Refesh My Nest Update: November

Most of our energy this month has been devoted to preparing for my sister’s baby shower as well as major packing and unpacking from our trip to Massachusetts.  That didn’t leave much time for refreshing my nest, but I did manage to get some things done: 

Hallway bathroom: the major renovations are done, but we’re waiting on paint and trim.  Here’s the progress so far:

• Washed all the linens in the closet (about 6 laundry loads worth) and organized them into new bins that I feel in love with from Homegoods:

• Purchased accessories such as the toothbrush/toothpaste holders.  I repurposed our previous toothbrush holder into a Dixie cup dispenser.  I found the perfect rugs and hand towels to boot. Hung up the shower curtain (I ended up getting the Target one), and we’re getting closer to it looking finished:

• Transitioned Noodle from her Duckie tub into a big girl bath!  We put up a toy holder and also a “basketball” hoop.  She loves slam dunks!  I’ve bought and returned FOUR faucet covers.  Not one fits over the faucet because of the piece on top that you pull to turn it from a bath to a shower.  UGH!  Any suggestions of where to find one that fits?

• Came up with a plan for some FUN final touches!  These include making curtains, canvas art, and possibly an interesting way to add pizzaz to the bland mirror.  Stay tuned for those!
• Here’s a sneak peek of a few other details:

 
 

Master Bedroom:

• Transitioned summer clothes to winter clothes (boo).
• Weeded a few drawers with hubby’s approval and even got him to give up a few things!  Score!
• Finally put away the suitcases still in the room from my husband’s business trip two trips ago. 
• Put away all of the odds and ends that have built up in there, including but not limited to a humidifier that we haven’t used in two years, Noodle’s exersaucer that she hasn’t used in 6 months, wireless speakers, two bins of papers to go through (I despise those bins), and about 15 magazines that I’ve read but needed to pull out the articles I wanted for future reference.  It is SO CLEAN and refreshed!  Hooray!

Master Bathroom: 

•  Cleaned out the vanity and all my baskets and shelves.  It feels so spacious (even though it’s the tiniest “master” bath you’ve ever seen) because I’ve moved Noodle out to the hallway bathroom!
• Washed the linens in here, too. 
• Used a Zip It on the drain.  Have you seen this gadget?  It only cost $2 at Home Depot and it removed a big old hair ball.  Sorry, that’s so gross, but so true.  I’m going to add this to my yearly maintainance list of things to do!

Nursery: Went through Noodle’s clothes and transitioned them to winter ones.  Went through previous year’s winter clothes and put a bunch in the consignment shop that we won’t wear again {you know, the “fussy” ones with too many buttons and things.  Now I know better than to buy baby clothes with buttons!}

Guest Room:  Weeded out clothes that I won’t ever wear again and moved them to the wardrobe in the basement to prepare for consignment.  I also washed spare blankets to get ready for colder temps.  I have SO much more to do in here before we have tons of guests next week!

Outside: Hubby raked and mowed, and I pulled out some annuals that were long gone.  We also got rid of the annuals in the planters and baskets and are putting the pots in the shed.  

Office: DON’T ASK.  Basically just piled more stuff on top of the other stuff.  Gah.

That’s a pretty good start for such a busy month, right?  Here’s what I hope to accomplish over the next two weeks.  You’ll hold me to this, right?  ( I just realized that guests start arriving next weekend– I just had a mini panic attack.  ACK!) 

NOTE: the (*) means I’m hiring a pro for this– see below.

Bathroom To-Do:

• paint walls (*)
• hang closet doors (*)
• make and hang curtains
• wash mini-blinds
• put up baseboards (*)
• paint heat register (*)
• nifty mirror idea I have that I probably won’t actually do (*)

Thanksgiving To-Do:

• get some recipes together for next weekend’s guests
• set Thanksgiving table and make sure I have all the correct serving pieces
• purchase all food and have recipes ready
• finalize decor

Other To-Do Items:

• replace kitchen window sill (*)
• fix loud pipe in guest room (*)
• clean out guest room, including washing duvet cover and making bed/ putting out towels
• begin office organization
• find a good consignment store for adult clothes and sell my stacks of clothing that I’ve fooled myself into thinking I’ll sell on eBay someday
• freshen my washing machine– I’m attempting my own method, I’ll let you know if it works
• hang hooks in Noodle’s room for her towels
• clean rugs in nursery and living room (*)

 Ambitious?  Yes.  Impossible?  Probably.  But I’m hoping I can re-post this list in a week (okay, maybe after Thanksgiving weekend so I can recover) with everything crossed off. 

I’ve also made a bold decision to not do it all myself.  WHAT?  Not do everything YOURSELF?  What kind of DIYer are you?

The realistic kind.  I have to tell you that this weekend, while busy, was lovely.  I was able to spend it with my husband and daughter, just kicking around the house.  Yes, part of “kicking it” meant I was running from room to room and cleaning, unpacking, laundering, and organzing… but I was able to squeeze in lots of family time as well as a trip to the local Greek festival, a shower AND washing my hair (WOAH!), a fabulous trip to Kohls/Homegoods, shopped at a big children’s consignment sale, a looooong overdue oil change/ inspection, and watching the Notre Dame game with my super-fan husband.

The only way we were able to do all this, together, was that I decided to call a handy man to accomplish the things on my list that would take up too much family time.  Therefore, the items listed above with an (*) mean I am handing over control and will try to get a pro to do them for us.

Okay, deep breath.  I can do this.  I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone-it, people like me.  {does anyone remember this SNL sketch?  or am I the only one?}

Go forth, Making Lemonaders, and refresh your nests!  Let’s report back the week after Thanksgiving and see how you did!