As of this week, we’ve lived in our home for 4 years. As I’ve done semi-annually since we moved in, I will hereby provide an update on improvements we made to our home in the past six months.
By the way, if you’re interested, here’s the blog post detailing what we did during the six months prior to these most recent six months.
OWEN’S ROOM
-Installed a window cling on the north window.
This is a full-size window cling; it takes up the whole window. We wanted to put a cling on it so that the light still comes in the room, but so that we still have privacy. The window looks out onto our neighbor’s home, and from our bathroom you can look right into Owen’s room and out that window. So, this is some nice privacy.
UPSTAIRS BATHROOM
-Installed a window cling on the window.
Similar story as above. This window is right above our Jacuzzi, so it’s great to have all the natural light.
LIVING ROOM
-Installed door sweep.
There’s a rather large gap (~3/4″) under our front door that leads out to the porch. A couple of years ago, I installed a weather strip on the bottom of the door, but for some reason, some of it didn’t stick. About one-third of it – the part farthest from the hinges – kept falling off. So I cut that part off, but that then allowed cold air to come pouring in all winter. I wasn’t too keen on a door sweep, as it’s not the prettiest thing and I had to screw into a really cool door that’s probably older than my Dad. But what can you do?
OFFICE/TOY ROOM
-Installed padding underneath a portion of the carpet.
So, underneath the desk in our office, there’s a square of carpet that’s not attached to the rest of the carpet. I’m not sure why. It’s been that way since we moved in. It’s like the previous owner must’ve carpeted the room, but accidentally shorted the piece by 12 inches in both directions. So then he just cut a square and set it there. There wasn’t even any carpet pad underneath it, either, so he must’ve made the same mistake with the padding. One day this summer, as I was vacuuming that area, it dawned on me that we have some spare carpet padding. So I cut a piece. Much better.
DINING ROOM
-New thermostat.
We now have one of these models. Very sleek looking, and we can operate it from our phones.
KITCHEN
-New microwave
-Installed window cling on north window.
DOWNSTAIRS SPARE ROOM
-Removed some sheetrock
YARD
-Planted more seed
-Added front steps to deck.
Ever since we sold our gazebo and the decking it sat on, we haven’t had sufficient stairs coming off our deck. I set our one remaining step in front of the deck, but it was still a big drop-off, especially for the little legs living in our home. So, a few months ago, I removed that step and replaced it with two new steps.
Here’s the deck without any stairs:
Oh – I also added in a row of bricks at the foot of the stairs. Here, this picture shows them better:
…And here are the finished stairs:
-Installed bat house.
-Installed bird house.
-Installed bird feeder.
GARAGE
-Installed some hooks for hanging shovels, rakes.