The Home Improvement Wish List (with a dose of reality)...

This is my wish list. Originally it was the list I made if money were no object, but then things got a bit unrealistic. Afterall I rent, so why would I bother with the bigger things? Too much time and money. Plus I don't want to get too comfortable in case it gives me the perfect excuse to stop being serious about my house hunt. Then there were the things I wanted to do, but French rental law says you have to return any rental back as you were given it. So for example if I painted a yellow wall blue theoretically I'd have to paint it the same shade of yellow again or else the landlord could bill me for the cost. Crazy right?

So I've crossed some things off the list and though even now I know some of the things that could be done probably won't be. That's why it's home improvement "week". I know myself well enough to know that I always get so very inspired to do things like this, spend a buttload of money, and then get either bored by my own ideas because they're not so brilliant afterall or I don't have the talent necessary to do what I wanted to do. I'm working on this horrible habit of mine but as it would require me to be more realistic about my own limitations and not just impulsively do whatever pops into my head it will probably never change. What can I say? I have my head dans les nuages - in the clouds. I'm trying to do what Thoreau suggested and build a foundation under my castle in the clouds.

1. Remove the hideous textured wallpaper where it is peeling and lifting and has already been torn off by my curiosity to see how easy it would be to get it off and then paint the walls with simple white paint but the kind that can easily be washed to save time on future housework.
2. Once and for all turn the useless wall into a chalkboard, though not the magnetic kind because the magnetic paint sold in France isn't strong enough for what I'd use it for like holding up photos and papers.
3. Put up shelves for extra storage space in the kitchen; hang gridwall for pots, pans, and other kitchen tools; put up shelves for my spice collection and for all the various glass and stemware I have (which is a lot).
4. Lower the kitchen counter by 30 cm so that my arms aren't exhausted from having to stand on my tip toes to chop things.  I can't do this obviously because my landlord would probably not like it. In fact if I could do whatever I wanted, I'd rip it out entirely and replace it with an antique industrial workbench with a shelf especially for storing wine and bottles of water. I love this one I found on Australian secondhand shop's website. I'd have the wooden butcher block top retored and find great bottle holders for that shelf underneath. I'd of course save one of the bottle spaces for my rolling pin.
5. I would stain all the bookshelves (about 66 meters worth) with walnut oil until they looked old and as well-loved as the books on their shelves.
6. Restore my Art Deco 1930's oak dining table, repair the wobbles, and sadly replace my Mategot chairs with something more comfortable.
7. Find a sofa on the cheap, buy mosquito netting, a tarp, some rope, an old coffee table, and make lots of throw pillows in order to create a small outdoor living room on the terrace and possibly could fall asleep on the sofa under the stars and trees on a nice warm summer night.
8. Finish hanging up the framed artwork I have and find enough little bits of artwork to frame and hang up all over the bathroom in lieu of wallpaper or turn the toilet room into a chalkboard.
9. Find the perfect rugs for the dining room/living room.
10. Build a platform for my bed but on huge wheels so I can move it when I want more space in the bedroom and then push it back under the skylight at night so I can count stars as I fall asleep.
11. Buy antique clothing armoires and another antique armoire for the bathroom to keep the towels and linens.
12. Find some old boxes I can stack on top of the armoires for my shoes a bit like these I found on eBay along with my hatboxes.
13. To make a great funky patchwork quilt for the bed.
14. To install a light in the hall that has a switch before I kill myself. Also to get rid of the five switches already in the hall that have no purpose whatsoever.
15. Put wood floors downstairs.  Obviously not cheap to do, although I think my landlord wouldn't object...
16. Knock down the wall in the bedoom and reconfigure the walls of the bathroom and treat the space like a loft.
17. Use the high ceilings to create a storage crawl space.  I probably could have done this, but since I'm only planning to be here another year it's not worth the effort anymore.
18. Put in a small wood burning fireplace.
19. Add more windows.

Tomorrow I'm off to cross #2 and hopefully #3 off my list this week. Once I get to the Emmaus sale, Sunday the house might look entirely different. Stand by for updates!