Boring Home Updates

There are super-exciting home updates and then there are boring home updates. These are replacing your A/C unit, replumbing/wiring, re-roofing your house...you get it. 

Well, I am currently working on boring home updates. These are things that people on a blog do not want to see and really don't look dramatically different when they are done.  Things like:

1.  Removing rotten wood and replacing it with Hardie Plank.
2.  Pressure washing the house
3.  Scraping off old lead-based paint in the enviromentally correct way
4.  Repainting shutters, window sills, the side of the house

You know what would change this update from boring to exciting?  Painting my brick.  I visualize a nice cream color, but I am going to stuff that vision back in a drawer for two reasons:

1.  I refuse to add an element that requires upkeep to a substance that requires no upkeep. 
2.  I can't afford it. #1-4 above requires my whole "external" home budget.

There is a tiny part of me that wants to take my housing budget and buy a new wardrobe.  Who cares if the side of my house is chipping?  I sort of do...but what honestly motivates me to do the work is my mother's voice echoing in the back of my mind.  "Bethany, do not put off home repairs. The issues do not get better with time and only lead to more costly repairs."  Oh, ALRIGHT!

As for the inside of my house, I have several projects before my nest is fully feathered. My goal is to have these all done by Spring.  However, if I need to divert my finances elsewhere, I can and still be happy living in my home as it is - its up to the Lord! We'll see! The list is: 

1.  Pick out and put up black-out curtains in my bedroom. 
2.  Clean out the back closet (and I mean years of things that need to be discarded)
3.  Paint the back room
4.  Turn the back room into a study/additional guest room - I need a place to have my quiet/study time that is not my bed. 
5.   Replace the tile in the bathroom
6.  Install a backsplash in the kitchen
7.  I also know I don't have too much longer on my A/C unit - so this may trump 1-6.