My Summer Project Plan

The first three weeks of summer vacation have been filled with activity, but now that we’re home for the rest of the summer, it’s time to knock out some projects. Today, I wanted to share the list of projects I hope to complete this summer.

Painting the Kitchen

The kitchen is the single room in the house that hasn’t been painted since we purchased our cottage thirteen years ago. While I’m painting the kitchen, I also plan to paint the upper cabinets. The jury is still out on whether I will paint the upper cabinets the same color as the bottom cabinets or whether I’ll paint them to match the wall color.

I’m also sort of torn on whether I should add a fun wallpaper to the back of the cabinets. Part of me thinks a wallpaper would be so fun, but the other part of me thinks it will clash with the things on my shelf.

A Shelf Makeover

I purchased this shelf from the thrift store this past spring. At one time, it had been screwed into a wall, so I plan to fill the holes, repaint the shelf, and add some sweet little pegs to hang some pretties from.

Eventually, we will open up this wall to make way for a door into our master bathroom. For now, I thought decorating this large shelf would decorate the wall without doing anything too permanent and also allow me to change up the space throughout the seasons.

P.S. I also really want to paint the walls in our master bedroom. I am really drawn to earthy colors right now and feel like a bold clay color or a creamy taupe would look so great in here. But that’s an after-the-kitchen job.

Reupholstering the Porch Furniture

Reupholstering the porch furniture was supposed to be part of the One Room Project, but we ran out of time. I have the fabric and want to use some of the time I have this summer to see that project through to completion.

However, with the porch roof still unfinished, I’m not in a rush on this project. I really want to recover the cushions and keep them outside, and I need the porch roof finished so that they don’t end up living in my studio for fear of getting ruined.

Make Pantry Curtains

As more of our garden harvest begins to make its way inside, I would love to can my excess goodies. But I don’t have anywhere to store canned items, currently. If I put curtains over the windows of my pantry, I can turn that into more storage for those items, and I won’t have to worry about keeping it looking neat. I have two more curtain panels to match the blue gingham ones over my sink and think they would look so sweet.

Create Shoe Storage

Rob’s shoe storage is basically non-existent. Using this old ladder, I would love to repurpose two coffee bean bags we got from a coffee shop last fall and turn them into hanging baskets to store his shoes.

I’ve really only ever sewn straight lines (curtains, bunting, etc.), so I feel like this project will be the perfect opportunity to grow my sewing skills. A few summers ago, I got really into sewing and then sort of abandoned it when life got in the way. I would love to have an excuse to sit down behind the machine again and continue to learn more. Something about sewing and an old cottage just seem to go hand-in-hand.