Update: We have a winner, who has been notified. Tune in again next month! Lugine was the winner of last month’s “Love The House You’re In” custom collage made by our collage artist laureate Mel Kolstad. That’s Lugine’s house … and her son and his dog … all interpreted by Mel. Oh my, Mel’s artistry just keeps getting better and better. And, it is SO COOL to feature readers’ homes. If you would like enter our July contest and win a custom collage featuring your house and photos, read on….
To enter, complete these two steps:
- Leave a comment on this post answering the question: What is your #1 project to get completed this summer?
- And, subscribe to my newsletter. Yes, this helps me build my newsletter list… I send ‘em out just once a week, usually.
Please read all the rules here before entering, they all apply. I’ll pick a reader next Friday morning.
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Meanwhile — thanks again to Mel for a fabulous collage! You can find Mel’s collage works on flickr and her blog, Much Ado About Stuff.
Entries closed on this month’s “Love the House You’re In” collage 
We have our winners in our “Love The House You’re In” collage contest 
Win a “Love the House You’re In” collage of your house 
Become a fan
Emptying out and organizing my garage, seems I get one step forward, two steps back!
making the dark 80s-ified wonky pressboard wonderland of our cottage (trailer) into the coziest, efficient 40s-ish cooking mama’s paradise i can coax out of our imaginations and many talents of my fabulously crafty family.
and yes, it will be done by the end of summer- i’m so geeked out about our first home i don’t sleep anymore. that’ll be me, workin’ the kilz at 3 am.
My #1 project for this summer is finally putting away the Christmas decorations! In fact, I hope to get that done today.
Mary
My number one project this summer is keeping tomato seedlings from taking over the front flower bed. Last year, I made the mistake of transferring some soil from a garden spot in the backyard to the bed in the front yard. That soil was full of tomato seeds. I transplanted some of the seedlings to the garden out back, but, there are too many for me to save all of them. Of course, there are much bigger jobs to be done inside and out of the house, but they take more work and money!
We want to finished the entry way (removed wallpaper, patching, texturing, painting, etc) and at least one of the bathrooms. We’ll see!
My number one project this summer is to build the outdoor shower that I have been planning for 2 years. The tankless hot water heater and the shower controls have been gathering dust in the garage for over a year.
This summer is all about doors. I recently replaced my front door. Guy is coming out next week to replace the rollers on my sliding patio door and fix the screen (or tell me how to fix the screen). Soon after that, I’ll be replacing the outdoor carpet on the patio steps and trying to choose new front porch lights. Of course, now I really want to change out the shutters and paint the house, but that will have to wait at least a year. . .
My #1 project to get completed this summer is: Done.
It started with a clogged bath tub. We had to gut most of the bathroom. New plumbing, new tile, some new fixtures, new paint. It’s looks great now and the kids can stop using my shower.
The project most nagging at me is to attempt to salvage the knotty pine cabinets and paneling the house-flippers painted matte navy blue. Ugh!
My main project is to repaint the color blocked wall of cabinets in our basement. They were color block with a variety of colors from the 50′s to the 70′s when we moved in. I immediately painted a few of the cabinets then sat down and cried because I had ruined it and had started liking the rumpus room look as I had been painting. I have spent the last 3 years trying to collect mismatched cans of paint (because you just can’t get those old colors matched at the machines, the software tries to make it too bright or pastel-ish) by carrying a photo of the cabinets prior to painting with me everywhere. I have finally collected all but one color and will be starting to tape off the lines this weekend!!
My/our biggest project this summer is finishing our bathroom. We started on it two and a half years ago when we first moved in to our house. There was no shower head (just a tub) and we had all that cheap plastic tile. Sigh.We had a plumber come in and tear a hole in the wall and put in the shower head but right around that time I got sick and was in the hospital and then the following year I lost my job so things kinda got back tracked.
Speed forward two years, I’m healthy and working and saved up money so time to actually finish the bath! Picked out some wonderful tiles (with a lot of inspiration from Retro Renovations – thanks!) Have a “new” sink that fits the era of our house. Doing our best to keep with the age and retro spirit here. We should be done in just a couple of weeks. Can’t wait to see it with all the plastic down and towel bars, etc. up. Its been a lot of work but we really love our old house and would never trade for a new one!
Lugine, you have a real trophy there! Congratulations! .
Mel, your collages just get better and better! I’m still limping along with my collaging, but am loving it.
My project for the summer? Hmm…to change the sheets in the guest bedroom?? Seriously, my project is to have some trees taken out of the yard before the height of hurricane season.
Oh, thank you Annie! What a lovely thing to say.
Happy fun times with your collaging – it’s SO fun! 
Finishing the re-decorating in my kitchen/sitting room. Remember all your help with my rustic place? I’m getting there; just need a day (or 3) for sewing. Went the retro/cowboy/diner direction. Can’t wait to finish and show you all the end product!
