A lick of paint

July is gonna be busy. Two birthdays, plus an August party to plan for the one person who actually cares about having a party. A wedding anniversary. A beach vacation. A mini-reunion.

And, I'm giving myself a challenge. It's going to be my "paint therapy" project. We don't have much spare cash for the kinds of decorating projects and renovations we dream up (enlarged kitchen, finished basement with wet bar and guest room and snug, living room decor based on Versailles paneling, that kind of thing). But after reading some design/DIY blogs, I have a theory that a lot can be done with a fresh coat of paint. Not too expensive. Not too difficult. And a whole new look. I'm right, right? Wait, am I not the first person to come up with this idea?

This is what I want to do: paint our porch. I have set myself a goal finish date of Sunday, July 31. I came up with a to-do list and assigned dates to each item on the list. All I have to do is keep up with my own timeline and this'll happen!

Here are my BEFORE pictures to get things started.

The street-side steps to our porch. Also the cat's "troll hole" is the break in the lattice to the right of the steps. This is where he skulks off to if you look at him funny.

The porch is actually considered "empty" to prepare for my project, but stuff kind of collects there somehow. This is the door shown above from the other side.

Side wall of the porch.

The back door of the porch. That's our handy 3-step recycling system--black bag for plastic and cans, blue bag for redeemables, white bag for paper.

I also went around the house and put everything related to painting into one box, so I'll know where it is.

[Why do we have 4 pairs of safety goggles? No idea.]

This will be my go-to kit for the next month. Plus I'm sure I'll be adding to it after some exciting hardware store consultations and paint chip decisions in the weeks to come.