly don’t even notice anymore day to day, but once I started making a list, they’re definitely there.

1. Frame out the inside of the front door. Truth be told, we haven’t done that part of the new front door yet. When we picked up the trim for the outside and completed that project, we thought we picked up enough for the inside, but there’s drywall to repair first. Yada yada. It’s not done. And funny enough, it’s at the top of the list of things that I had forgotten about until a neighbor came by and pointed it out, “I like this part a lot.” Oops!
2. The stair railings. This is the most frustrating project that we haven’t finished yet. We had everything picked out in this post and then we started looking at other options. And then our friends had a beautiful railing installed in their new home so we called their contractor to come give us a bid. He came and measured. I picked out everything again and there has been radio silence for over a month now. My girls have gotten used to no railing (my heart has not!), but any time other kids come over, I panic. We keep the baby gate locked almost always–I feel like we’re back at square one on this….for the 3rd time.
3. The deck is done and glorious, but there’s still quite an eyesore where our fireplace is going to go (see those plans here). We decided to fast track that project and are going to get it done in the next month. The summers aren’t terrible long here in Idaho and we want to be able to enjoy it as long as possible.
4. The downstairs family room is so close to being done-done, but all of the interior doors are still tinted yellow and the doorknobs need swapped out. It would take less than a day to give the doors a fresh coat of white paint and swap out those dated brass knobs. Check out #cljfamilyroom on instagram to see lots of photos of that.
5. Caulk and paint the baseboards in our bedroom. Now that’s just comical. Oy!

We decided to take the weekend and get the smaller projects done (and report back!) and make a shopping list for the larger projects so we can knock those out this month, too. If we don’t have stair railings by the end of this month, I might lose it.

Other fun things this week!

Speaking of wedding registries, we still have the toaster we got for our wedding and, for some reason, the plug comes out the front of it. It’s the silliest thing but has been a thorn in my side for 7 years and I might just splurge on a black smeg toaster for our anniversary this year. Drool.

Tell me what you want, what you REALLY really want. (Yes!)

A hand-painted tumbling blocks floor (in the most whimsical color!)

I’ve always said, I would rather spend money on a pillow than a shirt. And now I add to that: I’d rather spend money on this sweeper and dustpan than a pair of jeans. What does it mean when a dust pan is your idea of the perfect gift?

We are still trying to iron out all the details of the home office, and it’s turning into a thing. Sometimes I am really confident in making decisions and sometimes I’m so back and forth, I annoy even myself. Poor Chris. I’m trying to take it one decision at a time (i.e. the desk: white, black or painted–green?). Yesterday it was for sure white, today I’m leaning toward painted. Ha! I did run across this simple, tall dining table with storage that would be perfect for a standing desk and almost scrapped all of our plans and went with it. But, then I thought–do it for the drawers!

 $49 for this solid wood, modern black counter stool? That’s stock up price! (In “oregano” too)

Here’s to a productive weekend for us and a relaxing one for all of you!

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