A to do list....on going!

Just recently hector and I made a list for things we I want done around the house. I know he wants this stuff done too.

Originally before we bought this condo, we had all these sort of ideas that we wanted to do to the condo (and it was a completely renovated condo!)

The only thing we ended up doing over the past year was paint that one accent wall. Now, we both knew we wanted orange, so we found the right paint color - terra cotta (i believe it was ralph lauren). We picked it out, asked the guy for primer, and however much paint he thought we needed since we were only doing one wall. The guy sets everything up for us - 1 quart of paint, 1 quart of tinted primer. and we were off. You would think I knew better, after all, I'm not a novice to painting - I've done my parents' kitchen, bathroom, living room and my sister's kitchen. and i've helped a friend with their kitchen and dining room.

We started with the tinted primer.

then we went ahead and did the first coat, then the second coat, then the third coat. What is wrong?!

 

so we decided to go back to home depot. and we spoke to the paint manager there. she was like what?1 who? no, everything's wrong?! she said you need grey primer. Oh. the guy was the one who told us tinted primer. it wasn't as if we went and picked it ourselves. we don't know any better. So the manager ended up giving us 1 gallon of grey primer and 1 gallon of terra cotta paint. for free, we would've paid for the paint, but since she felt bad for us, we'd already done 4 coats!

back home. we started with 2 coats of grey primer to ensure it completely covered the crappy paint. Then we proceeded with 2 more coats of terra cotta (so yes, we have 8 coats of paint on 1 freakin' wall). Here is the end result. 

Voila! whew! that was a crazy amount of work. though that tv isn't there anymore. and we do have a rug down. Once we'd finish our living room. we held off....until this fall.

it took us a year to recover from doing any more painting.

Back to the list....so we I wrote a list, he provided some feedback. Granted, this list isn't gonna get done right away.

but I'm gonna post it because there's a good chance that paper will end up in the trash can one way or another.

things we want done to the condo:
– Mirror for Entrance Way  It's done! we did it the day we made this list! and it looks fabulous. Now we have no excuse for walking around with shoes on! 
– Floor lamp/side table for living room
– curtains for dining room window - Working on picking out fabric. I've got a couple picked out. then my mom can sew them when she's back in florida.
– Dining table/Chairs & probably a new rug
– Artwork for that accent wall! - i constantly change my mind what i want on that wall!
– Magnetic wall or something for us to post pictures or artwork in the kitchen*
– More storage in at least one of the bathrooms
– Paint the bedroom!
– New bed (he wants queen size)
– Paint/Stain the chair
– Sound proofing of Studio
– Cozy up balcony space
– Garbage and Recycle set up has got to be better! 


*he hates how i have pictures of the kids on the fridge!

Dream Projects:
– Knock wall down between kitchen and living area -- it's got a doorway, but I'd love if that wall wasn't there. but it's a good chance it's a loadbearing wall.
– Replace railing in entrance way to solid half wall
– Refinish floors to darker color!
– Customize all the closets!
– Built in shelves in the shower (you have no idea!) 

but the best advice i can give anyone-- when they buy a place, or even rent, live there for a while before you do anything major. That's so essential! We had all these ideas, and then as time went by, we worked with what we had, bought little things to make it really work. and there are some things we thought we wanted, but then in the end, we ended up not needing to do that. so live with what you've got for a while, then make it work for you!