Drop in Optimism – Front Room July 2016

Last month I was feeling so optimistic about The Front Room Project.  I felt like I really accomplished a lot of work during the month.  Even more, I was feeling really motivated to finish the cleaning so I could get more into the design component of the project.  As you can tell from the title of this month’s blog, I have lost that optimism.  I do not feel like I made nearly as much progress this month as I had wanted.  I had things going on every single weekend in June which really limited my ability to spend much time on the room.  July is not going to be any better because it is the quarter close at work, and we all know by now that I never accomplish much during that time period.  I set my goal for the end of the year, but I am beginning to wonder if I will actually make it.  At least I keep moving forward, however slowly it might be.  Below is a brief update on the room as of July 1^st.  I also included the comparison pictures, June 1^st on the left and July 1^st on the right.

Overall, the room looks cleaner this month than last month, especially on the living room side.  I moved a lot of the boxes and debris out of the way so we could start the painting.  Most of the stuff that was moved has been piled in the master bedroom or my stepson’s room.  It all has to eventually go back into the front room when it is complete.  The first few sections of the walls (the big front wall and some smaller sections by the closet and stairs) have been painted.  I picked the color Blue Bird Day from my samples, and I am extremely happy with my choice.  Even just having that small section completed makes the room look so much brighter.  My husband is really responsible for this portion of the project.  He patched, puttied, and sanded any imperfections in the walls.  Then, he painted.  He also replaced those awful metallic outlet covers and light switches with white ones that blend into the wall better.

In July, I am hoping that we will finish the painting.  Since my husband is doing most of the work and is not affected by the quarter close, we might make some progress on this part of the project at least.  We still have two big walls and a few smaller sections by the stairs to finish in the Blue Bird Day.  The ceiling needs to be repainted, just a basic white.  The base boards and the doors will all be repainted the same glossy white they currently are.  He plans to finish swapping all the light switches and outlets in the room.  He also is going to replace the doorbell chime, the smoke detector, and the light fixture by the front door.  Then, his part will be done.  By the end of the month, I may have the time to put some work into the room.  I imagine I will mostly be moving boxes back into the room from my stepson’s because I feel bad taking up all his space.  My next real task is to make some furniture decisions, particularly on the office space area.

That is it for this month’s update.  I will be back next month, and hopefully I will at least have some kind of progress to report, even if it is all my husband’s doing.  Wish me luck with the quarter close, so I can get through it and back to the fun part of life.

See you next week!