Middle of the year check in on plans/goals list

Way back in December I posted a list of very, very tentative house related plans and goals for 2013. Now that just over half the year is gone, I thought it might be a good time to check in and see how things have progressed and how our priorities have shifted. 

So here’s what I said back then:

1. Finish the nursery AND the master bedroom

Part one of this we totally did! Yay!


More about the nursery here.

The master bedroom is still a work in progress, but we have done quite a bit with it since the beginning of the year. 

We hung up bird pictures:



….and made the top of the dresser pretty:



….and I bought The Most Beautiful Chair In The World:



So it’s coming together, but I still have a couple more projects in mind. Should be all finished right in time for Abe to move out into a different room (his nursery’s in the other half of our bedroom right now, set off with a curtain room divider) so that we have a whole other half of the room to figure out what to do with!

Really, at this point I’m thinking the curtain will probably stay up for now and we’ll make the other half a craft room/office. The room is just too ridiculously long not to divide somehow into two areas.

2. Redo the den

Umm. Nothing’s happened in here. And I’m not sure it will. Back in December, I voted this the room most likely to get a complete makeover, but I don’t really feel that way anymore. For one thing, we’ve started using the sunroom as a family room lately, so I don’t feel as much urgency to make the den more pleasant. For another thing, how the den comes together is going to depend largely on buying a new couch (and on which couch we buy). This is a pretty major purchase, one which we can’t afford right now and also not something I want to rush into. So this may well be pushed back to next year (or whenever). 

3. Finish painting trim and hanging art in Ari’s room

Yeah. We kind of went overboard on this. Ari’s room wound up getting a complete makeover, including not just the trim and art, but refinishing all his furniture and making him a new headboard. 


More about Ari’s room here.

4. Get hardwood floors in (at least) Milo and Gus’s room

Hasn’t happened. Will it this year? Not looking good. Gus’ allergies have been a lot better lately, so that’s kind of killed my motivation here. And this is something that’s going to cost a good chunk of money even if we install it ourselves, so it may lose out to stuff like new windows and trim in the sun room this year.

5. Vegetable garden

Did it! The entry said something about starting small with “a few” garden beds. We started VERY small, and did one. Also a container herb garden, though. That counts for something, right?





6. Build some furniture

Why, yes! Dave built a bench for our entryway:



….and it’s just possible that that project I keep talking about that I’m going to post about next week also involves some furniture building 🙂

7. Chalkboard Wall in Kitchen

Not yet, but it’s still on the list. I even have the chalkboard paint already!

8. Furnish the sunroom, somehow or another

We did this, too! I’m intentionally taking my time with the sunroom and letting it come together organically, but we have furniture in there now, and we use the room all the time. Loving it!



9. Figure out how to help sad porch/deck and make some progress on it

Figure out how to help it? Sort of. We’ve thought about it, and we have a skeleton of a plan. But we’ve pretty much decided that professionals are going to have to help us, so….money again. But it’s on the list! It’s pretty unlikely much will happen with it by the end of 2013, but maybe early 2014, if things go well. I’ll talk more about it when I finally do the Big House List for outside.

10. Get rid of carpet in master bath

Not done yet, but this is probably at the top of my list for big DIY projects. I was hoping it would be done this summer, but summer is kind of getting away from us (Dave goes back to school in two weeks!) So probably not that soon. But I would bet on before the end of the year. In fact, I probably should place a bet on it, so that I’ll be more motivated to make sure it gets done!

So not too bad! Halfway through the year and we’ve done half of the list! And as for the rest of the list, we’re still on track to do some of it, and some of it has been lost to changing priorities (a possibility I was very open to when I made the list). 

About those shifting priorities? What did they shift TO? Well, the biggest thing on my list right now that I didn’t put on that list is dealing with the sunroom windows. Some of them need to be replaced altogether; and a lot of the exterior trim around them is rotted and needs to be replaced. We’re collecting estimates and looking into this now. It’s not a particularly exciting job, but, sadly, it must be done. 


Comments

Middle of the year check in on plans/goals list — 10 Comments

  1. You have really accomplished a lot. It’s so great to see it all in one post like this! I really, really love the floor in the sun room with that new wall color. I think it looks so good. Orange with turquoise is one of my fave combos.

    Can’t wait to see what you are building 🙂

    • Dave was completely overwhelmed when we made the list, so I had to do an update for him to show him it’s not so bad after all ;). Also to remind him that we need a new bathroom floor!

  2. I can completely relate! I understand taking your time, and letting things come together organically.We’re right there too! This year, and next year will be all about the gardens and backyard. Love the herbs in the vintage metal tub!

    • Thanks, Tandra! With the nursery and my older son’s room, I felt lots of time pressure….so it’s nice to be more relaxed with the grown up rooms 🙂

  3. You’re making good progress! You all should definitely feel accomplished! It is such a bummer though when the “responsible-keep-my-house-from-falling-apart” projects get in the way of the fun ones 🙂

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