Older DS accepted a teaching position outside KC and moved out at the end of July. I have been working on redecorating his room over the last month and a half to function as a get-away room for me, that will also work for him when he comes home to visit on holidays. So, with Thanksgiving looming large, I need to get things done. I have a number of pieces of furniture primed but not painted, the wooden valance to cover with fabric and padding, art to hang, all the bedding to iron and the bed to put together, the headboard to assemble (one of the primed things) and paint. Lighting to hang, shades to get for lamps. A table that needs the legs cut down, but no saw here, so I have to finagle that from a handyman friend.

Everything just takes longer than anticipated, and with no basement or garage to paint in, I am at the mercy of the weather on the weekends so that I can work outside. I have a sneaking suspicion that the dresser will be painted in the middle of the kitchen! LOL

Oh, yeah! I've got a long list I've been plugging away at every weekend, with the Christmas holidays as my self-imposed deadline. Not a realistic deadline, mind you, because I keep adding stuff to the list, but I'm trying to finish as much as I can before my DD and SIL (still weird to say that - she just got married in June) come in from WI for the holidays. I've been sending her phone pics all along, and she's anxious to see the changes in person. I've promised myself I'm going to stop at the beginning of Dec., though, to give myself time to prepare for th actual holidays - otherwise, I'm likely to meet the plane with paint speckles in my hair! ;-)

No projects here before the holidays, but I do find that the best motive for me to get things done is to be having a party.

I have been there! Choose the least time-consuming project first and finish it. Break it down into small steps so you can see your daily progress. I am a huge listmaker and crossing things off the list is so satisfying, isn't it? This jump start will propel you to finish the other projects. Ready...set...GO!

I don't really have a dead line but I am working on my DR and it is taking forever. I for sure want to be finished by Christmas but it would be nice if I can finish before Thanksgiving. I have taken down the wallpaper, sanded and washed all the walls and the crown molding/wainscoting. If you can see the crown in this picture you can see why its taking so long. I am changing from oil based paint to latex paint. It takes one day just to paint one wall of crown molding (I know, I'm sooo slow!) so that means with primer and two coats of paint it will take 12 days just for the crown. Then I have to prime and paint walls and wainscoting which also has dental molding. DH and I made this crown nearly 20 years ago. Each piece is individual and it is a PITA to paint but I like it anyway.

If it makes anyone feel better, my goal is to wash and sort DD 1 and 2 clothes pile they left in heaps on their bedroom floors when they went back to college this fall, before Thanksgiving. Our church thrift store truck is this weekend. So I have a chance. Each DD is bringing home a friend for Thanksgiving, so rooms need to be company ready. I love the cute part, but can't do that until the rooms are cleared.

If it weren't for the holidays, my house would probably be neglected. I usually have some kind of project to get done by Thanksgiving. I've hosted a large family/friends informal Christmas party for years, but since MIL passed away a couple of years ago, I'm now doing Thanksgiving--just my kids and my DH brother. Haven't really had a major project for a couple of years. This year though--my FR carpet had to go--it was just disgusting. So DH laid hardwood. Of course with new flooring I had to get new window treatments, sofa, and rug. Then I moved on to the foyer--it had dated floral wallpaper. I just refused to remove it so--GASP!!--I painted over it. I'm rather pleased with it. So now all I have to do is finish painting the trim. After all this painting is finished--I am retiring my paint brush. I am going to pay someone to do my painting from now on. I've always hated painting, but now with my bad knees and back, it's just not worth it. I ache for days afterwards.
So here's my list to have completed by Thanksgiving:
Finish trim in foyer
Have painter paint kitchen
Cover barstools in kithchen with new fabric
Make window treatments for kitchen
It's a doable list.

Oh yes!!!!!

I'm having Thanksgiving at my place this year so I want my DR to be completely done sans having the DR chairs refinished. That means walls painted, blackboard wall done, armoire centered, plates and vases hung, curtains hung.

