#TheHomeImprovementLife: Project Management

Hello again! Hope everyone is doing great. Jared and I had a great weekend where we went to Houston for some work training for me and time with family. One thing we realized while down there, is we are going to have a ton of guest coming to our house soon...and no place for them to sleep! We decided then to take a small amount of the bonus that Jared got from work last year and use it to remodel our guest room so we can host our guests comfortably!

So, I'm weird. And between me and Jared, we communicate weird on projects. I like writing things out so that I can realistically see how things can be done. Jared likes to see my designs on paper so he understands what I'm wanting (smart man)! So, what I wanted to share on the blog today is how I make a project management spreadsheet. My hope is it helps you plan your next home improvement project!

First, I draw out what I want things to look like. Then, from those drawings, I write down all the projects that I see in my drawing and list them in the spreadsheet. I like to use Google Docs so that Jared and see the spreadsheet too.

From there, I make a tab for each of the projects:

After I select the tab and write down the steps I would need to do to complete each project, and approximate the amount of time each needs to take. I don't try to be exact, but to just have a realistic expectation that things might take longer than I'd like.

Then I have the spreadsheet link each of these total times to the first tab with my list of all projects. I then assign a priority to each project, keeping in mind that if I start one project (like the curtains) getting the curtain rods and curtain holders would be the same priority.

Then we sort by priority and longest amount of hours and we now have a great visual on which projects we should start first!

Jared is on the project of building the platform bed and I'm on painting the room. Next time, I'll show you how we de-popcorned the ceiling!