Approaching one year: What's been done?

Our first year in the house is nearly upon us, and right now I'm feeling like we haven't made much progress. But when I look back at what the house looked like when we first set foot inside, well, I suddenly feel like we've made a pretty good dent. Sometimes the to-do list is daunting and at 3 a.m. I'll find myself staring at the ceiling wondering how we'll get it all done and, more importantly, how we'll afford it all. Then my mind will wander and suddenly I'm thinking, hmmm, if we can knock this sucker out, open it up and pop in a skylight this room would ROCK. Hopefully in twelve years I'll have a son that can take over the lawn-mowing responsibilities, which will free up plenty of time for doing such gratuitous things. For now I need to keep things standing. So here's where we are:

Furnace: Had 30+ year old furnace replaced with a much more efficient model that's about half the size of the old beast. The cost of fuel oil subsequently skyrockets and we count our blessings that this one doesn't suck as much fuel as the old model. Circulating hot water system works fine, but there's a lot of window work and insulation needed to keep the heat inside.

Floors: Ripped up nearly a dumpster full of carpet and padding from five rooms, a stairway and a hallway. Random width pine floor was in decent shape, so I replaced the worst boards with some salvaged pieces and proceeded to sand them down. In the span of two weeks, I finished the living room, library, three bedrooms and hallway and finished them with oil-based polyurethane. A professional would most likely cringe at the finished product, but I'm pretty happy.

Stairs: Stripped all the treads on the stairway and they've remained that way for nearly a year. Hopefully I can sand them down and refinish them next year. I don't want to do it in the winter, especially with a new child in the house.

Windows: OK, I'll admit I didn't get very far on the windows. I only tackled three total, but it's a start. I had to replace the frame on the East side of the house after I realized everything was rotted. I'm currently praying that the job lasts more than one year, considering I was completely winging it. Renovating Old Homes by George Nash comes in very, very handy during this project. So do regular martinis and my Sawzall.

Painted: Living Room, Kitchen, Master Bedroom, Office and Library. Also scraped and gave a first coat to all the garage doors and the summer kitchen. That should keep the weather at bay for a while, though I'd like to get on a second coat before winter hits. Where in the world did summer go?

Garden: Dug up a good bit of earth and planted a pretty successful first garden. We currently have garlic for next spring and spinach for this fall.

Misc: Replaced kitchen light with a relatively inexpensive Ikea chandelier, and recently replaced the porch lamp with a nice hanging model. I also replaced the front storm door after it was ripped off its hinges during a wind storm. I was holding it at the time and it nearly threw me off the porch and lofted me into the potato field.

Still to do:

Kitchen: We had two people come out and look at the kitchen to get estimates for a renovation. One never got back to us and the other, well, suffice if to say the cost forced us to shelve that project for now. Hopefully we can tackle this next year.

Barn painting: I invite you all over, dear readers. I will supply ladders, paint, beer and pizza. The rest is up to you. C'mon, it'll be fun!

Barn roof: There is a corner of the barn roof that's got a nasty leak that has the potential to wreak havoc on a support beam. It needs to be tackled soon. Very soon.

Windows: I need to tackle more of the windows, reglazing them and repainting them.

Bathroom: We only have one full bathroom in the house, and it's small. There's plenty of room to bring the wall out a foot or so and really open up the space. While the pink tile is cute in a kitschy-sorta way, that needs to go as well.

Raise a kid: Somewhere on or around December 7, the big project in the house will be the addition of a little tyke. I imagine all projects will cease for a while as we try to figure out what the hell we're doing. This is the most exiting and terrifying project.