2022 House Goals {01.22.22}

Hello and happy Saturday friends! I hope your year is off to a wonderful start! How are we already 22 days into the year? I feel like this year is going by so fast and yet so slow at the same time.  Kind of funny how that works, huh?

If you've been around since the beginning of the year, then you know I created a goals list for myself this year and will be posting monthly update to keep myself accountable.  Well I also have created a goals list for our house this year.  The idea is to make a concentrated list of things that I wanted to accomplish in our home this year then prioritize them.  Some of the items are small - like organizing closets or purging areas and others are like updating things in the kitchen.  But overall they're things I'd like to get done this year (or even into next year).  To help keep it organized, I've gone room by room and list all of the things I want to accomplish.  So here we go!

Living Room

In 2021, we made a few small updates to the living room that brought it closer to what I was envisioning for the space.  Justin made me a picture ledge on which I store a bunch of fun photos.  I love it and love that I can make changes to the pictures for holidays and seasons.  Such a fun addition to our living room. 

In 2022, I'd really like to do the following things:

I have a vision of adding built in shelves in our living room to add more storage and make the space feel more sophisticated.  I've been doing a ton of research on adding built in shelving in the living room so I'd really like to do that on either side of our fireplace.  This will eliminate the need to have random book shelves all over the living room just so we can store things we don't need in there.  

I'd also like to frame out the windows like we did in our bedrooms.  We have three windows in the living room: two by the fireplace (very small windows) and a large window.  I'd like to frame them out like we did all the windows upstairs and put blinds in the big window.  I'm thinking we could either do one large set of blinds or do one large one and two small where the windows open.

Kitchen/Breakfast Nook/Dining Room

The kitchen doesn't need a ton of things in it thankfully.  The big heavy hitter is to get the back splash put up.  We picked out what we wanted a long time ago (I think over a year ago now) so we would need to order the tile and find time to get it up.  This will require us to figure out the window ledge as well.  I'm hoping I can get a little more ledge space to be able to store a few plants and other fun things there.  

In the kitchen and dining room we need to frame out the windows just like the windows in the living room.  I'm not 100% certain if we will frame out the kitchen window or not, but I'm leaning towards yes.  We also need to add some blinds in that window too.  

In the breakfast nook and dining room we have different rugs and I'd really like to replace them {and the runner in the hallway} to be all matching rugs which will make the space feel more cohesive.    Otherwise both of those spaces don't really need anything else which is nice. 

The last thing I'd like to do in the kitchen area is to just go through the cabinets and purge things we no longer need/use.  We have several cabinets that are just collecting things that are collecting dust.  So my goal is to organize them all and put like with like.  I feel like the space is just chaotic and I'm over it. 

Garage

The garage is a space that I constantly struggle with because, well, it's a garage.  It doesn't need to be this beautiful, clean space.  However, I feel like between that and our basement we've had a bunch of junk collecting in there.  If money was unlimited, my preference would be to seal the garage floor, and get the walls/ceiling painted.  This will take us a little longer to do because we have other priorities for our home.

That being said, there are a few things I'd like to accomplish in 2022 in the garage.  This includes finishing going through all of the stuff and tossing/donating/selling anything we don't need.  And anything that gets to stay organized on the shelving in our garage.  We have some nice storage out there, it's really just taking the time to organize it all. 

I'd also like to add blinds in the garage window.  This window faces the road and people can see right into the garage.  Adding blinds will reduce prevent people from looking into the garage when they drive by.  The other thing I'd really like to do is add baseboards around the whole space.  I cannot stand the way dirt/cobwebs get up in the space between the wall and floor so putting baseboards up will prevent build up {and maybe even prevent bugs from getting into our home}.

Bedrooms/Laundry Room

Three of our four bedrooms have been finished and the fourth one has not been touched because we are planning to make that the nursery whenever we get pregnant.  Seems silly to do the room then turn around and have to do it again - right? As far as the bedrooms go, we don't need to do much other than organizing/purging unneeded items.  

I'd like to move my bike from our bedroom to the guest bedroom so I can use it without worrying about bothering Justin while he's sleeping.  I can use the guest bedroom as a workout space for the time being so I'm thinking of doing that. 

The only other thing I'd like to do in the bedrooms is get some fresh plants to spruce up the spaces.  I have my eye on some snake plants since they don't need a ton of light.  If nothing else, I for sure want one for our bedroom and my office.  I just need to find one that I like for the space.  

We did our laundry room about a year ago by painting the space, putting up some shelving and getting some storage bins; however, it just is not pretty.  I'm not sure if I just need some artwork or what but I really do not like the space at all.  For sure I'd like to look at replacing the utility tub with something better, but otherwise I'm not sure what direction I want to go with that space. What I do know is I need to pull everything out of there and give the room and really deep cleaning. 

Basement

Last year our basement got out of hand with how messy it became because we had just thrown things down there instead of putting them away.  A few months ago we spent some time going through the shelves and consolidating/trashing things we no longer needed.  We didn't quite finish that project so I'd like to go ahead and finish that which really shouldn't be too bad.

I'd also like to get blinds in the windows and sliding door to prevent someone from being able to look in the basement from the back.  We also are planning to add a camera in the back of the house for added security, though let's be honest it's so I can watch the animals back there.  I love seeing them run around, especially in the spring. 

Outside

Thankfully this is the last area to cover.  As of right now we do not have a deck in the back and I'd really like to add one.  The thought would be to pull some of the equity on our home and build a deck so we'd have a nice space back there to sit out and enjoy.  I'm not quite sure how this all would work, but I first need to get some quotes for decking companies.  Then we will go from there.

The other area that needs addressing is our landscaping.  When we had our landscaping put in years ago they did a horrible job which has led to low spots in the yard that flood every time it rains.  I'd like to get someone out here to work on fixing those areas that are a pain in my behind.  I'd also like to finished off the landscaping.  We have done some great work so far but need to get a few other things in there to finish it off.

Miscellaneous

This category covers the entire house really.  In 2022, we need to contact our original window installers because they are bowing, cracking and generally not working very well.  Considering they're only five years old we will probably have to figure out getting them fixed or replaced.  The first step is to contact the original builder and figure out who I need to call for help.  

This is a big stretch goal and likely won't happen in 2022, but I'd really like to replace the carpeting in our house.  It is worn out, faded and generally not the best quality.  I want to put something of the same color family in the house, but something that won't be worn down in five years.

Wow... now that I wrote down everything I wanted to get done this year I'm a bit overwhelmed by it all.  A lot of the things I want to do really won't take very long to do and likely can be broken down into smaller chunks over time.  I think we're going to start first with the living room and make our way around the house.  Obviously, all of these projects will be dependent upon us having expendable income and the extra time to work on these things.  Thankfully, with the exception of June, our year is turning out to be much quieter than 2021 and for that I am so grateful.

Right now the plan is to do a quarterly update with you all as I go through the process of making these updates around our house.  So right now I'll be doing one in March, June, September and December - be sure to come back and check them out.  And if I have the ability to do so, I will share my updates over on my Instagram as we do them and do any how to posts I can share with you all.

If you made it this far, thanks for sticking around. I'm excited to see what 2022 will bring for us and for you all!

 

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