2015 Home Goals

Hopefully this list is a bit more realistic than last year's! This is mostly just what's remaining from the 2014 list, with maybe a few extra things. Several of these things will be sort of pricey, so we'll see how much we can afford after paying for a destination wedding!

Master Bedroom:

• Get better curtains for the French doors
• Adjust bifold closet doors so they close properly
• Add new crown molding
• Replace closet light with small chandelier -- I have my eye on this one but I found a tutorial that suggests I can make something similar!
• Replace old blinds

Master Bathroom:

• Decide if we should paint the brass faucets or shower stall oil-rubbed bronze or just wait until a remodel
• Decide what to do with the other weird textured glass partition
• Add more ceramic shelves to the shower corner

Office:

• Paint it
• Hang a curtain rod we already have
• Get curtains
• Frame the piece of textured glass from the master bathroom to use as a marker board

Living Room:

• Finish baseboards - halfway there
• Add new properly installed crown molding
• Replace the curtains with something white and maybe semi-sheer
• Add a beadboard or paneled ceiling - probably won't get to this for a couple years, but I'll keep it here anyway
• Hang more art & photos

Kitchen/Dining:

• Replace the crown molding in the dining room
• Add more storage

Hallways:

• Replace old crummy plastic handles on the built-in cabinet with pretty glass knobs
• Sand and paint the built-in cabinet doors white
• Finish baseboards - Like a third done
• Remove popcorn ceiling & paint ceiling blue

Entryway:

• Replace the doorknob with a keypad lock

Garage:

• Hang the bikes

Front Yard:

• Add more flower beds & various xeriscaped areas
• Replace the leaning, beat-up mailbox
• Replace the privacy fence & gate that are falling over

Back Yard:

• Build a raised vegetable bed
• Replace the old non-weatherproof shed with one that is weatherproof and put it in a different part of the property
• Add a seating area on the concrete pad where the shed currently is

Shed Shenanigans Vol. 1

Well we got a little burned out on home projects last year so not a lot ended up happening in 2014. I guess that's what happens when you replace 400 square feet of flooring with tile and paint every room in the house yourself all in the span of a year. Now that the inside is presentable we've set our sights on the yard for this year. First on that list is killing the gross old metal shed so we can repurpose the slab into a cool seating area!

The biggest hassle here was relocating the pool pump electronics from the side of the shed to the side of the house. The wiring conduit was all buried so Nick had to dig it up to get it out of the way.

After that was out of the way Nick started tearing it down! We're probably a third of the way done removing screws and panels now and hope to have it entirely disassembled by next week. The roof is almost gone and it's getting very exciting!

We still have plans to have a shed in the backyard but we don't need anything near as big as the old one. Just something watertight and big enough to fit a riding lawnmower and some garden tools, maybe a potting bench. We moved all of the pool chemicals into a new deck box and everything else (which really wasn't much) is in the garage until we get the new shed later this year. We'll likely put the new one on the opposite side of the yard where it's more out of the way. I'm not sure why the old owners chose to put an ugly eyesore shed in the most-used part of the yard right next to where everyone hangs out in the pool but I've mostly just stopped asking questions about why they did the things that they did. There are no good answers.

I'm excited to hang some lights and a swing, plant some trees around the slab, and build some outdoor furniture this summer!

2014 Home Goals - Done

We were very ambitious in 2014. We had a huge list of things to do, and we got done... not very many of them. Here's the list of things we intended to complete in 2014 and what progress we actually made. Our goals will be much more realistic for 2015! Part of the problem was that we based this list on the ridiculous amount of things we got done in 2013, which was mostly because there were many things we absolutely HAD to do to make the house livable. Also I was incredibly excited about being a homeowner in 2013. (Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3)

Master Bedroom:

• Get curtains for the French doors -- We have some temporarily, but they were ones we had already and they don't fit in here
• Adjust bifold closet doors so they close properly -- Halfway there (Update - we are still only halfway there)
• Add new crown molding
• Get bedside tables - We got another small bookcase to use on my side of the bed but it still needs to be painted to match the other one. I think these will be our best option because the one place we need to have storage is in here -- it's where we keep all our junk!
• Replace closet light with small chandelier -- I have my eye on this one but I found a tutorial that suggests I can make something similar!
• Replace old blinds with matchstick blinds

Master Bathroom:

• Decide if we should paint the brass faucets or shower stall oil-rubbed bronze or just wait until a remodel
• Decide what to do with the other weird textured glass partition
• Add more ceramic shelves to the shower corner

Guest Room:

• Get a queen bed & bedding -- Angela was in here before so it's totally empty now! - We are currently borrowing a full bed. It's not the ideal size but it's comfy and this room functions as a guest room now!
• Add crown molding

Office:

• Paint it green... or magenta... or yellow-green... - I did buy the paint, but I think 2013's year of painting wore me out on painting for a while
• Hang a curtain rod we already have
• Get curtains after a paint color is chosen
• Turn it into one shared office (for now) - still need to make it more functional though
• Frame the Austin map that's currently just pinned to the wall - We hung this in the guest room instead
• Frame the piece of textured glass from the master bathroom to use as a marker board

Guest Bathroom:

• Paint the walls (leaning toward minty green) - They are black!
• Add a nice wood cabinet above the toilet - We added art instead

Living Room:

• GROUT!
• Paint the beige beam dark brown so it will look more like wood again
• Add new white baseboards - halfway there
• Add new properly installed crown molding
• Replace the curtains with something white and maybe semi-sheer
• Add a beadboard or paneled ceiling - Did I really think we could get all of this done in a year??
• Add decorative molding around mirror - I don't think I want this any more.
• Get a new loveseat or chairs or chaise for more seating (if I can ever decide what I want)
• Replace gross old light switches with new clean ones - And we got a new fan!

Kitchen/Dining:

• Replace the crown molding in the dining room
• Replace the brass 90s light with a more modern chandelier -- Something is in the works for this! We got a light from a friend who didn't want it and I'm going to paint it and see if I can get some prettier bulbs than the generic chandelier ones for it to see what I can do with it
• Find hanging pot storage? I'm still hoping this can happen somewhere

Hallways:

• Replace old crummy plastic handles on the built-in cabinet with pretty glass knobs
• Sand and paint the built-in cabinet doors white
• Finish the tree stencil
• Add new baseboards - Like a third done
• Add crown molding

Entryway:

• Replace the doorknob with a keypad lock
• Add wall planters & plants

Garage:

• Add a clothes rod or clotheslines for drying things
• Hang the bikes
• Always add more storage - We got a cool new tool chest/workbench for Christmas and hung some pegboards to organize small things.

Front Yard: NOPE. We didn't do any of these things.

• Add more flower beds & various xeriscaped areas
• Replace the leaning, beat-up mailbox
• Replace the privacy fence & gate that are falling over

Back Yard:

• Hang string lights - We did add some lights to a couple of trees but I want more.
• Fill the super-old brick grill pit with flowers - I think we decided this isn't really realistic because if we fill it up with dirt it might just collapse in on itself. Still deciding...
• Build a raised vegetable bed - No, but we did get some tomatoes in pots though
• Start a compost pile - Yes! We got a fancy spinning compost bin from the Natural Gardener
• Replace the old non-weatherproof shed with one that is weatherproof and put it in a different part of the property
• Add a seating area on the concrete pad where the shed currently is

It could have been worse! More things are crossed out than I expected. I'll have another update maybe in a few days (or weeks) with our 2015 goals. Now I know what I can actually expect to get done in one year.