Future Projects on our Long To-Do List

Of course, we'd love to be able to do every.single.thing on our home's long to-do list, but it's simply not feasible at this time. Obviously, we are doing a ton of work in this renovation, but we focused on the big items that would be difficult to change later - windows, doors, floors, drywall, tile.

We are certainly tackling many items we wanted to before moving in, but there is a long list of large pending projects to work on in the coming years - maybe even decade! We know this will be a work-in-progress house for probably as long as we live here (and the plan right now is to retire here...), but we are passionate about our living environment and look forward to how it evolves over time.


The biggest thing we'd love to eventually do, is replace six of the sliders in the sunroom. It's an awesome room, but there are seven sliders in there, and we have found that sliders = $$$$$! We are quite certain six of the seven are not original to the home, so we don't feel awful replacing them, but for now, they will be fine.

We'd love to either replace them with sliders that match the new windows, or large panes of glass that slide completely open to create an outdoor room. We realize with the second option, we may not have screens, so sticking with sliders may be the way to go in Michigan.

You also can see the seventh slider (bottom right image) - it's a huge one, and it's stainless. That one, we'd love to keep, but clean up a bit. The seal is broken in one side of it, causing it to be a bit hazy, so we'd love to eventually replace the glass & seal, but for now, it's staying put. The unique thing is that it slides from both sides, which we love. While there are a few layers of old paint on it, I plan on scraping that off before we move in.


Another giant project we'd love to tackle in the next few summers, would be the landscaping and yard in general. We know this will be one of those ever-evolving projects that we never stop working on, and we are excited about our half-acre lot that will allow us to have just enough space to entertain, play and relax!

We LOVED the manicured lawns of Palm Springs, but with our landscaping budget being about $500, all we could do this year was work on getting the lawn to be actual grass. We'd also love to invest in underground sprinkling, but we will have to make due with moving our own sprinklers around the old-fashioned way!

Currently, it's a hot mess of weeds & moss, and Greg went out to the house this week and attempted to kill it all. He's there today (Saturday) using a vehicle from work (a TerraTrack) to till the soil and get it ready for grass seed in the coming weeks.

While we have dreams of large paver stones with foot-friendly ground cover, a raised veggie garden behind the garage to grow some of our own food, and a perfectly manicured lawn with lots of room for a swing set & Eames to play ball, this year we're just hoping for grass where all the wood chips are. And maybe a few containers with some colorful annuals out front.

With my dad being a professional landscaper, he has big dreams too, but big ideas = big money, and we're not able to invest in that portion yet! We also have two sides of fence from our neighbors. One is a privacy fence, to the south, and the other is a chain link, to the east. We'd love to figure something out to continue around the other two sides, so we can contain the dog & kid. Again, not in the initial plans, but on our to-eventually-do list.


And of course, a big part of my to-eventually-do list for the interior of the house, is to have a few items reupholstered. Greg and I have been collecting MCM furniture for the past year. We've scored some great deals, but most of them need some fabric TLC before they can be loved as much as we are anticipating. We have a couple of chairs, our dining room set, and all of our sunroom furniture that we have big plans for with new fabric.

If you've ever inquired about having something professional reupholstered, you know this is a big investment. Sometimes, it's more expensive that buying a brand new chair - which blows my mind. I know, I know, we live in a throw-away society, but as you can imagine, I prefer quality to quantity and of course, prefer something with style.

While we would love to bring all of our items down to the upholsterer and have her go to town before we move in, this is one thing that I'm not going to be able to do right away. I think I'm going to have to pick just one piece to have done, and I'm quite certain it's going to be the reading chair for Eames' new room.

The photo in the middle is a fun chair that is the perfect shape for the living room. I'm not in love with the fabric, and there is quite a bit of wear and tear on the arms, so this is on our to-do list. The teak sofa on the right is part of a killer deal we scored. We also have two armchairs & an ottoman. The fabric isn't awful, but it's not perfect either. The set is going in our sunroom and I'm going to live with the fabric for now, but have plans to update when possible.


I do, however, think I can tackle the dining room chairs on my own. I've actually done this project before and know it's not too difficult. I picked up some bolts of upholstery fabric at the Herman Miller Outlet store that I think will be perfect in our dining room. It's a dark teal, and the best part? It was super affordable.

They sell their remnant bolts for $2.50 per yard, which is like $97.50 per yard cheaper than what I was coming up with online. SOLD!

So, there you have it, a portion of our large to-do list. A list like this will keep this blog going, even after we move in and begin living there - which, word on the street, and by street, I mean from our carpenter, is that we will be able to move in mid-June. Four weeks from now. I honestly don't believe it, but he seems to think so.

I haven't packed a darn thing yet! And we haven't sold our current house, so I may not until we do :)