My DIY Dreams and Goals for 2015

It’s that time of year again… time to take stock in what we accomplished in 2014, and pull up our socks preparing to dig-in to 2015!

I’m happy to report that I’ve already ticked one project off my to-do list.

Or as we say at Fox Hollow, it’s to-done.

That should be on a tee-shirt right? Remind me to copyright that.

Anyhow, back to the projects, top on my list was to kill the yellow in my kitchen.

I’m happy to announce it has drawn it’s last breath!

There is was a small hidden section behind a header in the kitchen, a vaulted part of the ceiling that I had painted a happy, golden, yellow when we moved in. On a whim of course. With opps paint no less! It was fine. Cheery, happy… not bad. But to be completely honest? It photographs for crud. Which I discovered after I started blogging. Like, really bad. It just looks like there is a golden yellow blob at the top of my kitchens pictures. Then I started noticing it was bouncing a gold cast onto my cabinets and making them look weird. So you know.. it had to go! I knew I wanted to paint, but was unsure if I wanted to go with a pale blue, or something to mimic and Summer sky?

I went with white. Shocker, I know.

I decided a clean, fresh, un-color would be my best bet. Especially when I’ve been considering swapping out our units and countertops to those that look more modern. I’m thinking something like this Covington Granite Countertops provider could offer, the granite should work well with the white, and the new floors too. I’ve been so completely happy with our white walls since we put the new floors in, I figured there was a good chance I would be most happy with that. So I listened to myself and it’s perfect. Still, a hard to photograph area, with the odd lighting because of the oddly placed skylight, but much better for sure. In fact, I just ran up to get some lunch, and the sun is shining and it looks like pure, clear light. And it’s much brighter. That white really bounces the light around. Whoopee!!!! When Spring hits, and I’m living in dreary gloom. I think I’ll appreciate it even more. Remember, I’m in the PNW here. Spring. Gah. I can’t even think about it. Worst season ever.

I’ll share photos of the new white soon!

Be a little patient though, because it lead to other things… {winks}

Below is how I make my to-do lists.

You can go big & dreamy, or more realistic. No mater, just make that list!

– I make my lists by ROOM, because I can then prioritize within each individual space and work that sub-list in bite-sized sections. It’s way less overwhelming and much more satisfying to check things off, especially when an ENTIRE room is put on the to-done list!

Sometimes we surprise ourselves, and get something done we thought would be years off… like our wood floors last year! Other things might get pushed to the next year, or even the next, because of time/weather constraints or something more pressing that comes up that you re-prioritize for. And that is okay! You want to be flexible.

More often, what gets pushed back for us is usually due to budget shortfalls.

Nasty word, “budget“.

Hit List 2015

The Kitchen

Now, my kitchen isn’t horrible, but it could be better. There are some things I know I can get to, and a few dreamy ideas as well. Here is my list of what I’d like to do:

• Get new light fixtures. (two of the present ones literally melted our light-bulbs!) more on that later…
• Paint ceiling/walls. Whoot. To-Done.
• Properly (prettily) trim sky light.
• New sink. Our looks fine from afar, but is really scratched up inside.
• New counter tops. If we’re going to rip out the sink.. we might as well do these too. (that is classic Shannon-thinking)
• Paint Cabinets? Hard choice, since they are in perfect condition, just not the color I want.
• New hardware? maybe.
• Replace trash can.
• Sell our Broyhill dining room set.
• Build island to take it’s place.
• Add ceiling detail.
• Better use space above cabinets – our house is small, and the space above the cabinets offers more storage for us. I think I’d be better off utilizing it, than decorating it (and using it a place to torture live house plants).
• Better general organization.
• Free up drawer and cabinet space.
• Re-organize the pantry
• Get rid of dishes we don’t use. (donate)
• Get rid of more stuff we don’t use. (donate)
• Discard any expired items.

The Living Room

You can get some peeks at the living room by visiting here.

• New front door. ( Or re paint the interior. Tired of the cottage green. I think.)
• Better lighting.
• Add ceiling fixtures. This is always on my list.
• Add Rug.
• Fresh paint on sofa table, coffee table and farm table.
• Change chalk board paint over mantel? maybe.

The Sun Room

We replaced 23 windows when we bought this house, but the extra large windows in the sun room were not able to be addressed at the time. There are nine of them. Plus two specialty sized transoms.

• With this being as simple as getting in touch with a company who offer services like windows replacement in Winnipeg (if you live in this area of Canada), it may be best to replace all windows with something more energy-efficient.
• Possibly replace french door with something more energy efficient

Austin’s Room

I loved working on this project with Austin! It was really fun and very fulfilling to have him in on the design choices. He was also such a huge help, with the flipping of his room and my decor storage room. It was indeed an Epic Room Flip! you can catch-up on all the flipping right here.

• Re-paint door insets and don’t use “girly” colors.
• Add a desk?

Linen Closet

I last worked on the linen closet about two years ago. It’s stayed wonderfully straightened but I’m not in love with the “look” off it. I got tired of it fast. It was no-money makeover and a huge improvement, but I want a more grown-up, polished look. You can catch-up here.

• Paint Exterior doors.
• Re-paint interior. I’m tired of the pink. (*note to self, stop using oops paint!)
• Add inside door hook for broom.

Main Floor Bath

Our bathroom was horrible upon purchase and we’ve been making due for years. It’s clean, functional and a decent size, but that is about it! You can catch-up here.

• Blog about the changes I made… oh, almost 2 years ago come Spring.
• Find/make wall decor.
• Put all the new towels and rugs I bought in the bathroom.
• Actually photograph and blog the bathroom before…
• Rip out bathroom to the studs and renovate.
• New walls.
• New flooring.
• New shower.
• New vanity.
• New fixtures.
• New everything. Now that the hardwoods are installed, it’s our biggest project on the list since we are talking full-gut!

Stairway

• Add a railing (for guests)
• Add wall detail.
• Remove carpet.
• Full stair makeover.
• Replace current lighting.

Family Room

• Freshly paint ceiling.
• Paint French Doors.
• Re-work office area.

Half Bath/Laundry Room Combo

• Add wall decor.
• Re-organizer cabinets.
• Add new hardware.
• Find proper fitting rugs.

Master Bedroom

• Paint French Doors. Thanks Dad!!!!!! xoxoxoxoxo
• Find new French door coverings. Drapes, blinds… ?
• Paint walls.
• Remove un-used wall vent.
• Paint ceiling vent trim.
• Fix her closet interior.
• Replace his closet doors.
• Remove carpet.
• Replace flooring. (or paint concrete?)
• New bedding.
• New headboard.
• If no new headboard, build accent for over the bed.
• Add/change/re-paint furnishings.
• Paint French entry door.
• Purge closet. Again. I swear that stuff multiplies… 😉

Whew.

No problem right? I should be able to get that done this weekend.

And I didn’t even touch on the exterior of the house, or the Little Cottage. I’m not even sure I will touch on them actually, I might look at home improvement services such as Approved Contractor and other companies can offer. At least this way I’ll be able to take a little break from all the DIY and have the job done properly!

Oh my.

Do you do a giant to-do list at the beginning of the year like this, or just address things as they come up? If you’ve got something that works well for you, please share!

Shannon

You can look back at my 2014 list here.

(we also got tons done that wasn’t even on this list)

And two out of the three that were.

Well.. let’s call it 1.5 – I worked on the bathroom.

It still doesn’t look like these dreamy inspiration pics though! Damn.

I think we’re going to need a bigger budget…

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