Well, it’s April…and we’re just now getting our list of home goals finalized and shared with the world. So…I should PROBABLY make the list a bit smaller…especially considering we hardly accomplished anything on our list last year. But…I am a dreamer. And a do-er. And even though we’re already a quarter of the way through the year, I think we’ll manage to cross off most of these things this year. Or at least we can try, right?

I did remove a few things from the list to drop it from 15 things to 12 things. One per month, right? (Shh, yes, I know that means we’re already three months behind! This is a post for dreams and plans…not admitting defeat!)

So, here we go!

1.Replace the carpeting in the bedrooms and basement.

It’s time. We’ve lived here for 6 years and the carpet was honestly not that great when we moved in. The photos above shows a giant stain from an exercise mat in the guest room (before we updated that room). There have been many new stains added in that time, and because the previous owners had a Maine coon cat, we know there is a decent amount of pet dander in and under the carpet that we can’t get out. Now that we’re spending a lot more time on the floor playing with Will and Emma, we’ve started to really notice how dirty and gross it is.

Oh, and Wyatt slipped going down the steps one afternoon because he was just wearing socks and our carpet is actually kind of matted down and slick on the the stairs. Not ideal since with the family room we’re going down there a lot more. We really should have something with more texture for safety.

2.Replace the front door.

This has been on the list for at least a couple years. But, it’s going back on the list because it still needs to be done.

3. Replace the kitchen door to the garage.

Same for this one, except this one is getting worse all the time and may have jumped up in priority because Will can easily open the door himself which isn’t ideal. It doesn’t latch securely and is just getting worse. Plus, since it doesn’t seal, it tends to let cold (or hot) air in from the garage. Not to mention that it looks…UGLY!

Man, that threshold is BAD. And those cat scratches, from the aforementioned Maine coon, need to go.

4. Repaint the house and fix the boards that have wood rot.

I need to clarify that this is NOT a project we’ll be doing ourselves. I refuse to tackle painting our house. Honestly, we just do not have time for that sort of commitment. Unless Wyatt was going to take off work for several days and do it full time to get it done. But even then, we have a walk out basement and we don’t have the scaffolding or ladders we’d need to do the job safely. Plus, we’re not professionals and would not do as good of a job as they could do anyway. We’re DIYers, but we know our limits. And this is not within them right now.

5. Replace the garage door.

 

I guess our house is just getting old, and things are needing to be replaced because I’ve used that word a lot more on this list than in years past. But, Wyatt says our garage door needs to be replaced and when he says something needs to be done, I believe him. He’d not one for frivolous purchases or projects. Plus, this pairs nicely with getting the house painted because it will need to match. This year is looking more and more expensive…

6. Do something about the deck.

Again, just like the rest of the exterior, our deck needs some work. Not sure if we’ll fix a few boards, restain it, or totally rebuild it. It will honestly depend on if we can save up enough to do the whole thing or not. It won’t be cheap or fast. So, we’ll see if we do a small fix to last us another year, or if we do the whole thing. But either way, before summer, we need to at least do a bit of a fix.

7. Revamp the master bedroom.

We got a new bed last year that we really like. But I’ve been on the hunt for new nightstands for what seems like 10 years. Ok, more like 10 months, but still. Why is that taking so long? I want some artwork, and in general, just a bit of a refresh. Something that feels like a calm, safe ADULT space, but that is still okay for kids to crawl into in the morning for some Curious George time. And look at those carpet stains… another reason we’re installing new carpet in the bedrooms.

8. Refresh the laundry room with a mini makeover

Another hold over from last year’s list. But, I have already done a bit of prep work and things are looking up, so I’m feeling good about this happening soon. Basically, I want some more storage and maybe some art on the walls. I’d love to add a sink, but there just isn’t room unless we got a stackable washer and dryer and we’re not replacing appliances right now because ours are still going strong. So, this should be pretty simple…unless Wyatt lets me add a tile backsplash…and then it might take longer. Ha.

9. Figure out a solution for kid art display and storage (and culling out to throw away).

Will loves to display his artwork, and I want to encourage him and give him some space to fill on our walls. But I also can’t keep everything! I want some sort of system so I don’t feel guilty every time I toss something. I am open to ideas, so share what you do the comments below and maybe I’ll tackle this one first!

10. Finish rebuilding the garden beds.

We built one new one last year and it worked really well…but then we sort of got sidetracked by having a baby and I just considered that our “proof of concept” phase. Ha. So, I’m excited to have totally refreshed garden beds this year. We’re actually already in progress on these. Just need it to get warm enough to finish the project. Come on, Mother Nature. Let’s turn off the winter weather, okay?

11. Hang the light in the basement stairwell

We have the light purchased and have done some prep work. It even matches the one we’ve already installed in the basement. Now just to get the wire run and add the switch and hang the light. I can’t wait to have this light. That corner is so dark!

12. Babyproof the basement fireplace

Our goal for the family room was to have it be very family friendly, and that means the brick will need to be covered up to protect kids who tend to always fall right into the most painful part of any room. Right now, we just try to keep Will away from it, but as he gets older and needs less supervision while playing, he’ll be down there running around by himself with Emma and I think we need to consider a more permanent solution. Wyatt says this will be an easy project, so now just to get it done before Emma is crawling.

Extra credit goal: find a place for the vacuum.

Ok, maybe this is silly, but darn it. There is NO GOOD PLACE for that thing. Do we keep it upstairs or downstairs? There’s no room in the coat closet, which seems the most logically place. I’m determined to find a solution.

And there. Those are our 12, or 13 I guess, home goals for the year. We better start to make some progress quickly if we want to tackle all or most of these this year. And I better get to work to pay for these big ticket items like the carpet and the house painting! Here’s to 2018! (We’ll have been in our house for 6 years this summer–that’s a lot of life we’ve lived in these walls. Looking forward to this year, here, too!

What projects do you think we’ll get done? What projects are you hoping to get done? What are your thoughts on setting goals for your home? Should I give it up, or keep planning and dreaming?