We REALLY want to get our bedroom repainted and re-decorated, but seeing as how it’s mid-July and we haven’t even started, I don’t know if it’s going to happen!
Getting the front door painted and some plants planted. This little ranch could use some curb appeal!
My number one project is to organize my bookshelf. Books are barely hanging on the shelf, and my husband has stuffed all sorts of papers and electrical cords on it.
Our number one project has got to be refinishing our parquet floors. It is labor intensive! I can hear the sander right now which is why I’m hiding out in the bedroom on my laptop. ; )
My number one project is to go through all my closets and do a big clean-out. Some thrift store is going to get a lot of stuff! If I haven’t used it or looked at it since I bought it, it’s gone. I feel like I’ve reached the point that my “stuff” owns me instead of me owning the stuff.
My #1 summer project is to finish unpacking!
the vestibule!
it’s the first thing you see.
it’s the first thing we tackled.
it’s the only unfinished project, 4 years later!
Our summer projects are to finish remodeling the kitchen and plan out our front yard landscaping using a Palm Springs mid-century desert landscaping theme.
Stain the deck on our wonderful Rambler on a Hill so that we can spend the rest of the summer sleeping under the stars.
To finish off the 1970′s enclosed patio as my Tiki Bar!! Can’t wait to enjoy it and sit back with an umbrella drink.
To finish the house! We haven’t even finished unpacking all the boxes. I work for the local school district and I hope to have everything finished before the start of the new school year. It has been a crazy trip but we have loved every minute of it!
I want to ‘do something’ with a wonderful child’s chiffarobe that was left in my house when I bought it. Currently, it’s painted all white, including over all the cool original hardware. I just can’t decide what colors yet… I’m leaning toward a tri-color scheme of a neutral, white, and apple green. The green is the color I just painted a really cool wrought iron washstand that I use has a coat tree. Aside from that, I’m trying to figure out how to lighten up my fence and deck, which are currently very dark stain.
To add some built-in shelving in my bedroom to house my ceramic owl collection.
I love ceramic owls!
build a mid-century nursery for our first baby!
We need to finish the half-bath we started in the basement. When we bought the house last summer, we thought it was odd that there was a toilet sitting next to the washer and dryer. So we figured we’d just build a wall around it, add a sink, and be done! Then we decided to tile it to match our original 1952 bathrooms upstairs. We are hoping to finish before October, when our Japanese exchange student shows up. Wish us luck!
oh, Mel…. I just love your collages!
My summer goals have been to be creative – and so far it’s going well. Doing lots of mini decoupage projects. Cleaned the basement – and turned it into a guest room – and actually entertained guests in it!
The next huge project I want to complete is to paint and decoupage a 50′s cabinet I bought from Goodwill. It was made for holding records – you know vinyl LPs! So cool … thinking about painting it TURQUOISE – my favorite color!
Oh, thank you Mrs. E – you are so “lovely” for saying such nice things about my collage!
To scrape and repaint the exterior trim on my 1941 cottage.
…..Is to start reusing the items I all ready have. I have some great stuff, old stuff, but it’s tucked away in cabinets or on shelves. Time to stop buying and start to restyle and reuse! What’s old is new again!
Thje first rule of redecorating is to use what you have.
I’m curious as to what the collage is made from? Very nicely done.
Oh, thanks so much, Kelly!
I really appreciate that.
This particular collage is constructed entirely out of paper except for the lettering and the windows, which are done with transparencies. I made the bricks out of a variegated commerical paper and a punchy (so the bricks would be uniform!). The rest of the house is high-quality cardstock. The background is all unryu (a lighter version of handmade mulberry paper) and the trees are another handmade paper that I rubber stamped with a “shrub” stamp. Austin and Dudley were printed on Canson Infinity Fine Art & Photo paper, in which the ink literally becomes part of the paper itself (you can paint on it!). Oh, and the steps are done with cardstock and “cement” embossing powder, for added realistic quality.
#1 project this summer is replacing all my old wood mulch (that’s so yummy to the carpenter ants) with something else. I recently found a souce for tumbled, recycled glass that replaces mulch–stunning! But I’m saving up for it because the inital cost is high, but will never need to be replaced!
We have a list of projects we’re hoping to get done by the end of the year; by the end of the summer, I guess our #1 project is to replace our front and back doors. It’s tough finding a suitable style, though; the doors we’ve seen so far (at Home Depot and Lowe’s, for example) just aren’t appropriate for a mid-century home.
put in a shower! we only have one bathroom and one tub with no shower. it has been my #1 project for four years now!
The one project that I would love to get done this summer is to rip out the hideous linoleum in the kitchen and laundry room and put down VCT. Thanks to all of the great advertisements that are posted here, picking a design was easy!