Pins and Needles

Spring has finally sprung and it seems like almost everyone on my street has started some type of home improvement project.  Dr. Evil and his clan recently remodeled a bathroom in his lair.  The neighbors on the other side remodeled their bathroom and are in the process of redoing their kitchen.  All of this construction going on has us thinking about what we want to do around our house.  And the list is looooong.

• Completely gut and remodel the Master Bath.  Thanks to a leaky shower that a 'handyman' supposedly fixed, we think we have to rip up the sub floor and start over again.
• Once the bath is finished, I want to paint and redecorate the master bedroom.  It needs it because we haven't touched it at all - it still has the previous owners paint job and curtains.
• Our hall bath could use an update.  I kind of like the lemon yellow tub and potty but it does make the room a little dated!
• We need to repaint the entire hallway and we want to replace the trim so it matches what is in the kitchen and family room.
• We would like to rip up the carpet and refinish the hardwood floors in the living room/dining room and strip the wallpaper and repaint that room as well.

And that's just the projects we want to do inside.  Outside is another long list of expensive projects.

• Resod the dirt patches in the front and back yards.
• Replace the fencing around the pool.
• Repaint the front and back porches (poured concrete that looks like brick work).
• Replace the garage door.
• Replace the front and back doors.
• Re-install all of the landscape lights that Coal has ripped out in the past few months.
• Speaking of Coal, install an underground fencing system for him so he has more space to roam and doesn't get tangled up every 5 minutes on something.
• Repaint the pool and completely replace the faux tile around the edge.
• Repave the driveway (It was damaged in a wicked hail storm about a year before we bought the house and is in bad shape).

And I could go on and on.  While we have alot of ideas about what we want to do, we have to be very careful about what we commit to.  Mr. Monkeygirl is a union guy and his contract expired last week.  Right now they are working under the current contract but we don't know if they will settle, go on strike, or get locked-out.  Until all that is settled, we are going to be cautious.  We have someone coming out to give us a bid on the master bath job and the doggie fence so we know what kind of money we need.  But while we are waiting on pins and needles for the contract negotiation to be settled, we aren't going to make any big moves.  Wish us luck!