Analyses and Confession.

Spiffing up the faux fireplace. This is one project I'm going to finish during the cure.

That was awful. Truly. We are homeowners, for heaven's sake. We wait on no one but ourselves to look after things.

I have to change my focus. I can't wail and moan about what's wrong: instead I need to ask myself whatever I used to ask myself when I was in school and didn't score as well as I'd wanted. That's it. What do I need to do to increase my score?

What was my score?
oh yeah. 4.5/16.

Maxwell considers an A- to be about a 12.
So, how do I "get" 8 points?


A. Let's see. If I make it as easy to clean as possible, that would be 2 points right there. #12 and #16.

What do I need to do to accomplish that?
1. declutter (duh)
2. Set up routines. That's the key for me. I'm really, really bad at sticking to a routine that involves housekeeping. Nasty word, that. "Housekeeping." But I've been down this road before and I really can do it again. For anyone else struggling with this, there's a great list of "Daily Minimums" over at organized home. (see link on right).


But hey, a clean home can be a beautiful home, too. Sure I'd like better quality furniture, etc., but when this place sparkles, it is actually quite a pleasant place to be. So, it would improve my score on #5 and #9 too. Four whopping points just from cleaning. Wow. No wonder Maxwell focuses so much on it in the Deep Treatment. (But then, he wrote the quiz too, didn't he?)


B. Set up a small sewing area in the basement. Put the machine up. Sew a cover for it. Put the sewing supplies in a handy spot. I CAN do this. Lighting is a problem, but that's why they invented extension cords, isn't it?
That'd be 1 point. (#4)


C. Establish rules and limits for TV and computer time for the kids. That would greatly cut down on the noise. That helps address #1. It would also contribute to our overall comfort. 1 point. (#9)


Hey, we're up to 6 points. Not bad.


D. Figure out my style. Express it in my home and start wearing it. Hmm. That's 3 points! (#s 6, 7, 8)


E. And, of course, what REALLY needs to be done, I've been too embarrassed to say. But here goes.


Upstairs bath:
1. Replace forty? fifty? -year old toilet in upstairs powder room. (It works fine--as long as you hold down the handle for longer than a second. It's just nasty.)
2. Replace the flooring.


Downstairs bath:
3. Replace the flooring.
4. Fix the hole in the wall.
5. Re-grout the bath tub and the toilet.
6. Replace tub and shower surround with something decent.


Kitchen:
7. Replace the floor tiles.
8. Repaint cabinets and walls.
9. Wash oven and stove.
10. Wash fridge.
11. Wash ceiling, doors and door trim.
12. Replace chipping, rusting faucet.


Dining Room:
13. I want to re-do the whole room. Does it need to be done? Not really. I have been finding the colour in here very dark, lately. It's been bugging me. It's just more fun than everything else!


Living Room:
14. Finish Fireplace Project
15. Hang brown drapes.
16. Hem brown drapes.
17. Sew curtains from fabric purchased a year ago.
18. Clean the sofa. (Oh, the sofa. That's a whole other post).
19. Take out the bench and put in the small round table so we can play games, do puzzles, etc. Find chairs for it?
20. Get new lampshades or do something with the ones we have.
21. What on eath can we do about the HUGE crack in the wall? We've already patched it with an expandable compound. It opens and closes of its own accord, depending on the weather. I'm not sure there's really anything we can do about it without somehow involving the roof--or the foundation--it's a "serious injury" as Maxwell terms these things, but we truly feel helpless before it.

Master Bedroom:
22. Re-paint.
23. Create headboard and "feature" wall.
24. Finish painting the dressers.
25. Figure out the "look" I want to create in there.


Actually, take #25 and multiply it by every room. So, figuring out "my style" is even more important than I'd thought.


Obviously, our budget (which is non-existent) and my time (severely limited this go round) prohibit doing most of this list.


But it will be good to use it to focus my attention over the next eight weeks and not get side-tracked into doing fun, but non-essential things, like styling my bookshelves.
I think I'll be "doing the cure" for a long time.

Next post: doable (low cost) project list, with (a few) "before" pics.