A problem of priorities

The new casa Speedy is slowly starting to come together. Walls and floors are getting a thorough washing, surfaces are being dusted, repeatedly, with the hopes that the drywall dust will soon be banished.

Boxes are slowly emptying, and odds and ends are being assigned new homes. Mr. Speedy has a makeshift home office up and running — makeshift because his snazzy new desk is surrounded by boxes, and his "desk chair" is pulling double duty from our dining room set.

At the moment, my biggest challenge is prioritizing. Because, of course, I have about 7,000 things I'd like to do at any given moment, I find it hard to choose (and complete) a single task.

For example, while washing down walls, floors, etc., is a serious priority, I wonder if I should be following that step immediately with painting, or if I should just unpack and then paint at a later date.

It's also tougher to prioritize the unpacking, now that most of our essentials have been unearthed — should I unpack and start colour blocking our books or should I dig out those winter clothes? (I think winter clothes might win, after all the lousy weather this summer, I may need them sooner rather than later!)

And, of course, there are also many improvement projects on my radar, some small and some not so small. To name just a few:

- We have a broken screen in our back door, which will definitely let in bugs, and, with our luck, probably squirrels too, as well as that fat, slightly mangy black cat that likes to lurk in our yard. I've named him Frank.

- Our garage roof needs new shingles.

- Our bedroom is getting a full on makeover (read more about that here and stay tuned for the details of the full plan!), but which of the other rooms should benefit from a new paint job in the near future? Pretty much every wall needs a touch up or new coat of paint.

- I need an office space. A gal can only type on the sofa for so many months, and while I've got a cute table I can use as a desk, the room needs a chair, a light, and serious shelving and storage solutions, along with a thorough cleaning, to get into fighting shape.

- The light in the basement blew out the day we moved in. We replaced the bulb, and that didn't help, so we need to install a new light fixture. Otherwise, it's going to be a very dark winter. But, we're both more than a little timid when it comes to monkeying with electrical work ...

- The hall closet is a jerk. The handle on this folding door closet was installed to look pretty, which means it doesn't open or close easily. When you do pull on it hard enough to open it, it smacks you in the face or nearly knocks you over. Plus, all those foiled attempts at opening and closing are wearing on the handle, which will likely pull off in the near future. This has resulted in Mr. Speedy deciding it should always be open — which makes the hallway feel narrower, and just looks messy. This is probably an easy fix, we just have to remember to actually buy the new handle.

- The kitchen cabinets, and dining room storage cabinets, need to have the ornate brass handles replaced with something sleek, silver or nickel, and contemporary. This is a style update only, so I've been taking my time narrowing down the choices.

And oh yeah, we still have a stack of boxes in the basement, too!

How do you decide which projects to tackle first?

Comments

[Cloned2]

I completely understand. I moved into my house in June and I'm still unpacking! It helps living in your place for while before deciding what storage and furniture will fit with your lifestyle. For me, I have been waiting for an electrician to rewire my house so there is no use decorating. Once that's done then I can focus on the fun stuff. I am dreaming about pretty wall colours till then!

Good luck.

[Jennifer Wilson-Speedy]

We also waited for the rewiring before we even thought about decorating! Best of luck in getting to the pretty and fun stuff soon!