We’re 11 days in to 2019, how’s it going for you? Do you make big resolutions or goals for the year? I have a lot of Blog/Career goals but I don’t think you’re too interested in those. Instead I’d like to lay out what we’re hoping to get accomplished in our house over the next year, house goals for 2019, if you will. When my husband and I were thinking about our house goals for 2019, we both agreed that small projects would be the theme for the first half of the year.
What Happened in 2018
Being totally honest, the past year has been A LOT. All tremendously wonderful things, but a lot of hard work and big changes for our family. Last January as soon as the holidays were over, we started working on our house back in Charleston because we knew we wanted to list it for sale in early March. We did the entire kitchen ALONE, in about 2 weeks, our master bath, a pantry, and more wall painting and little things than I can count. It took a couple months but we got it done and we sold our house FAST for the market we were in.
While in that process, we were also planning a big cross-country move with 3 kids, 2 cats and a (cute) dog. This was a big deal and it was stressful. We were physically and mentally exhausted but energized by all of the positive things we knew would be coming our way by making a hard decision. Then guess what happened? We found this house. This big, old historic house that needs a big heap of love. Believe me, I fell head over heels for this house, but still had reservations about all the work that needed to be done, especially since we were TIRED haha! But in the end, I knew we could do it.
Fast forward through the summer of fun in our new Colorado home, we took on the living room first so that our family could have one finished space to spend time together in. We underestimated how long it would take, how much it would cost and how exhausting it would be….as one does, right? So, small projects it is for the first 6 months or so of 2019. With that said though, we want our kitchen renovated this year. We will do all of the demo and a lot of the finish work ourselves, but the big stuff like moving/adding water and plumbing, cabinet installation, etc. will need to be done by the pros. That’s the only big project (as far as we know right now, you know how things can change!) we have planned for 2019 and that won’t be until Summer time.
Anyone can Create a Beautiful Home, If They Want To
I share the following plans/house goals for 2019 to say that I truly believe that ANYONE can do small, budget friendly things in their home to make it a place they love. It will not happen fast, especially if you are DIY’ing, have a job, a family, a LIFE haha! And that’s totally OKAY! I know bloggers and social media and home decor shows make it look like it can all happen in a weekend and be neatly wrapped up in no time. That’s just not reality and I think it stops people from even starting to do things in their home. My motto for 2019 is slow & steady. That’s the only thing I can sustain. I’m just a normal person with a normal (messy) house. A modest budget and 24 hours in every day. But I can do little things here and there and by the end of the year there will be big changes to show for it.
House Goals for 2019
Now let’s chat about the house goals for 2019 and what those spall projects will be, many of which I will tackle mostly by myself because I CAN 😉 I do not currently work outside of my home. While I would love for this little blog to take off and actually make us money, it hasn’t so far and I’m okay with that. I do things to my home because I LOVE doing it. I share it here so that others can see that it’s possible and hopefully to inspire someone. So, yes I have more time than someone who has a job outside of the home, to work on projects. That said, I still have to do everyday things like laundry, cleaning, errands, etc. I fit projects in where I can and I’m willing to live in the chaos that those projects can sometimes bring. I’m willing to let them take longer than they should because of my GOOD life with my family. It’s OKAY!
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The Linen Closet – You’ll hear a lot more about this next week but it’s a fairly easy, budget friendly makeover that is perfect for getting organized in the new year.
The Entryway /Stair Walls/Hallway– These spaces all sort of run together so they will (hopefully) be one big project that takes a little while. I started removing wallpaper in the front entry, up the stairs and down the hallway months ago and had to abandon it to do other things. It looks AWFUL and I can’t wait to fix that! I don’t have a solid plan in place but I do know the walls and floors will be white. The wood stair case is gorgeous but it’s very dark and saturated. We need to surround it in white to lighten it up. But don’t worry, we’ll add lots of interest like we did in the Living Room.
Teenager Bedroom – My 16 year old daughter would really like me to do something to her room. This will include a lot of wallpaper removal (surprise! hahaha), wall repair, paint and then decor. Super simple upgrades as she’s going to be off to college before we know it. I’m not crying, you’re crying.
Upstairs Bathroom – This bathroom is not in terrible shape. The tile is new, and not offensive at all. The walls are textured, not sure if we’ll change that. There’s a really bad fake brick on the lower half of the walls, that is painted white. Unfortunately it was cracks running through it in spots. This might be mostly a refresh with some paint and maybe a new vanity and sconces. There’s a beautiful clawfoot tub that I can’t get enough of!
Downstairs Bathroom – This one is a little more complicated. This bathroom sits next to our kitchen and across from the service stairs. In the 1990’s, the owners at the time installed a stand up shower that bumbs out (and takes up valuable space) into the corner of the kitchen. No bueno. That is the only shower we have in our house so we’d like to add shower conversion kits to our clawfoot tubs and remove that shower. But that probably won’t happen until we are working on the kitchen renovation. The floor in that bathroom, the little hallway outside of it and the kitchen is a greywash, very farmhouse looking wood-look tile. It absolutely does NOT belong in this house. I really think when we do the kitchen, all of that tile needs to go so I’m not sure exactly how I will deal with that in terms of giving this bathroom a refresh. Guess we’ll see when the time comes.
Service Stairs – Our little service stairs on the back side of our house is one of my favorite things about this old historic victorian home of ours. The walls are a textured, dingy off-white and the stairs are painted a red-ish burgundy color. Not good! But there is a window that the sun shines brightly in and I can’t wait to make this little stair well a happy happy place with just a little DIY, paint and decor!
Painted Floors – Every floor on our main level is painted poop brown. Every single thing shows up on it and screams look at me. It wasn’t done right so it’s chipping all over the place. We would like to paint them allll the same Sherwin Williams Pure White that we have in the living room. This requires a lot of shuffling around and trying to use different entrances, etc. But we’re hoping to get that done in the Spring. It will also require a lot of messy sanding, my least favorite kind of mess next to plaster dust. But I can just imagine how much lighter and cleaner the whole house will look with those white floors!
If you made it this far, bless you! This was a long-winded post with a lot of information. Thank you so much for following along with my house shenanigans here. If you read Houseologie and love it or would like to see MORE or something different, PLEASE tell me in the comments. If you don’t say it, I don’t know it and I love hearing from you all! Let me know what your house goals for 2019 are, I’d LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear about them and even help you achieve them if I can.
Did you know if you follow me on Instagram, you can see videos about all the projects I do here and even videos of the process. Next week I’ll be showing you how to EASILY remove wallpaper! You can also follow me on Pinterest for inspiration from sooo many sources!
Great plans! I can’t wait to follow along and watch the progress. Will you be doing any DIY projects such as, curtains, art, etc? I’m always on the lookout on how to make my place look good by diying it instead of spending twice as much buying it. My budget is usually gone by the time we make it to the decorating stage!
Hi Amber, I will definitely be doing some DIY decorative elements. I agree, those get expensive!!