2018 Project Review and 2019 Plans

This year has absolutely flown by and I cannot believe that yesterday was Christmas and next week will be 2019. I swear time seems to move faster and faster each year and with our new addition, the passing of this year has been extra bittersweet.

We went into the year with a list of projects we thought would be nice to get done but no real expectations. We were expecting our first child and had no clue what our free time would look like. I remember reading all of these blogs from DIYers who would tackle projects during nap time which we probably would have done but turns out, our kid isn’t much of a napper. For most of her (almost) first year of life, she’s given us mostly 20-30 naps once or twice a day and then we don’t dare make any noise that might wake her up. But that has meant lots of couch time snuggling with my pups so I was okay with not getting much done.

So I thought it would be a good idea to look back at the projects on our list for 2018, the projects we actually started, and the ones (if any) that we completed. I was going to do a separate post for 2019 plans but let’s be real, the 2019 project list is just what we didn’t finish in 2018.

Master Bedroom.

We started this in 2017 and it’s still not done. It took a total backseat to everything else this year but it’s at the top of our list for this winter. Here is the list we had going into 2018:

• Add crown moulding
• Create a built in area for the dogs in our former reach in closet so we can store their giant crates
• Add shelving above built in dog area
• Paint bedroom doors
• Purchase decor

We didn’t do any of those things except part of the last one and going into 2019 we’ve made some changes to our plan. We decided against crown moulding but that means we need to go back and paint all the way to the ceiling. We also changed our plan for the dogs and the closet nook so now our list looks like this:

• Touch up paint to the ceiling
• Move dogs to the sink area of our bathroom (we’ve already installed a gate)
• Install and paint tongue and groove boards inside closet nook to match outside
• Finish trimming outside of nook
• Move electric fireplace into room
• Hang TV above fireplace
• Paint bedroom doors
• Build/stain/install art ledges
• Purchase decor (we bought a chandelier but still need to buy lamps and a rug and maybe new bedding? )

Master Bathroom.

We didn’t even touch this room but we desperately need to get it at least functional so that we can have more than 1.5 bathrooms. The list for 2018 was:

• Re-install existing tub
• Hang/Mud/Sand drywall as necessary (one wall)
• Add tub surround to replace former tile
• Lay vinyl flooring
• Paint
• Re-install existing toilet
• Add towel hooks

We did 0% of that list and like the master bedroom list, this one has also changed. We really want to get this done but honestly it’ll just depend on budget since we have a lot going on next year outside of house expenses. This is what we’d like to get done in 2019:

• Move tub drain, have shower pan poured, tile shower (instead of re-installing a tub we don’t even want)
• Hang/Mud/Sand drywall
• Lay vinyl flooring (temporary until our big remodel down the road)
• Paint
• Install new toilet (existing is being moved to hall bath to replace broken one)
• Add towel hooks
• Fix venting (it’s just venting into the attic right now)
• Remove wall between wet room and sink area? MAYBE.

Foyer.

This is one space we actually did work on thanks to the One Room Challenge but it’s still unfinished. This is what the space looked like shortly after we moved in.

2018 List:

• Re-paint
• Fix front door (it sticks) – not the door pictured above.
• Skim coat wall to fix failed wallpaper removal attempt
• Replace crown moulding
• Replace baseboards
• Remove laundry room door
• Add barn doors

Here’s how it looks now:

In additional to re-painting, skim coating the wall, and adding barn doors, we also switched out the light fixture. Here’s what we need to finish in 2019:

• Buy, stain, and install new front door (ours contains led paint which we had sealed with new paint but one of our pups has been jumping on the door and scratching it, exposing lead paint which isn’t safe for any of us).
• Patch floors as necessary
• Install/paint new crown moulding
• Install/paint new baseboards
• Install/paint new door/window trim

Family Room.

We had hoped to tackle this room when we did the foyer but there was a bit of a snowball effect when we started really thinking about it so we decided to hold off. We definitely want to finish it this year though.

2018 List:

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

2019:

• Re-paint
• Replace baseboards
• Replace crown moulding
• Replace window trim
• Remove door jamb between family room and kitchen
• Add electric fireplace to TV wall (So excited about this one!)
• Add built-ins to TV wall
• Purchase/install new curtain rods
• Purchase Rug
• Purchase new curtains?

Guest Room.

Oh man this room. Office, guest room, storage. It’s currently filled with junk. We badly need to purge our crap.

2018:

• Finish Installing new floors
• Install/Paint baseboards
• Add function to closet
• Purchase/install blinds
• Replace window trim
• Replace door trim

No changes for 2019!

Linen Closet.

We didn’t have an actual to-do list for this space and we still don’t but we know it needs to be addressed. Still on the hunt for a piece of furniture we can use but we may end up having to build something.

Gravel Patio and Paver Walkway.

This wasn’t even on our list for 2018 but we ended up trying to install a gravel patio and concrete paver walkway during the Fall One Room Challenge. We had an unusually rainy Fall and we weren’t able to finish before the temps dropped but these spaces are on the top of our list once the weather warms up in 2019. I think Kyle would also like to try to get our yard more under control and do some landscaping.

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Looking forward to 2019, there aren’t many other projects we plan on doing but here are a couple of “maybe” projects:

Hall Bath

We did a small make over on this space already but I’d like to add more wall tile and re-paint the walls to be a soft pink.

Painting

We’ve painted and re-painted most of the house but we still need to repaint the dining room, stairwell, and upstairs hallway.

Stairwell

I would really love to add some sort of interest to this wall or at least hang some art. I think I’d like to do some sort of trim but nothing I’ve seen so far really stands out to me. It might be nice to carry over the diagonal wood from the front room but that can get pricey pretty quickly so we’ll see.

Laundry Room.

This one is probably too big of a project to do next year since it involves removing walls, re-routing plumbing and electric, and potentially raising a ceiling but we are going to at least get some quotes for the work we don’t feel comfortable doing ourselves.

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So that’s it! We’re going to spend the rest of 2018 hanging out with family and gearing up for Odessa’s first birthday but after that I think we’ll be ready to hit the ground running. I can’t wait to see what we can get done in 2019!