The laundry list- Top 5!!

Here we are, ready to slowly fix up this wonderful new house! I'd started this blog back in September, but projects, the holidays, and life got in the way. My motivation has been renewed, so as I work, I hope to update our progress weekly.

It's a long list...the house hasn't been redecorated since Welcome Back, Kotter, was on TV!!!! The immediate priority is flooring and a few basic safety issues. It's funny, though, how the longer you live in a house, your visions shift and change. Before we embarked on selling/buying a new house, I thought it would be ideal to have the work completed before moving in. Now, I see the value in living in it, breaking the house in, and making choices from there.

Originally, I wanted the den to have a soft blue/chocolate brown color scheme. Now, I'm so sick of blue because it's EVERYWHERE- both bathrooms, the kitchen, the laundry room- that I'm thinking red accents with a more neutral base.

Anyway, here are my Top 5 targets:

1. Teal blue carpet has to go!

2. Egressed window-well in basement has no cover. It's deep and a hazard for little ones. The bonus is that it lets a lot of natural light into the basement. We found a good cover at Lowes that allows the light in but supports up to 200 pounds. In case of fire, we can escape from below by opening the window, pulling the cotter pins and pushing up to release the window well cover.

3. Basement staircase is open on one side. If the little ones play on the stairs, they could fall over the side, so we installed an extra hand rail.

4. New roof. The current roof is 20 years old and has severe hail damage. We picked a nice dimensional shingle.

5. Light fixtures! Get a look at some of these babies! Pretty medieval, are they?