Eric's...I mean...OUR Summer To-Do List

Summer is here and SCHOOL IS OUT! 

It's been years since I've been in school, but having a teacher as a husband makes these next few months especially sweet. Yes I envy that he gets to stay in bed and snooze while I have to go to work, but I wouldn't trade those early mornings for a classroom of students if my life depended on it.  

No freaking way. 

Eric doesn't rub it in too much. He usually gets out of bed when I do, has dinner ready in the evenings, and tries his best to keep the house somewhat tidy. One year I made him a "Eric's-home-for-the-summer-let's-get-sh*t-done!" list...but that didn't last too long. I'm pretty sure it's stuffed in the couch somewhere. 

Having his whole day open REALLY comes in handy when we're working on the house though. Last year he busted out our banister like a boss, and blew my mind with his craftsmanship skills.

This summer brings with it a whole new list of "To-Do's" that we plan on tackling, the biggest being our backyard makeover.

For a while now, we've been toying with the idea of building a pergola over our patio. The plan is to reshape the patio pavers into more of a rectangle, and define two eating and visiting areas. Although it's not 100% scaled to size, below is an example of what we're leaning towards.  

Eric's only requests is a "grilling station" and maybe an outdoor bar of some sort. Honestly, I just want a place to hang a chandelier and some breezy and beautiful curtains. 

Moving back indoors, something I am determined to complete is painting and recovering our dining room chairs. I originally brought this idea up last February when we finally bought some chairs, and vowed to begin eating dinner at the table and not in the living room. 
Yeah, that hasn't changed. 
Totally still in love with the contrast white chairs have when paired with a dark table. Fingers crossed it'll actually happen. 

Another project that's been simmering since January is our guest bedroom. Ever since we moved our old bed in, and a lot of the random junk out, it's actually appeared more like a bedroom and less like a storage space. 

Progress! 

I really want to do something dramatic with this room. I've been LOVING the trend of dark blue walls, especially when paired with jewel tones and natural textures. 

I've even been pondering the idea of only painting half of the wall. There is a strange slope to the ceiling, and bringing the ceiling color down on the walls may give it the illusion of normalcy. What do you think? 

The good thing is if we paint it the first way, and end up hating how it looks, we can just continue with the color and cover the entire wall.  

Other projects on the list include:

• Give all ceilings a fresh coat of paint 
• Find a bed frame for our bed (yes our mattress is STILL on the floor) 
• Headboards for our bed and the guest bed 
• Create a workbench and tool space for Eric in the basement 
• Organize the office 

But before every great storm there is a calm, and that calm is a family vacation to this place:

One week, completely off the grid. 

Trust me though, when we get back, that To-Do list is GOING DOWN FOR REAL!