Happy New Year

In case you think all I do is follow the kids around and take their pictures, be assured that my plate is quite full with plans for the house this winter.

1. Refigure the basement. Here's the thing: we probably have a good sized working basement space (not counting the finished part, which is the kids' train room). But it's definitely not used efficiently. Bill had mentioned moving my washer/dryer over, building himself a new workbench (Family Handyman has plans for one) and then setting up a a dry goods/large cookware storage unit where his big, bulky, unwieldly so-called "workbench" is currently. Well, I'm all for it. I would like a nicer wash area, including a new slop sink. I would like big, sturdy shelving for stored can goods, soups, sauces, etc. (Sometimes Zagara's has sauce 5/$5.00. Well, who can pass it up? At the same time, who can store it? Exactly). I have an enormous lobster pot that has been inexplicably living in the attic because I have no where to put it. Insane. We need a better system. So this is hot on the agenda for me.

2. I think the time has come to admit that the main bathroom has to be dealt with. The wallpaper is peeling back, there's mold growing behind it (yes, it's visible, and yes, it's gross, and yes, I know it. Believe me), and the sink has a leak problem anyway. We have all the hardware for it--when Expo went out of business Bill cleaned them out of the hardware we knew we'd need for it. Well, I just don't think we can postpone it any longer. I posit that we strip the wallpaper, clean and Kill's the walls, and paint in one or two bright colors (I vote for deep cobalt and hot orange). Fix the sink, change the hardware, and move on. We are not talking a Groble-sized bathroom redo. That is not in the plans for...well, a long time. But we have been in this house now 7 years in February, and I believe that my patience for the floral-stripe-monstrosity in the bath has come to an inevitable end. I'm also hating the window treatment. So, the time has arrived.

3. We have built in cubbies just inside the side door (which also needs replaced). I have a yearning to get the junk out of them--this is stuff that should technically live in the garage, like car cleaning accessories, and planters, and fill dirt--paint them, and use them as a pseudo-mud room area for the kids' shoes, which now live in a planter basket in my living room. Yes. You read that right. Also insane. The cubbies we have are totally wasted on what we use them for. The children are old enough--and Emma is bossy enough--to be able to manage their own cubby for shoes, hats, boots, etc. and not trek filth through the house. Ellie does it at school! She can do it at home, and so can the little ones. This is also a project about which I am hot to trot.

Here are some links to my ideas. Enjoy.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/878025/index.cfm?clg=32&bnrid=3180501&cm_ven=FRO&cm_cat=Shopping&cm_pla=default&cm_ite=default

Colors: cobalt glaze, orange zest, sweet apricot and glacial tint from www.behr.com