Given that I thought we did a pretty good job of knocking out projects around here in 2013, it was a little startling how easy it was to make a list of MORE things to do in 2014. So easy, in fact, that I abandoned the idea of sticking with ten like last year and decided to go big with fourteen. I look forward to completing 75 projects around here to celebrate my 100th birthday in a few decades.

So, with the disclaimer that this is all very much subject to change as life actually happens, here are some things we’d love to see happen here in 2014:

1. Finish our bedroom (for real this time): 

As I mentioned, there’s really not much to this. It’s just a matter of prioritizing it, finding a little time, and making it happen. So we will! By golly.

2. Move Abe to his own room:

(Right now the nursery is in half of our bedroom). We’re thinking around now is a pretty good time for this for a few reasons: we’re working on the master bathroom, and it’s getting increasingly difficult to work around Abe’s nap and bedtimes for that. Also, I’d like for him to have more room to play and for toy storage. His new room (our current spare room/guest room/office type space) is almost exactly the same size as his part of our room, but it should have more wall space to play with and it has a good sized closet.

We’ll pretty much be moving everything over there as is, but we’ll need to make a few changes and additions….there’s an ugly ceiling fan in there right now, so we want to swap it out for a cool light fixture of some sort. And we’re hoping to build a nice shelf for his toys, so that they’re easier for him to access than when they’re all piled in a basket like they are now. Eventually we’d like to do something fun with the (small walk-in) closet, too, but that’s probably a ways off.

3. Replace obnoxious cabinet with open shelves:

See this cabinet? The one I exed out?

 

I hate that cabinet. It sticks out in a really weird, awkward place, and people are always hitting their heads on it. I don’t like the way it has its back to the breakfast area as if it’s screaming, “I am the boundary between you and the cooking part of the kitchen! We are not the same room!” Also I love the way open shelving looks in a kitchen. I’m probably too timid/dusty to have all open shelving up top, but I think just one area right there would be a nice compromise and a nice place to put pretty things.

4. Master bath!

Stuff’s going on in there, as has been hinted at here and on Instagram. More on that next week. I expect this to be very slow build to any sort of big reveal, but we’ll get there.

A reminder of where we started:

5. A new deck:

I hope! If we can find the money for it. Our old deck is a definite eyesore (fortunately, the only eyes it’s hurting other than ours are the neighbors on either side, since it’s not visible from the street) and having it rebuilt is the first step in our grand outdoor space master plan.

6. Coffee table for the library:

make or buy. This one should not be too hard to accomplish.

7. Figure out some kind of storage in the upstairs hallway:

I know it’s already pretty nice with that collection of mismatched and/or broken shelves with a bunch of assorted crap stuffed on them right now….but we’d like something EVEN NICER. Dave keeps destroying my dreams by pointing out that this space isn’t as big in real life as in my imagination and that the attic stairs need to be able to come down right where I wanted to put a giant shelf….but we should be able to do SOMETHING up there anyway.

8. Clean out garage and have door openers repaired:

We’ve lived here a year and a half and never parked in the garage. This is kind of sad. Sometimes it’s raining.

9. Kid clubhouse:

This is kind of a big one that I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned here, even though we’ve been planning it for awhile. But, yeah, by summer we’d really like to have a fun for all ages fort/clubhouse/playhouse kind of thing built in the backyard.

10. Expand the garden/fence it in/plant some fruit trees and/or berry bushes:

I think this year’s a good year for this, since Abe will (presumably) be walking around by spring, and having a garden out there will be an excuse for us to get outside more often. The dogs are a little too interested in our lone garden bed right now, so some kind of simple fence around the garden area is in order, too, I think (oddly, we didn’t have much trouble with stuff like rabbits and squirrels. Maybe the scent of hound dog kept them away).

11. Curtains for the sunroom:

Another one that’s pretty easy and straightforward (although pricey, since there are SO MANY windows in there). Right now I’m thinking of something velvet that will block a lot of light, but I’m not sure.

12. Paint kitchen chairs:

Right now they look like this:

I’m reasonably sure this is the project that’s going to make me finally buy a paint sprayer. Three of them also need to be recovered. Which I was hoping to avoid needing to do by buying non-upholstered chairs, but, now that I have them, I’m kind of excited about picking out fabric (and being able to splurge some on that, since I need a pretty small amount of it).

13. Do something about the den:

Last year I pretended we were going to redo the whole den. This year it still looks like this:

I’m not going to say that we’re going to redo the whole thing this year….although that would be nice. But I already have our bathroom plus a new deck on this list, and that seems like enough ginormous projects, if we’re being realistic. It’s really getting on my nerves lately, though, so I’d like to at least take some steps to make it more user friendly. The main thing I hate about it, that you can’t see in the picture, is that there’s an enormous loveseat (like that sofa, only loveseat sized) perpendicular to the sofa that really makes the room feel small and closed off. I’d like to replace that with a couple of arm chairs. I think. It’s a tricky room to work with, as far as furniture placement. It’s decent sized, but there are three doorways, a big fireplace, and a big bay window to contend with. Anyway. More on that later in the year, too.

14. Remove the last vestiges of the old yellow paint:

Almost the whole house was painted the same neutrally yellow when we moved in. We’ve gotten rid of a lot of it, but some of it lingers. It’s still in the den, for example, as you can see up there. And then in the center hall downstairs and in the stairwell, upstairs hallway, and guest room. I’m hoping to say goodbye to all of it this year. It’s not horrible or anything, but it’s not what we want, and it doesn’t fit in with the rest of our colors.

Phew. That’s a lot of things. And I’m pretty sure I could go ahead and make 2015’s list right now without needing much time to think. This house of ours…it is nothing if not needy. But we’re pretty fond of it, so we don’t mind. Most of the time.