Home Resolutions

I don't get into resolutions.  But I do know what I plan to do to our home in the coming year, so we'll call those my resolutions.  First let's start by listing everything we've done since we moved in in May.

- DEEP CLEAN.  Boy did it need it. Remember this?

- Paint!  We have almost painted every room in the house.  Family room, living room, kitchen, hallways, master bedroom, Raeleigh's room, office and 4 bathrooms.  The previous owners paint colors were pretty awful.  So painting immediately was a must!  Remember when we went from a seizure inducing yellow to a nice calm blue? 

 

- Also in the kitchen we changed out all the hardware.  Subtle change, but a big difference to me.  I did not like the old hardware! 

- Had the house and deck power-washed.  Then stained the deck.  See the before and after here.

- Bought a desk on craigslist and refinished it. See the desk.

- Office progress.  We went from a blank canvas to a semi functioning office.  See it here.

 

- Major family room overhaul.  Included, patching priming and painting the walls.  And getting a big comfy new couch. See the progress here.

A lot has been done but I have BIG plans for 2012.  The only thing limiting me is finances.  So I will list what we plan to do and then what I hope we can do.

PLAN

- New patio!!!! I'm so excited for this.  Our deck currently just walks down onto our yard.  We plan to put in a 12x28 stained stamped concrete patio.  We already got our bids and have our contractor picked out.  So that should happen in the spring.  We also plan to get a new swingset for Raeleigh.  I'm pretty happy because we will be turning our backyard into a great place to hang out as a family.

-Speaking of the backyard.  I'm pretty sure we plan (and not just hope) to put in a garden.  We already have a raised bed along the back of the yard, it just needs a lot of fixing up before it can be utilized. 

-Paint.  Yes, more paint.  I already want to repaint the living room, entry and hallway from tan to gray.  Also, I love the stripes in the entryway but I want them to make them more dramatic.  Which means a bigger contrast in stripe colors.  I also plan to paint the guest bedroom, which is only one of the 2 rooms I haven't painted yet (laundry room being the other).

-Also paint related, I'm going to paint the fireplace mantle.  It will probably be the first project I do in 2012.  It's currently oak. BLA.  I plan to paint it white.

-And back to the guest bedroom.  Right now it's pretty much a bed in the middle of a room and thats it.  On top of painting, I'd like to get a new comforter, curtains, art and a dresser.

-Shelves in the office closet.  I really want the office to be extremely organized and functional, so I plan to install shelves in the closet.

- Add an outlet in the garage.  We got a new deep freeze and I want it to be directly out the door but theres not an outlet there.  So right now it's on the side of the garage and you have to walk around a car to get to it.  So we are going to add an outlet and put it where want it!

- New curtain in the kitchen.  This is another project I hope to do early in the year.  There are no curtains or blinds on the window above the kitchen sink and it looks really naked.  I plan to make a faux roman shade using a tutorial I found online.

- Find a good system to organize Raeleigh's toys downstairs.  They're filling the room up fast!  I got a basket for her stuffed animals yesterday.  That alone excited me.  I love organizing!

Though I'm sure there's more I plan to do, that's all I can think of right now.

HOPE

-I don't want to paint the laundry room until we get new cabinets in there.  So I hope to do that, ew larger cabinets and paint on the walls.

-Garage storage.  I want that place ORGANIZED!  I have my plan of action, it involves getting another set of shelves and a lot of categorizing and labeling.

-Also would like to paint the garage walls and the door to the house from the garage.  I thought it would look nice to do light gray walls and a black door.  

-Landscaping.  The landscaping design in our front yard is not bad, but the plants are pretty ugly.  I'd like to change some of those out.  Also I'd like to plant a new tree in the backyard to give us a little privacy from the one neighbors yard we can see really well.

- I finally have the bigger desk picked out that I want for the office.  It's from Home Decorators Collection (my favorite!). Hope to get it as soon as possible.Haven't decided what I'll do with the other desk yet.  I may put it in the family room.

- I would love new lighting fixtures in the house, throughout really.  But this year I hope to at least get a new dining chandelier.

- New fans.  My sister-in-law works for Emerson and can get some great ones for us for free.  I have 2 picked out and she designed both of them.  I just have to be patient if I want them for free because they are show room models.

- A lot of my other hopes have to do with wanting new decor throughout the house so I'll just sum it up by saying that.

I have a much longer wishlist.  But that's a good summary for the year.  Here's hoping Jake keeps getting those songwriting gigs so we can have a lot more extra money! =)