To-do's on hold still

We have quite a few things on the "to- do list", but either we are waiting on someone else or they require lumber and it's just too darn expensive right now. I was hoping it would come back down in price at least by summer, so we (which of course I mostly mean dh, haha) could get going on these projects, but who knows.

Add a loft in the shop along the backside wall. This will take quite a bit of lumber and dh used up what he had on the first smaller loft he built at the end of the shop. This is probably the biggest project and will take him awhile to do. I will get the job of staining all the boards and painting the plywood on the loft floor (we just used some from a leftover 5 gallon of white paint we had)

Finish out our walk in closets in our bedroom. Again - lumber needed, if dh is going to build the shelves himself. We are looking at pre-made, also, but so far I haven't found anything in a more rustic wood stain. Everything seems to be white or dark espresso color. I'll have to do some more online searching as to what is available. Maybe there is unfinished and I can do in the stain I want, but again, prices are probably really high right now, due to lumber prices, so probably just best to wait it out.

Add automatic gate opener. We still may just try the solar one for now. Not a big hurry.  We don't leave that often so we just get out and open the gate.

Put in a hidden bookcase door in Dh's den closet. They are expensive, so we've had this project on hold as other projects and things for the house have been higher on the priority list. We may look into finding plans online to try and build ourselves.

Two projects we are waiting on, still, is the cabinet we ordered for the laundry room, to match our existing cabinets. This will hold the dog food in a pull out bin in the lower part and shelves above for their treats and other supplies. Late April at the earliest appears to be the install date. And the air exchanger system added to the HVAC. Not sure when that will get done. The HVAC guy said he had to order it in and then will probably come and install it on a weekend. It sounds like it will get installed in my closet, so we also do not want to finish out our closets until that is done. I guess he needs to use a small space in the corner to vent outside. It's been close to a month now, I think, since dh told him we wanted it added to our hvac system. He said he's been swamped and short handed.

I've been wanting some new bedside lamps for our nightstands. I haven't been looking too hard, but every time I did I'd click on something I like and the lamp is like $200, just for one, LOL. Yesterday I came across one I really liked, on sale for $55 each so I ordered them. I'm going to put the ones I currently have upstairs in a guest bedroom, that currently only has one very small lamp on one of the nightstands. This is what I ordered. Hard to see in picture, but the glass is kind of champagne color on it. I think it will go nice with my dark cherrywood bedroom set.

Let's hope they don't take as long to get as this bird lamp I ordered in December for my office! (not ordered from same company). The latest email I got on the bird lamp now says not until May, but when I go to their website, it now says they have them in stock. When I looked a couple weeks ago they said out of stock. So, I replied to my last email asking why I haven't received it yet, if they are showing in stock and they charged my credit card a couple weeks ago, when it was supposed to ship. 

In January dh ordered a custom pocket knife from Buck Knives, with an engraving on it. It just arrived today and he's happy. Plus they are made in the USA (Idaho). It looks like a really nice knife. I remember my grandpa always carried one. I'm sure my uncle ended up with it. Maybe someday dh will have a grandchild to pass it down to.

Another home near us (about 5 miles) just went up for sale - again. It sounds like its owned by an older couple and they have tried to sell it before, but the last time they tried was a little over 2 years ago and they tried it at $800k. Now it is listed for $1 million. It's a nice house, built in early 90's overlooking the river (even higher bank then we are). The wood doors and trim inside (to me) is a timeless feature, but the flooring, countertops and bathrooms all looked like they are from 1990, but everything is still very nice inside and out. I guess if that house on the river is worth $1 million, that house just down the road from us that is for sale (for like the 5th try in 3 years) sure isn't  worth a million dollars, then, LOL. I mean, if you are looking in this area for a million dollar home and you have these 2 choices, it's kind of a no brainer. The one down the road from us advertises "exquisite high end finishes". It's not anything fancy or high end at all. Neither is my house, nor would I advertise it that way, LOL. It says it has a gourmet kitchen. To me a gourmet kitchen is one that is large, has one of those super expensive fancy stoves and a big commercial type refrigerator.  It also boasts "elaborate landscaping". If that is what is considered elaborate, my dh went way beyond that in landscaping our place then, LOL. But, then again, around this area hardly anyone puts in landscaping, so I guess it's considered elaborate for around here.

We have like one realtor's office in our county. Most of the high end home sellers do not use them (though this one down the road has been using them each time), I've noticed. Well, I can see why - their pictures and advertising is very amateurish, even though they've been in business for a long time. When we sold our house in town, we did not use them. We used our realtor from the city and we sold it in 2-3 weeks. This local realtor's listings often sit on the market for a very long time.