Happy New Year!

It's been a while, dear blog readers! First of all I would like to wish you a Happy New Year (if you can still call it new) and much health, creativity and energy for 2011. For myself I wish the same in addition to time for small projects without neglecting my new role as mother. Easier said than done, let's see how I get on. :)

I have started making a list of all the jobs that still need to be finished around the house. It is my aim to gradually chip away at this list over the coming year and hopefully complete most of it by December. The main items that still need doing are the front entrance hall and downstairs bathroom, but it's all the 'small' jobs that really add up to make it a loooooooooooong list! Take a look:

• Paint, varnish or oil internal doors and door frames 
• fit 5 internal doors
• skirting for stairs
• resand stairs then oil
• sand down work surfaces in kitchen and oil (repeat as necessary - approx. 10 times)
• Finish off the gaps between kitchen units and oven
• Buy and fit extractor hood
• Cover the water pipes in living room corner x 2
•  Fit new loft hatch
• attach skirting in bathroom
• Redo the grout line round the bathtub edge
• Fill in silicone round bathroom sink
• Refinish paint in Aneira's room-to-be (there are food splatters on the wall from when we used it as a kitchen last summer)
• Fit vent into fireplace
• De-rust the room divider-mirror which will go into the bathroom hiding the boiler
• Make custom desk for office area
• construct storage under the stairs for my rolls of fabric
•  Find, buy and put up lamps in bedrooms, kitchen, front entrance and hallway (or make: I have a nice idea for a kitchen lamp)
•  Make curtains and put up curtain rails

That's all I can think of now, but I know it is not the complete list by far! And here are the long-term big projects: 

• Paint exterior of house
• Buy and fit new front and side doors
• Take up concrete in front of house and plant nice front garden
• Lay new path to front door and side gate
• Construct back patio
• Design and plant garden
• Tear down old shed
• Put up new shed or studio space

 Luckily we have a new DIY Superhero to help us out:

 Apprentice Aneira

Admittedly she likes to sleep on the job a bit much at the moment, but I reckon by the time we have the funds and the time for all the big jobs she'll easily be able to help out. ;)