This also means I would like the LR and DR ready to receive a new sofa and wingback. Probably won't happen by Thanksgiving (maybe not even Christmas) but that's okay.

Have piano out of house (just sold it) and get gallery wall hung up again on office walls now that it's been painted. Would be nice if I could get 2nd coat of grey on office ceiling. Oh yeah - and get office chandelier hung to coordinating w/ LR one.

My biggest project is the patio. As part of the kitchen remodel I had a nice counter w/bar sink installed just about one year ago. Around the same time we had to get rid of the very long, very plain but very useful picnic table and benches my husband had made. That set was almost 10' long and it was where we host all our family gatherings; my usual guest list is ~15 but fairly often 20+.

Then came summertime and since we don't use the patio at all then (wayyyyyy too hot and buggy) I just left everything out there alone. I've got my eye on a gorgeous teak expandable table and some nice chairs but haven't bothered to buy anything or even clean up.

Until now. I'll be hosting Thanksgiving at my house so it's time to:

-Clean the patio include pressure cleaning the tile floor
-Decide if I want to paint the ancient wicker table out there or get something else to use as a beverage bar
-Decide if I want to get rid of the porch swing or repaint it
-Decide if I want to put a mini fridge out there and if so if I want to hound my husband into putting in an electric outlet :)
-Decide if I want an outdoor rug out there
-Put up new lighting, the porch lights are ancient shell-shaped things and I really hanker for some of the stylish lantern style fixtures
-Buy the table
-Buy the chairs

You know, just one of those little I've-ignored-it-for-a-year-gak-gotta-deadline household projects!

Add me to the list!

We're having 30 or so guests for Thanksgiving, and I'm kicking myself for sitting around for most of the summer and not getting many of these projects done.

Just yesterday, I was sitting on the floor, staring at the new curtain hardware for the DR, and I almost posted a "please help me" post. How high should I hang these? How wide? When I make the curtains, what kind of header? Will pinch pleats be too busy? I've had the fabric for the drapes for months, but I really, really want them done, so why am I suddenly paralyzed with indecision? I finally made up my mind, and the hardware was up by bedtime.

There are many other projects....some that were on last year's list that still won't be done, and some that should be finished in the next week or two, but I can live with that. Maybe next year?

We host Christmas Day at our house every year and this is my gotta-get-done-before-the-holidays list for
this year:
~ DH needs to patch some cracks in the adobe walls in our living room, which is where most of Christmas Day is spent. Cracks are normal in adobe homes, but need to be taken care of.
~ I need to paint the powder room and long hallway off the family room. I hate, hate, hate painting and am a total klutz at it, so I'm dreading these two projects.
~ I need to clean out and reorganize the guest room and it's walk-in closet.
~find someone to repair the start of a spiral crack in one of my dining room chair legs. I need that seating for Christmas dinner!
~ order new blinds for DD's bedroom window. She put the portable heater up on her window seat and it melted the blinds hanging behind it. That was frightening!
Lynn

I haven't even finished the projects with a goal of completion by Christmas 2010.

LOL, I'm still working on Christmas 2008's gotta finish list...

Me! Me! Holiday deadline over here. But even I have the sinking sensation that I'm absolutely insane. We are set to move in to the home I have poured every free moment of the last year into conceptualising (new build). And along with all that conceptualising came the shopping and the ambitious projects. Check this, drapery for 9 windows, recovering 2 chairs, creating and a slew of throw pillows. I've managed to knock off about half the list. But I was recently at an antique sale and found these quite awesome leaded glass windows in the perfect dimensions to fit an old hutch I have in my kitchen, but sadly they are not the perfect finish. So now I am staring down a hutch repaint. Add in a 1yr old a 4yr old and packing for that impending move... Well... I think Christmas is pie in the sky but I'm still going to give it my best.

Oh, definitely! By Thanksgiving I need to touch up some wall paint and hopefully get some trim painted and up. We also need to get the oven in so we can actually cook. I've been without an oven since at least January.

