2018 Project Plans

Hi, remember me? Yep, I’m still here.

We haven’t really done much since the nursery and I just haven’t felt like I’ve had anything to post but I’m back at least momentarily to discuss our 2018 plans.

Now, I realize I haven’t done a wrap up of how we did in 2017 but honestly we changed plans so many times that I figured I would just skip over an end of the year “how’d we do?” post and skip right to what we’d like to get done in 2018. I can already tell you that not all of this will be done. That’s a 100% guarantee right there. But it wouldn’t truly be a goal list made by me if it wasn’t ridiculously overly ambitious so there you go.

So without further ado, here’s my dream goal list for 2018:

Master Bedroom

We started this in 2017 and made some really good progress which I have yet to share but we stalled out early on in the year and then the room just got pushed to the back burner. I don’t have any recent photos to share but how about throwing it way on back to soon after we first moved in? Feast your eyes.

Here’s what we need to finish:

• Add crown moulding
• Create area for dogs so the crates can go away
• Add shelving above dog area
• Paint doors
• Purchase decor items: rug(s), lamp, artwork for walls, etc.

Master Bathroom

Unfortunately, we’re still a few years away from my dream bathroom remodel but we recently bit the bullet and paid for a crew to finish demo on our bathroom so we can at least make it functional again. All of the water damage is gone and new subfloor has been put down and the room is ready for us to rebuild. This is going to be a very low budget, very temporary room makeover but it’ll be nice to have two functioning bathrooms upstairs again, especially with the increase in visitors we expect next year.

Here’s about how far we got ourselves:

I’ll share some updated photos when we’re ready to move forward with putting things back together but for now, here’s a list of what we need to do:

• Re-install existing tub
• Hang/Mud/Sand drywall (this is only on one wall)
• Add tub surround (all of the shower tile was removed during demo)
• Lay vinyl flooring
• Paint
• Re-install existing toilet
• Add towel hooks

Foyer/Mudroom

The entry functions pretty well now but it needs to be finished. We’re not really doing anything in the laundry/mudroom area except removing the laundry room door to make it easier to get in and out of the garage because right now we have to do this weird shuffle dance to get inside and I’m pretty sure it won’t work with a car seat. To keep that area closed off from the dogs and cats, we’ll be adding in barn doors in the entry which will basically separate the laundry/mudroom area and bathroom from the foyer.

Again, no recent photos just some really great shots from before we did much other than paint. The barn doors will be covering that opening you can kind of see on the left edge of the picture. We’ve redone the floors and switched out the front door, table, and canvas since this was taken.

To-do list includes:

• Re-paint once we find a gray that I don’t hate or give up and find a new color completely
• Fix front door (it sticks)
• Skim coat wall to fix failed wallpaper removal attempt
• Replace crown moulding?
• Replace baseboards
• Remove laundry room door
• Add barn doors

Family Room

Formerly the sitting room/study, we made the room next to the kitchen into the family room this past year. It’s meant to be the dining room for the house but we’ve never used it for that! We recently switched out the sofa in here for the one we had in our master instead of buying the IKEA sectional we had our eyes on. I’m not sure if we’ll work on this room this year or not since the built-ins make the scope of work is just the tiniest bit larger than some of the other projects but it’s on my list anyway!

• Re-paint
• Replace baseboards
• Replace crown moulding?
• Add built-ins to tv wall
• Purchase/install blinds
• Purchase/install new curtain rod
• Purchase rug

Guest Room/Kyle’s Office

This room is pulling double duty and it’s actually almost done so I don’t see any reason we wouldn’t be able to take care of it this year.

• Finish installing new floors (we ran out of flooring when we did the rest of the upstairs floors but we have what we need now)
• Install/Finish new baseboards
• Make closet functional
• Purchase/Install new blinds
• Replace window trim
• Replace door trim

Linen Closet

Right now our linen closet has no doors and is just a giant mess. We’re thinking about doing some sort of built in or a piece of furniture here instead of a traditional closet but we’re still looking into our options so no real to-do list yet!

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I know that all sounds like a lot, especially with a baby due in the first two weeks of the year, but most of the rooms can probably be knocked out in one or two weekends each. I doubt we’ll do much in the first half of the year as we get settled into our new routine and honestly if we just finish off our room, bathroom, and guest room I’ll be happy. Now with all of that in mind, there are a few “dream projects” that I would love to knock off the list in 2018, too but the chances are pretty slim.

Fence

We’ve been fencing in our backyard in phases and we’re probably about 50% there. I would love to finish off the fence in 2018 which would open up the backyard for the dogs even more and would let us get rid of the crappy lattice fencing that connects the two sides.

Deck

Our deck is also being done in phases and I would love to do the 2nd half this coming year! We still need to finish off the railings on the first half and once the 2nd half is done we can add in the stairs to the backyard. Right now there’s a drop of a couple of feet to get down from the deck which probably won’t be so fun with a baby.

Kitchen

It’s been the “Year of the Kitchen” for like 3 years now and yet, we still haven’t done it. The only thing we’ve done in here is paint the cabinets and walls and it was the first real project we did when we moved in almost 5 years ago.

There are so many things wrong with this space. The cabinets are solid wood but not in great shape and half of them don’t work properly. The floor tile was installed incorrectly and isn’t even attached in some spots anymore plus it’s this weird less-pink-but-still-kind-of-salmon color that isn’t very appealing. There’s a peninsula that creates a bottleneck with the fridge is open. The oven takes approximately 12 years to pre-heat to any temperature. There’s a built-in desk that mostly acts as a junk collector, the dishwasher is terrible, the room lacks a lot natural light, and the overall layout just sucks.

There’s about a 94% chance that the kitchen will not happen but I’m keeping it on the 2018 dream list anyway because I can.

So that’s it! 2018 will either be a year of great progress on smaller projects or we’ll just be too distracted trying to navigate a new normal and won’t actually get anything done. Either way I think we’ll be pretty content.