5 Areas to Improve in My Home

When you move into a fixer-upper, there is a never-ending list of things that need to be updated, repaired, or made.  My husband and I have made lots of progress, but we tend to get snowed under with all the jobs that need to be done NOW! 

Periodically, I take inventory of all the things that still need to be done.

Then I get completely overwhelmed and have to take a break and have some coffee (if only!). 

What works best is to take a step back and choose a handful of areas to improve.  Here are my 5 major areas that need help:

1.      Back Yard: (the job that never ends!)  When we moved into our house, the back yard was ready to go in a lot of ways—for a much different family than ours.  There was a nice big porch (which I love), a paved patio, a pergola, a postage-stamp-sized lawn, and tons of gravel.  There was no usable space for plants, flowers, and the huge garden I had been dreaming of.  (There also were no weeds back then). 

 3 and ½ years later, we’ve made lots of changes.  We’ve moved miles of gravel, hauled several trucks worth of compost, and built raised boxes for my garden.  I’ve planted a lot, mainly vegetables and herbs, with a few roses thrown in.  We put in one irrigation system, and have plans to add another.

 We’ve also added to our collection of patio furniture so we have a comfortable place to hang out during beautiful Napa Valley weather.

 I still feel like we are fighting a losing battle in the backyard.  I have dreams of it being a beautiful, peaceful place where we can relax, entertain, and grow lots of food.  I also want it to all be easy to maintain, since we both work long hours and don’t want to spend every waking minute weeding. Sadly, the weeds grow sprout almost as quickly as I pull them. 

2.      TV room:  This is definitely the Man’s room.  It’s not pretty.  It is hard to keep clean.  There’s lots of computer equipment, weights, and guy stuff in there.  I don’t like it.  ‘Nuff said.

 3.    Spare room:  Other than the bathroom, this is the only room in the house that I have not really changed in any way since we bought the house.  I hope to turn it into a nursery soon, so there just has never seemed much point in decorating it at all.  However, I have found that a room with no purpose quickly becomes the junk-dropping zone.  Not good!

 4.      Laundry Room/Hallway Pantry: My nemesis!  Yes, I should be grateful that I have a dedicated room for laundry (I really am grateful), but this room is dark, dingy, and humid.  Plus, it’s usually a lot dirtier than this.  I really hate laundry, and this room has not made it easier.

 5.      Shed:  When you have no garage, you either need to have very little stuff, or good storage (or preferably, both).  Our shed is tiny, has very little shelving, and is sort of a black-hole for our belongings. 

     The best solution I can think of, short of another shed, is to install lots of shelving and other forms of storage.

So, there are some of the major areas that we need to improve. I'm not sure where we'll start working. Now we're building a run for the chicks so we'll see what we feel inspired to begin after that's finished.