I hope by Christmas the trim will be done and we'll have gotten the DR chandelier and other lighting up.

Somewhere in there I'd like to repaint the LR and buy a rug, new sofa, and maybe some art, but we'll see...

Me too! I emptied the room over our garage, the bonus room, in June, and ripped up the carpet. Planning to move the queen bed from our guest room into that room and make what had been a den for 8 years, a new guest bedroom. However, Ii cannot decide on a paint color. Planning to install laminate flooring too. I have never dragged my feet this long on a project, I just cannot get going.
DH and I have taken 2 trips this fall and have another one planned for mid November. Not at all usual for us, family matters. Now, i am using Christmas as my deadline for finishing the room. (deadline had been Nov 1st :( ).

Yes! My garage renovation project is almost complete. I had a Halloween deadline, but that has just passed so I'm hoping for a Thanksgiving reveal! I may be crazy, but I may be starting my kitchen renovation once this project is complete. Definitely not hosting Christmas this year ;)

DH and I decided to get ourselves a Stickley glass-door bookcase for the living room for Christmas. So that is not a project but I'd love to get it ordered so maybe we'd have a shot of having it before Christmas. Looking at the calendar, that may not be feasible now that I think of it!

We need 3 replacement windows for our living room. We have put this off for 15 years because the windows are original mahogany and I know it's going to be a pain to try to match them. But it's windy in the living room, so it's time. We are waiting for wood samples now, so maybe that will get done before Christmas... then I can get roman shades ordered for the new windows.

Which will then make me want to get new window treatments for the family room, which is off the living room.

Can we make the "holiday" Valentine's Day? That might be more realistic for me.

dawn_t, I'm right there with ya! I have 2000 sq feet of flooring going out and coming in and have 7 rooms to put back together when that is done -- including a bathroom to put back together before Thanksgiving. I also need to do the kid at college clean out and would like to hang barn doors on our gameroom and rearrange or replace furniture in there. A half dozen other projects adn a charity event. Not much. LOL

My goal is to change a light bulb.
It's not as easy as all that. The fixture was put on too tightly, so it means trying to loosen the fixture from its ceiling mount or, failing that, breaking the glass and replacing the fixture or crawling up in the attic and trying somehow to remove the fixture from above.

Wow, I am happy to see I am not alone! I think it's only realistic for me to finish all the projects in one room, and probably an "easy" room at that. The other three will likely have to wait for...some other holiday.

I have been working on my kitchen steadily, but realistically speaking, I'm more likely to finish the dining room, where all I need to do is paint and come up with a new window treatment for one small window....

I thought my to-do list was a little harried, but some of you are just insane! Nothing like a house full of guests coming to get those projects done, though.

I can't believe I actually almost had a meltdown yesterday over that stupid curtain rod. What I told myself in the end was that half of the people that will see it won't like something about it anyway, and the other half won't care, so hang the rod and move on.

Some days, we just need a little pep talk.

Here is a link that might be useful: My whole house is great!

I can so relate this with you leafy02. I have to work on my kitchen and fix up a lot of things there. I too have kept Christmas as my deadline and I think I am running short of time. I am working my heart out to complete that in time.

franksmom, great video :) That little girl has a lot of what I need: enthusiasm, energy, and beautiful curly hair!

By Christmas: Finish altering LR draperies (adding 2 panels) and hang new curtain rod. Make a decision about DR china cabinet (paint, replace with new, replace with CL find??). Finish master bath concealed medicine cabinet (spackle wall surround and find/make art for the frame). Frame and hang new original art from friend. Finish my original art for the blank space over my fridge. Clean room over garage of accumulated project tools and other detritus.

Between Christmas and New Year: Paint master bedroom and find/make curtains that will coordinate with winter and non-winter (we really only have 2 seasons here) bedding. Replace hall bath light fixture and paint.