The List
This is the list. The list of everything that we had planned on doing to the house when we stayed up until 4 a.m. some night after we moved in.
The list that we finished and, with unexplainable optimism and foolhardiness, pronounced "do-able".
There are two lists, actually. The two columns on this sheet of paper are marked "Need to Have" and "Nice to Have".
We made these lists to keep our focus on a balance between what would make the structure of the house better and what would make us FEEL better. Focus on too much of one or the other and we would have had problems. These lists helped us to prioritize and settle disagreements about where to invest our funds. The numbers scribbled in the margins of the list represent my hope and despair as I calculated and recalculated our progress through the items, pining for the day when the items completed would outnumber the items still to be finished.
Tonight, I checked off three Nice to Have items and two Need to Have items. And I realized that we have completed two-thirds of the projects on these lists. Very close to our five year anniversary in the house.
There are some really crazy projects left to tackle, but I think we're really starting to get the hang of this old house renovation stuff. Maybe.
For all you nosy people out there (AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), the high res version of the list is here.
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Comments
Sigh. Pretty much the only thing we've crossed off is "destroy entire house".
Posted by: jamaila | April 26, 2008 1:11 AM
We've started many lists and never finish any of the work. We just kind of go along with it and figure out something to do - and it's never to plan. I love that you guys have done such a great job of keeping track of what you want to do in the house and are working toward a larger goal.
Posted by: casacaudill | April 26, 2008 12:37 PM
Great progress. Any time you can cross SOMETHING off the list it's a step forward -- assuming you haven't added 5 more things to the list.
Posted by: Allison | April 26, 2008 2:30 PM
What's really interesting to me is how different things are considered "musts" byt different people. Every house is different in part because of its inhabitants. Thanks for sharing. I like your approach to balancing the two lists.
Posted by: Jocelyn | April 27, 2008 2:43 PM
Jocelyn--I think that was the hardest part originally...trying to negotiate "need to haves" and "nice to haves" with Aaron. But I'm glad we had the conversation BEFORE we got into the work and the stress of it!
Posted by: jm | April 29, 2008 3:01 PM