Summer DIY List aka Getting Our House Ready For Kids

I/we have got our work cut out for us this summer...lots and lots of ideas rolling around in my head for getting our house ready for kids.  So I made a list.  Because it's what I do best.  The list is typed and posted on our foster care organization station and I am posting it here as well, partly to just share the progress of some fun ideas I have, but also because when I post things on here it puts a fire under my booty to actually tackle them.   So...

Baby Room
We are going to equip one bedroom as a baby room or nursery that would be suitable for age zero to three-ish...or whenever a child moves from a convertible crib/toddler bed to a real bed.  This room has been used as a guest room so far and here is a very old picture of it (as many of these pictures will be).  It has a small closet and half bathroom around the corner to the right.

And here is the list for this room:

-paint walls above wainscoting sky blue with mix-in sparkles
-paint inside of closet white (with sponged blue polka dots?)
-paint mural of clouds, picket fence, grass and sun (aka check myself into a psych ward??)
-new curtains
-buy and hang Numbers 6:24-26 art
-Special hidden blessing (more on that later)

Kid Room
We are going to equip a second bedroom for a child that is a bit older, aka, sleeping in a regular bed.  Since we are going to sign up to take either one or two children at a time, ages 0 to 7, we need to be ready for both or either.   This "kid room", for lack of a better or more affectionate title, has been our office so far and is actually the most re-done and polished room in our house.  (It has long since received crown molding. Again, this is an old picture.)

Aaaand, the list:

-new curtains
-buy rug
-Trent finish building skinny, tall shelf
-paint shelf with chalkboard paint for labeling shelves, writing notes, chore lists, rules, I love yous
-anchor shelf to wall between closet doors
-buy chalk and holder/container, attach to side of shelf
-DIY United States map art (to be revealed later)
-buy and hang Numbers 6:24-26 art
-Special hidden blessing (more on that later)

Our New Bedroom
Our current bedroom is waaaaay at the back of the house, about ten miles from these future children's bedrooms at the front of the house.   In an effort to save both us and the children a lot of wandering in the dark during the wakeful nights that I know we'll have plenty of, we are going to move our bedroom to the big room at the front of the house that has so far been my craft room.  The room at the back of the house will turn into guest room/craft corner/storage closet/extra full bathroom to run to instead of all of us always sharing the one in the front of the house.

This is the front room we'll be moving to, pictured a few days after we bought the house.  There's a closet to the right.

And the list:

-paint walls yellow
-paint closet doors, inside of window box seats and lumber for new wide trim white
-put up new wide trim to cover up wallpaper border (add crown molding to the top later?)
-hang full length mirror on wall behind door
-stencil the inside of window boxes grey and yellow like this
-buy grey/yellow/white(bad idea) rug
-buy new grey/yellow bedding
-buy and hang new wood window blinds
-replace beige socket and switch covers with white ones
-new, not-so-dinky paddle fan?

Den
The den is a big, wonderful living area in the back of the house or "house #2" as we sometimes call it.  It is not high on our priority list this summer for fixing up cosmetically just because it's suitable as-is, not going to have anyone actually sleeping in here or calling it their own space.  So we'll see how far we get with this list...we'll for sure clean the carpet and probably try to swap the arm chairs for a sofa, but otherwise who knows.

The den list:

-paint walls tan
-replace paddle fan
-get rid of arm chairs
-buy small sofa
-create drop zone next to back door with jacket/backpack hooks and maybe shelves
-replace the lovely dark brown socket and switch plate covers with white ones
-get carpet professionally cleaned
-way down the road replace carpet with tile (not at all on this summer's list)

General
Otherwise here are some other general items for various areas of the house that we want to tackle.
-paint front door red
-finish dining room re-do that began in 2009 (ashamed)
-hang dining room mirror and art
-paint "Be silly, Be Honest, Be kind" stencil on big canvas to hang in living room
-buy and hang new wood blinds in dining room

This does not include our "Outdoor" list and our actual Fire Department and Health Department lists of tweaks and fixes that are required.  These are all just things we want to do.   Trent looked over the list and said "...that's a lot..." and it is indeed a lot.  We've got a mental priority ranking, some of the things can be nixed or down later or gradually.  It'll be alright...right?

Let the games begin!  Oh wait, they already have...