Home projects for the New Year

Did everyone survive the holidays? Now that the craziness of the season is past us I am looking forward, planning the Home projects for the New Year and wanted to share my plans with you.

Years ago I assumed there would be a time when all of our home improvement projects would be done Where Dale and I could sit back, relax and enjoy the home we have created. Now that I am 10 years into home ownership I am realizing that this home of ours will never be “done”. Yes, big time remodeling projects will lessen, but there will always need to be altering of a space. My family is constantly changing and evolving, our home needs to evolve as well.

We have done a lot of DIY projects, home improvements and decorating to make our house into a home. I will link all of the home improvement projects we have done up to this point at the bottom of this post. They include a master bathroom revamp, adding mudroom organization, wainscoting, painting the front door, painting kitchen cabinets, wood floors, painting trim and a few other projects. A lot has been done to make this house into what we wanted, but there is more to go.

This year especially is the year of evolving in my home, I am sure there will be some pretty after pictures to share here, but there will also be a lot of progress pictures and blog posts. I have big plans for the Home projects for the New Year!

First and foremost I will be sharing our bathroom redo soon. I have about 98% of it done and I am in love with the results! Do you even remember this project?

It all started because of a leaky toilet and some minor water damage. This was our not planned but forced upon us home bathroom redo. Even though I went in kicking and screaming the final results have made all of the work worth it. On my to=do list to wrap up this project is repairing the floor boards and painting the small trim piece on the vanity. That is it!

Yes, this bathroom redo started last year, and I am still not done with it. Life happens, three kids take up a lot of time. Once the bathroom became functional again the push and pressure to finish it up lessened. I may have a home decor and DIY blog, but this is real life. Time, budget restraints, and kids slow down the progress sometimes.

Another project I am eager to tackle is to finally finish up our laundry room. I created a small mudroom nook in here that we call the organization station. We use this daily and our home would be insanely messy without it. But there is a whole other side to this room that has been neglected.

I plan to overhaul the laundry room. This room will forever be a headache for me, it is the laundry room (obviously), the mudroom and the entrance from the garage into our home. Lots of foot traffic, clothes, back packs, coats and junk end up here all the time. This space needs to be as functional as possible and I am still working out how best to utilize the limited space in here.

I think I have a plan finally nailed down! It includes a counter top over the washer and dryer, possibly moving the cabinets to the mudroom wall, adding open shelving, a back splash, and under counter storage for the dirty clothes hamper. Lots of plans in here! Once we begin tackling this project I will highlight all of the plans in more detail.

Moving on… it is finally time for built-ins on either side of the fireplace! This fireplace has always felt like the perfect place for built-in cabinets and I am so excited to finally be in a place that we are ready to make them!

These built-ins are happening because of a larger scale home improvement project I will get to in a minute. But first let me explain a few things. Over Christmas I had removed our large farmhouse table from the formal living room/dining room combo. I needed to make space for the Christmas tree. Once the dining room table was put back into the kitchen, with its big and bright windows I realized how much I loved having the dining room in here. So we are back to the dining room being in the eat-in portion of the kitchen.

For about a year now we have had a small family room with the TV in the smaller and darker room off of the living room. I love this cozy little space, but due to the big and yet to be announced larger scale home improvement project we need to move the TV back into the main living room. Since I am not a TV mounted over the fireplace kind of person the built-in cabinets seem like the perfect place to set the TV.

We have not started this project yet, in fact this weekend is the official start date. Once I get things moving on it I will share the plans for the built-ins and share how the progress is going. As I said, this year will be the year of transition for my home. Lots of projects going on, but lots of not-so-pretty blog posts will be happening. Since I do not have unlimited time, a staff helping me out, and our kids are kind of a big deal to us home projects take time.

Last and most important of the Home projects for the New Year is our kitchen renovation! Yes, I am finally getting a more open and functional kitchen!!!! It may be light and bright, but the footprint for our current kitchen is small. To load the dishwasher you cannot even stand by the sink to do so. Two people in here cooking is one person too much.

Dale and I have dreamed for years of opening up the wall, pushing the kitchen more into the back yard space, doubling our kitchen foot print and giving us a dream kitchen. But I am not a patient person and cannot wait any longer for this possible kitchen remodel. Our bigger plans required lottery winnings, which.. you know.. is not likely to happen. Time to work with what we have!

We plan to start this kitchen renovation in February, once we get started I will share the full layout, issues I came across while planning it and also the other footprint options we considered before deciding on the one we did. For now let me just share this beast of a kitchen remodel basic plans.

There will be an island, a larger opening in one doorway, closing up the other doorway into the living room, moving the refrigerator, moving the sink and dishwasher, getting rid of the current peninsula, removing some upper cabinets, adding a window, adding upper cabinets to make them reach the ceiling, change the lighting around, add ceiling beams, paint cabinets, new counter top and a ton of cabinet organizing!

Whew, I am exhausted just thinking about it, but am so antsy to get working on this. I am so happy to have come to a balance of getting the space we want for our kitchen without spending a ton of money. I want to be able to enjoy our home now, and if I can rework what we have to create the space we need in the kitchen I am all for it!

Once the kitchen is done I want to add a big built-in window seat for the dining room. Adding some much needed storage to the kitchen but also improve the use of the space and add seating options.

Those are the big Home projects for the New Year that I have planned so far. In a dream scenario we will be all done with this by June or July, but I know realistically I will be adding the finishing touches well into fall. As I said, life gets in the way of the best laid out plans. Once the race to get our kitchen functional again goes away the bells and whistles of the kitchen might take longer. I also plan to paint our back door, paint the living room, and a few other smaller projects. Also, crafting is still a thing I love and I need to get my fix in of that throughout the year too.

Our home is always going to evolve, as my kids get older the use of rooms and needs of the home will change. With my kids now being almost 11, 9 and 7 we are transitioning out of having little kids. Gone are the days of bins of toys in the living room, now we need a homework space, room for them to help in the kitchen and laundry room. I also am always in a quest for as much storage as possible because three kids means a LOT of stuff! We are also blessed to have an amazing group of friends in our neighborhood that we have over a lot, I am ready for the much sought after kitchen and living space that is for entertaining!

I hope you get inspiration from what I share on this blog, maybe you have decided to create your dream home, decorate with what you have, DIY a little (or a lot) tacked home improvement ideas. I adore sharing ideas on this blog, but this blog is about our home. It is filled with laughter, wonderful memories, love, time-outs for my kids, loud music, fighting between my trio, dogs barking, homework is done here, messes are made, life happens in this home that I share with you all. My blog will reflect a little more of this “real” side of life. Life is wonderfully, beautifully messy and to get to the “after” pictures there is a whole big process and journey to get there. Hang on tight, this year will be a big journey for my home.

Dale and I are not looking for a fully open concept home, I like there to be designated rooms, and with kids, dogs, vaulted ceilings and wood floors having walls to break up the noise is a good thing. But opening up the kitchen a little more will add even more function to our home and I am all for it! Even writing all of the Home projects for the New Year I am both excited and terrified to start tackling them! I hope you enjoy this journey of home projects this year, it is truly going to be me making a house into a home. There will be lots of stories, before pictures, project explanations, DIYs, tutorials and hopefully some pretty after pictures to share with you all. Join me on this journey as we up the anty for my home and get to finally making it into the home we have been dreaming of!