I’ve lost count of the day we’re at with quarantine. Does anyone even know anymore?! I’ve been trying to keep myself together and not focus too much on the negative right now. It’s so easy to start going down that path and let our minds wander with questions about the what the future holds.
For me personally, I’ve been going back and forth where I’m OK and chugging along and then my mental state gets thrown out the window after I read a new piece of news about COVID-19. It certainly doesn’t help that my husband is a first responder. I worry about him so much.
That being said, I know this pandemic will eventually pass and life will, one day, resume a more normal state. Until then, I’m trying to keep things as normal as possible around here.
We’re still doing some house projects, which certainly gets my mind off of everything going on. I recently painted our guest room with left over paint from our living room makeover.
I also have another painting project planned: our upstairs hallway. Currently it’s painted the same color as our dining room (Behr Paint’s parkway avenue), which isn’t overly dark but being that the hallway gets no light, that space becomes super dark. I’m planning on painting the hallway in Behr Paint’s ultra pure white.
Outside, we’ve started tackling some projects too. I power washed our white fence around our pool, which was a big job. My back hurt the day after…I guess this is what my thirties are holding for me.
Here’s how clean it looks now:
I also spent a lot of time working on our backyard gardens. I carved out edges and made that natural looking edging that the pros do, and it has made SUCH a difference. I plan on posting a how-to about this garden edging project soon.
The best part is that it is free; it just requires some hard work on your part. If you’re willing to put in the effort, you can do so many home improvement tasks without spending much money.
Here’s the before:
And here’s after I carved out the edging:
Such a difference, right?! I still need to mold the dirt and then eventually mulch but it already looks so much better.
I plan on doing the same thing to our front garden beds and carving out natural edging around them too. This is a great quarantine project to do because all you need is a shovel. I used a half moon shovel, but you could definitely do the work with a rectangular shovel – it might even work better.
The big project that we’re working on right now is fixing our deck. We love spending time outside and we’ve wanted to make a beautiful outdoor oasis for awhile now, and we’ve decided it’s finally time!
It’s in pretty bad shape. We haven’t touched the deck boards since we moved in 6 years ago. Plus, a year ago I power washed it and I used too harsh of a setting so it took off some of the paint.
Here’s what it looks like:
It’s in terrible shape, I know.
I power washed the deck awhile ago and Jason is sanding and replacing some boards, etc.
Our plan is to repaint all our railings white and then stain the deck, though we’re not sure which color we want to use yet. We’re leaning toward a brownish-grayish stain color.
I’ve been mentally planning out the furniture situation on the back deck, so I have a good idea about what I want to do in the space. More to come on this project later.
As if that isn’t enough, we’ve also been talking a LONG TIME about painting our brick house white. We are aiming to get that done this spring/summer.
When we added our garage last summer, we got white siding with carriage style garage doors, which I feel gives a French farmhouse look. Once we paint the house white, I think it will all go together much better.
Jason also plans on building a breezeway to connect the house and garage. I’m not sure when he will get to that, but that’s been the ultimate goal since adding the garage.
Our plates definitely feel full with all these projects happening and on the horizon. I know some people may cringe at the thought of all these projects, but we really do love it! We love improving our home and making spaces we love to hang out in. The best part is that Hannah LOVES helping too and she learns so much along the way.
If you want to start working on some home projects during Quarantine, I encourage you too! It’s a great time to get some things done.
HERE ARE SOME IDEAS FOR HOME IMPROVEMENT (that are free and/or require items you probably already have at home):
- Repaint a room or an item you don’t love anymore with leftover paint
- Pull weeds, pick up sticks and do general lawn/garden maintenance
- Carve out edging around you garden beds with a shovel (I’ll be doing a tutorial on this soon)
- Deep clean your home – here’s a free spring cleaning checklist so you don’t forget anything!
- Clean out you (and your kids) wardrobes
- Organize your kitchen cabinets
- Organize your linen and bathroom cabinets
- Make a piece of art for your home (think outside the box and be creative with what you use)
Outside of home projects, I’ve been spending my days playing and doing learning games with Hannah. She’s been loving scavenger hunts where we search for different shapes around the house and she also enjoys painting with water colors! She’s currently learning that two colors mixed together can make another color and she thinks it’s pretty awesome.
We’ve also been doing a lot of this:
I hope you’re keeping your sanity and that your and your family are staying safe and healthy during this uncertain and trying time.