January Cure

This time last year I was diving head first into Apartment Therapy's 10 ways to be happier at home. I did periodic check-ins (week 1, week 3) through the month and even focused on it in a guest post on my friend, Alyssa's, blog.

The biggest thing I learned in my journey being happier at home was not that I will love my bedroom if the bed is made, it's about how I feel about my bed being made, how I feel about doing the dishes or the laundry or picking up around the house. If it makes me feed good or accomplished then I will be happy there, if I resent doing the dishes, no matter how sparkly clean it is, I will grumble when I walk into the room. 

Now that I have a stronger appreciation for my home, I decided to tackle Apartment Therapy's January Cure.



The first assignment is to make a list of all the projects you want to tackle in January, room by room.
This is my list.

Living Room
Take down the Xmas decor (oh wait, I did that on 1/1)
Replace the front door knob/handle (started 1/5, unfortunately, this is a multi-day project since we needed to use wood filler)
Replace the garage door knob
Fix wobbly coffee table legs
Tile around the fireplace

Dining Room
Go through the random pile in the corner of the room (started 1/4)
Reupholster kitchen chairs (DONE 1/5!)

Spare Bedroom
Sort through piles of papers
Put away 2013 financial info (set aside docs needed for taxes) (done 1/4)
Tackle mystery baskets (sell off or donate Mark. overstock)
Fix all the pants with split seems, missing buttons, etc.

Master Bedroom
Pull clothes to donate or throw out
Fix or replace splintered bedside table
New bedside tables

Master Bathroom
Organize underneath the sinks
Mount the towel rack to the wall

As you can see from the calendar, I have a lot on my plate, but I don't have to accomplish everything this month. I just have to make note of it.
Janel also advises that you don't just jump in right away. I kind of ignored that part - as you can see from my notes.

Once I'd made a list, I got a little excited and just decided to go for it. I pulled out all my paid bills and misc docs on Saturday morning and got to sorting. The important stuff goes in an expando under the desk and the trash gets put in a bag to be shredded.
Sunday I was inspired to reupholster the kitchen chairs. Hubs wanted to go to the craft store to get a new zipper for a pair of pants and while we were there, we looked at fabrics that might work for the chairs. We took home some swatches and after I'd seen them in the house, I got rolling.

I also had the morning off work today (Monday), so I don't have to work out tonight. I plan on getting in a little more organizing this evening. :)

I'm pretty excited for all the things I'm going to get done this month. Hooray!