Not to bogart this thread, but… maybe I’m the only one working on stuff like this right now? ANYWAY, I picked up new wall paint today while I was in town and this afternoon I was able to prime over all 6 colors!
Tomorrow I can start painting the walls their new color! Benjamin Moore 2144-60, Cloud Nine. Because I can’t really empty the contents of this room into another space while I’m working on it, so I will not being able to paint like I normally do: each step, all at once. But hopefully I will be able to have my shelving unit up by the end of the week. WOO!
Lookin’ good! I have plans to join you in sprucing up our spaces in a couple of weeks. The Mister has a vacation week and I am hoping he will take the Kidlet out for some father/daughter adventures which will open my time up to clean, paint, and rearrange the living room.
We’ve been doing a bit of sprucing up too, but more hanging art, less woodworking. I keep meaning to post pics of the dining room. I think I showed it being painted. But in the past year we replaced the dated old chandelier, found a vintage buffet, hung beautiful shelves and some art, and put up some rechargeable sconces. I’ll have to get some pictures soon.
I have vague plans for projects and have had them for a while. I wanted to do some over Christmas but it didn’t work out. I hope to get these things done in 2026:
pick tiles for kitchen backsplash / walls and have it tiled (I DIY’d the basement pantry and it was harder than I thought it would be)
paint the kitchen ceiling / wall bits that won’t be tiled
paint the staircase and landing upstairs
put in baseboards upstairs everywhere
put in panelling in downstairs hall
get quotes for professional painting of hallway / stairwell that is too high to DIY (I tried and failed) and have it done
paint front door and internal doors
I am particularly excited about the panelling. The upstairs floor is a very goodlooking tropical hardwood floor, it was a leftover at the shop so we got it for very cheap (less than €200 for everything!) . After we put in the floor, we had leftover tongue and groove planks and it was more than enough to use them for panelling. We already cut them to size. We live in an old house, we have fancy black and white tiles in the hallway and panelling is really going to add to that fancy old house vibe (although our house is really not fancy, just the hall!). It’s also going to be very practical because walls in a small hallway get damaged so easily!
We used the best timber for my room, the planks for the landing floor and the panelling have some discoloration from light, which is normal for this type of floor, it will look better painted.
I already have supplies for most jobs, I might need to buy a little more paint. The only thing that’s going to be expensive is the hiring of professionals. Especially painters are so expensive! I know pros do a better and faster job than me bit they’re so expensive. I like painting and have literally looked up what a vocational course in painting might cost. It’ tempting. I don’t always have the energy to DIY but everything we outsourced, it’s always just a little bit off. It’s never exactly how we want it and I’m tired of dealing with builders.
It’s fun to hear what you all have been doing and want to accomplish this year! Love to see pics, too!
I got 2 coats of paint on that wall and parts of the walls on either side today! It’s a very light green, but is reading white/cream/grey in photos so far. I don’t normally go for light colors, but I thought for the new space I would give it a try. It’s also a color that goes nicely with the various wood tones, the existing ceiling paint, window treatments and guest bedding for when we have more than one bed’s worth of guests.
I finished painting yesterday! Today I reassembled my trusty old Ikea Expedit! It has a few knicks and dings, but it’ll do the trick and I already had it!
Tomorrow I will go to the hardware store for “furniture cups” to protect the LVP floor, then TheMisterT will help me get it into position so I can anchor it to the wall. WOO! I am supposed to go to Portland in the next couple months to help my mom with some stuff and while I’m there I can go to Ikea and get some Kallax inserts (drawers, doors, baskets) to help keep this at least sort of tidy looking. Monday my new work table is supposed to be delivered. EEP!
Looks good! The Expedit / Kallax is the loyal companion of crafters worldwide. I really like the shelving insets for paper, but I have drawers and bins too. Ikea has a large selection of insets and you’ll find even more on Etsy.
Upgrading / painting my old battered Expedit is a plan I’ve had for a long time but it’s not a priority for this year.
These clear plastic bins from Target fit perfectly side by side on the shelves and are incredibly sturdy. You can even stack them 3 tall if you don’t have the shelf insert but I found this was the most functional for me because I can just grab a bin and take it to my desk.
The lower bins are these made by Sterilite. I got mine at Target but it doesn’t look like they sell them in the stores near me anymore.
Thanks for sharing these! I’ve pinned them so I can find them again if I come up lacking with Just the Ikea options!
@Immaculata I have been eying the paper inserts, but I think I just think they’re neat rather than they would be all that helpful for me. I have SO MUCH paper. I have most of it stored in a couple different kind of bins that I may just slide those into the cubbies. Or even take the pads out of bins to maximize the the amount a paper I can get in a cubby. OR I may not even store paper in there.
Yesterday I got the Expedit anchored to the wall! I had imagined displaying the antique typewriter and vintage sewing machine up on top and I love 'em up there! We still have to figure out exactly how we’ll deal with the wifi router (lower right).
