Favorite Projects from 2009

Lots of projects got done Amongst The Oaks in 2009. It all started in January with painting Teen2's bedroom purple, then repainting the main bath, then repainting the laundry room. By Spring we were adding a disposal, hanging a map, planting lettuce, and installing more drip irrigation. Summer found us painting Acorn cottage, making drop cloth curtains, refinishing chairs, and making flowery bunting. As the weather cooled we prepared for Halloween by making tiny coffins, tombstones, graveyard columns, and potion bottles. Then came Fall with touches of white for the dining room, and finally Christmas with glitter houses and cranberry glass ornaments. Oh, and the Lord of the Manor totally rebuilt Teen1's car.



All great projects, but here are my favorite ones for the year:

REPAINTING THE BATHROOM TIFFANY BLUE

INSTALLING A SECOND DISPOSAL IN THE KITCHEN


HANGING MAPS IN THE KITCHEN

USING OLD CURTAINS TO RECOVER MY IRONING BOARD...

AND MAKE THIS MARVELOUS BUNTING

REFINISHING THESE CHAIRS

MAKING CURTAINS OUT OF DROP CLOTHS

MAKING STYROFOAM GRAVEYARD COLUMNS FOR HALLOWEEN

MAKING POTIONS BOTTLES

MAKING GLITTER HOUSES

You may ask how we got all that done plus the usual stuff, plus work every day. Well the Lord of the Manor and I have a system. Every January we put considerable thought into our goals for the New Year. We actually walk around the house inspecting things and looking for things that not only need doing, but things we'd like to do or change. And we write them all down on a pad of yellow paper. And we keep that pad handy in a kitchen drawer and pull it out often to see what's next. And you know what? It works! Sometimes you only have a few hours and need a small project, and you see "install drip irrigation to hanging baskets" and there you go - a perfect Sunday afternoon project. Other times you choose a big project, but even that can be broken down into manageable steps to make it less daunting or time consuming. Maybe the planning stage will only take two hours? Maybe the next weekend the shopping stage will only take three hours? Maybe prep work can be done a little at a time in the evenings? Then maybe the next weekend the actual work will only take six hours. Don't let a big project beat you before you even get started - just break it down into manageable steps.

As projects get finished and checked off, you have a real sense of accomplishment and at the end of the year you feel great as you look back at all you've done. Not everything gets done, but you can put that on next year's list or you can just forget about it. That's the beauty of this system: you make the list, so you own the list. You can change it, add to it, or delete from it as you see fit.

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So we have already made our lists for 2010 and it promises to be a year filled with interesting projects which I will share with you as we finish them. But don't think I'm going to show you those lists - then we'd feel obligated to do everything on them!

Wishing you success with all your projects in 2010 from everyone here Amongst The Oaks.