There is an ad on TV here in Germany for a DIY store and the slogan translates as “Finish it before it finishes you”. Every time I hear it, I think “How true” and remember all the little things that need finishing in our house.
When you have a house and a garden, there is always something to do. Not that I am complaining. I like to be busy, I’ve mentioned that before, and I like the place to look good. It doesn’t always have to look its best, but I do love it when the sun shines in on a clean house and the place looks well.
The thing is though, there isn’t always time to get all the things done that I’d like to get done. Time passes and I get used to a crayon mark on the wall, the wonky door on the bathroom cabinet, the lampshade that “will do for now” on the landing and all the other bits and pieces I imagine I will get around to some day.
Sometimes, as if out of nowhere, some free time comes up. That is exactly what happened this weekend. I had kept the weekend free for post-holiday unpacking, washing, sorting, etc. Through some freak occurrence I got all of that done before the weekend and so we suddenly had nothing pressing to do.
On Friday evening when The Bavarian came home from work he mentioned he needed something from the DIY store. Suddently it struck me that we could attack all those jobs that needed doing. We all piled into the car and trailed around the DIY store, gathering up all the odds and ends we needed.
The weekend was highly productive, without any of the usual arguements that go woth home improvements. The garden is tidy. The house looks better. With a reasonable amount of work and not too much outlay we got the following done:
Garden
– killed off a load of weeds
– mowed the lawn
– trimmed the edges of the flower beds
– tended the pots of herbs and flowers
– gathered windfall apples in the garden and made crumble, apple cake and sliced apples for the freezer
House
– bought a new stopper for the bath
– created a craft workspace for me in the guest room alcove
– tidied up the picture rails in the guest room
– built a new under sink cabinet in the bathroom to replace the wonky old one
– hung new light fittings on the landing and in the guest room (there’s a whole guest room post coming).
– washed and re-hung the curtain in the downstairs bathroom
– made some progress on the toy grocery shop renovation (a long story!)
I’m really happy with how much we got done and it has given me a lot of motivation to get
– the guest room sorted out into a more usable space
– the upstairs bathroom restyled into an attractive place I like to spend time in, without spending a lot of money.
So keep an eye out for posts on both of those.
Sounds like a super productive weekend!! We spent ours clearing out an embarrassingly large collection of bags for donation to charity shop and for dumping. New baby on the way and am on the usual “how will we fit another person and all of their stuff into our little house” panic prior to their arrival.
It certainly was, Emma, but not at all tough. Totally satisfying and it gave me the motivation to get a few more projects finiahed and others started.
Thanks for popping over!
P.S. How long till the new baby arrives?
7 weeks officially but if they are anything like their older brother they’ll be here in about 5!! I have 3 weeks as the cut-off for everything to be the way I want it and then I give up after that, as long as the crib and car seat are out and clean and the clothes washed I’ll be happy!!
Of goodness, so early! Good luck and let me know how you get on 🙂
Wow, so much done – well done! Nice to ‘meet’ you – popping over from #HomeEtc
Thanks Claire. Nice to meet you too 🙂
Wow I’m really impressed at how much you managed to get done in a weekend!!! It must have felt GREAT! x
It really did. A lot of the stuff was quick to do once we got up the energy to do it.
So productive! Love weekends/times like that!! Such a great feeling and looking good! Thanks for sharing, as always. Love Jess xx
#HomeEtc
Thanks Jess. We enjoyed it. Getting so much done was very satisfying and left me motivated to kick off another couple of projects.
Wow! You’ve been super productive, Fionnuala. FUnnily enough, we’ve been doing all of those little bitty jobs since getting back from hols too! I drew the line at sorting our loft though…That’s a job for another day. Love your little crafting space and you know I was always going to love an Ikea hack, right? 😉 #Homeetc
Ha ha, yes, i was sure you of all people would approe of an Ikea hack. Your ones are brilliant.
I LOVE that kind of a weekend! Just add to that ‘putting things on eBay (which is something I HATE doing but always makes me feel virtuous afterwards)’ and that would be my idea of a fantastically productive two days.Well done!! I need to do the same — our snagging list is *definitely* going to finish me off!! Caro x #HomeEtc
Oh I hate that too. There is a pile in the cellar waiting to be sold or off-loaded soon. But for now the bathroom is where the action is and I swear I am gong to finish it soon.
Sounds a very productive time – love it when it all comes together like that! #homeetc
It was great to get so much done. It started me off on a few new projects too, which I plan to finish by the end of the month.