Let’s finish a room already (to-do lists and self-imposed deadlines)

You may have noticed (or maybe you’re blissfully unaware), but I haven’t finished a room in a while. A long, looong while.

Plenty of rooms are in the works (let’s be honest, they’re all in the works), but I just can’t seem to finish any of them. Maybe it’s some sort of mental block I have against actually finishing rooms and publicly proclaiming them “DONE!”, or maybe my project ADD has been flaring up for the last year or two and that keeps me from finishing. Or heck, maybe I’m just lazy. Whatever it is, I’m owning it and moving past it. Rooms don’t have to be perfect to be beautiful, right?

My goal is to have both the boy’s room and the guest room completely finished by February 1st (I almost put January 1st, but I’m trying to be realistic…we have a lot of stuff to build.) Both rooms have come a long way, but still have a ways to go. So I’m making a list (because everyone loves lists) of what we’ve done in these rooms and what still has to be completed.

Let’s start with the guest room. Here it is when we first bought the house…

Here it is after the first makeover…

and today.

Here is what we’ve already finished –

• rip out carpet and paper the floor (which I will write about soon)
• new trim
• paint walls
• rug
• switch beds
• bedding and pillows
• give away old furniture
• rustic bookshelf (more on that next week!)

Still left to do –

• rock the main wall behind the bed (SO excited about this)
• make/buy side tables (already in the works)
• buy and hang lights above side tables
• something for above the bed
• organize and decorate side wall with shelf
• build some kind of door (barn door?) for over the closet
• curtains
• turn closet into and office/craft area (this won’t be done by February)

Next up is the boy’s room, which I’m turning into a cowboy themed room and has embarrassingly been dragging on for years on end. Here it is when we first moved in (okay, this is actually the guest room again, but I never took a picture of this one)…

Then I made it functional for a baby…. (functional, not pretty)

Then for two babies…

and here it is today…

Here is what has already been done –

• rip out carpet and paper the floor
• new trim/plank the walls/paint
• remove cribs
• book slings
• curtains
• rug

Still left to do –

• build, paint, and organize toy shelf
• decorate above toy shelf
• build bunk beds
• bedding/buy twin mattress
• lighting (lamps?)
• make saloon doors for closet
• giant chalkboard for wall

As you can see we have our work cut our for us, but I’m excited to dive in again and get things finished. It will be really nice to get to enjoy these two rooms instead of seeing them as giant to-do lists. Plus, my boys are thrilled about getting bunk beds. I’m slightly terrified (since jumping off things is one of their favorite past times), but Adam assures me it will be fine. I’m skeptical.

Also, if you’re wondering why the guest room isn’t becoming a nursery for baby #3, I’m writing a post about that exact thing next week!