One more of these out with the old year in with the new kinds of posts and then I can start showing you what we’ve been doing over the break! Exciting!

In 2014 we did a list of 14 goals. Last year we did…less than that. And I think that works best for us, so I’m sticking with just a few big ideas to kind of give the house part of our year some structure, and to leave room and time for smaller projects when the mood or need strikes us.

1. Finish the Den:

I believe this is the third anniversary of the poor den making an appearance on this list. But it’s also the last one! We’ve been working hard in here since Christmas, and I have things to show you soon! And still a lot more to do, but I’m feeling very happy with how it’s coming together so far.
2. Clean and Organize the Garage:

Another perennial goal list favorite! I think this is the first time I’ve ever put a picture of the garage on here. Because it’s SO TERRIBLE. We used to have aspirations of actually parking a car in here someday, but I think that’s over. Mostly because the way we have to park the trailer in the driveway would make it really tricky, if not impossible, to get a car in and out of here. I don’t really care that much about being able to park in here anyway, though (except when it’s raining and I have groceries), but I DO care about being able to walk through it without tripping over stuff, and about being able to find things in it, and about having a nice workshop area in here. So as soon as the den is finished, it’s time to get to work in here. For REAL this year!
3. Finish Abe’s Room:

There’s really no reason for us to be completely redoing Abe’s room when we still have such a disaster of a garage. Except that it’s fun and I wanted to. I think of getting to work on Abe’s room as my reward for getting more urgent projects finished. I love this room! I have a project for in here to post about later this week, in fact, but after that we have to buckle down on the den for awhile.
4. The Downstairs Bathroom:

This is what the half bath downstairs looks like right now. To be fair, it doesn’t usually look THIS bad; all that stuff on the counters was moved in here because we’ve been working in the den. But it always has ugly fixtures and those rusty red, textured walls. This is one of the few rooms left that hasn’t been touched since we moved in. So I’d really love to fix that this year. I have very little idea yet of what we want to do in here, but it will involve getting rid of the textured walls. And maybe fun wallpaper.

5. The Downstairs Hallway:

If we manage to get the bathroom done, this little hallway will be the last step to a “finished” downstairs. Which is to say, all the yellow paint the house came with will be gone! Except in the hallway upstairs. But we’ll think about that later. This is a small, not terribly exciting space, but it’s also what’s right in front of you when you walk in the house, so it’d be nice to pay a bit more attention to it. And, of course, it won’t take much effort to fix it up. We’re thinking of board and batten, because we like to make things more trouble than they need to be.

6. Finish the Office Half our Bedroom:

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This looks pretty finished in the pictures, only because I was careful not the show the other side of this room, which still houses all the stuff we took out of Abe’s room when we started redoing it….so stacks of adorable nursery art leaning against the wall, plus Abe’s old dresser.  And I’m still not sure where all of that’s going to go (some of it needs to be donated or sold, but some of it is has too much sentimental value for anything like that to happen), but I’d like to get it out of here so that we can call our bedroom completely done! (I mean, except that someday I want hardwood floors. But you know what I mean). Dave has a really nice work area here, but I’d like to also have a nice work area for me. All mine! Also some kind of couch or loveseat and a TV in here, so that we can turn the den over to the kids some evenings and hang out in here all by ourselves.

And that’s the list! There are other things I’d love to get done, too, of course, but I’m wary of being too ambitious this year, while Dave is still working on his Master’s. This is the first time I’ve made this list and kind of felt like there’s a finish line in sight. I mean, not really a finish line, because I’m a perpetual tweaker, but a point where we’ll have done SOMETHING with every room. If we knock all of this out, the only spaces left where we’ll be starting from scratch are the screen porch/deck area (which I really wanted to put on this year’s list, but I decided the odds of us actually doing much with it are just too low. Maybe we can at least make some progress out there this year) and the laundry room. As I’ve said before, I’m not one of those bloggers who worries about running out of projects to blog about, though. This house is too big, our needs and tastes change too fast, and we work too slowly for that to ever happen. But it will be very nice in, umm, only a couple more years to be able to look at the house and know that we’ve made every room our own.