I’ve also started adding in my 12x12 paper stash (destashing some!) And I have temporarily shoved poorly sized bins of supplies in there until I can get inserts and other storage solutions.
FUN FACT: At the last minute when TheMisterT and I were putting this in place on furniture cups I forgot to measure for center! And then I just anchored it to the wall. D’oh! Luckily it is only about 3/4" (1.9 cm) too far to the right and not even really noticeable; I had to measure it.
Not sure if this belongs here or not but wanted to share how I recently organized a shelf on one of my art carts to hold my watercolor palettes. Previously I had them stacked horizontally on shelves in my Kallax but I found that I wasn’t grabbing for them as much because to had to contend with the careful stacking. I also had them spread out across multiple spots wherever they would fit.
The main change was getting some of these sturdy black desk organizer bins at Daiso (you can also see the cheap silicone mat I cut to fit on top of the lid so things don’t slide around when I move the cart).
I was able to fit 4 across in my Ikea cart with room on one side for some small plastic cases. I’ve got my watercolor palettes standing on their side and the bins provide enough space that I can flip through them to grab the palette I want. There is also enough extra room that I can store my Neocolor I and II sets.
Hehe! Thanks! We’re lucky that our house had solid wood doors, never painted. The downside, is that I think they are fir which is kind of splitt-y and splinter-y.
I finally fixed a minor thing that annoyed me every single day!
I sewed new curtains for our bedroom when we were mid-renovation. Somehow, I either cut one too long or the other too short but there was an exact 4" difference in length. I finally cut that off, serged, hemmed and put it up again.
It took me maybe half an hour but I had so my excuses before. Let’s wait until I get my serger, it’s hard to thread it, I need to wind a new sewing machine bobbin. I’m glad it’s done
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AIMR
(Linda -2026 time to regroup and renew :us:)
2520
Sometimes it is those small things that annoy us the most that we tend to ignore! I have a similar thing with one of the panels in my bedroom. I know it will only take a bit to get it done, but it is just seems to stay on my list even though it bugs me everyday.
Maybe we need a “Fix some small annoyance” prompt in the 50 projects challenge!
I have a little list of those smaller projects, too. One is because setting up and cleaning up are going to take many times longer than fixing the thing: the light over the stairwell. Plus, I’m not looking forward to dealing with the light globe while on a ladder over the stairwell. Blarg. The other two are a piece of stair nose trim that goes with the “new” floors at the top of the stairs and replacing a ceiling fan control in hopes that the old one is what the issue is. I have had the controller (like a remote control, but it installs where the switch in the wall would be it was a light fixture) for a couple years! It’s bulky and will be a hassle to install. I have told myself, to do just one/month and it won’t be such a big deal. And yet.
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(Linda -2026 time to regroup and renew :us:)
2522
We don’t dare get up on ladders any more. We are fortunate that our landscaper lives close by and checks in on us. He came and changed out our light bulbs. He also changed our water filters and HVAC filters. Of course we pay him, but I think he does it to get a little break from his little kids! ha ha ha
I don’t generally mind ladders, even on stairwells, for things like painting and such. For that kind of thing I’d set up a plank and it would be used for hours. It’ll probably take 20 mins to set up, 15 mins to fix, and another 20 to take down. The setting up and taking down the most fraught parts! The whole thing just because I split the wire for the socket under the hardware rather than over so the globe hangs crooked. It needs to be cleaned anyway. Sigh.
I have been searching FB Marketplace, Next Door, thrift stores, estate sales, and antique/vintage stores for months for a desk for TheMisterT to use now that he has moved his WFH office to the “library.” Just about everything was either too small (student desk) or too big (executive desk) or particle board or industrial or capital-M Modern, etc. But I just knew I’d be able to get a better piece of furniture for my dollar buying an old one. I finally found solid wood one, the right size, and not too far away on Sunday on Marketplace. It would need refinishing, but I expected that would be the case. I picked it up Monday for $45!
On Tuesday, more sandpaper came, but I didn’t work on it again until Wednesday. I got most of what I could get w/o lying on the ground stripped. I’ll get help putting it upside-down on sawhorses in the next couple of days to finish the rest and remove that brace and put it further back for more leg room. It’ll also need some nail setting, hole filling, and a going over with 150gr sandpaper.
There’s no precipitation predicted for a week or more, so I’ll be able to do most of this outside. The filling, staining, and waxing will have to be inside though. Today it was only 25F/-4C!
Vivienne is surprisingly unbothered by the noisy sander! And would come by to check on me while sanding and when I would turn it off to change out the paper she would try to lure me away with hijinks and shenanigans! She came by just as I finished cleaning up to suggest we go ahead and do our afternoon playtime a little early.
But hopefully I will be able to have my shelving unit up by the end of the week. WOO!
