New Year, New Projects

Happy New Year!

This year we had big ides for our little home. Due to the plumbing fiasco of 2011, we had to hold off on many of these projects. However, we were able to accomplish a few things like refinancing the house, painting the shutters, makeover the craft room, paint the dining room, paint our master bedroom, hang some curtains in the living room, renovate some furniture pieces, make a chalkboard refrigerator and start a chalkboard project for the dining room. After a pretty long hiatus, we have lots of work to do to accomplish the projects on our to-do list. Many of these won't happen this year, but I think 2012 will be a big yearin our house.

The major one will be renovating the bathroom. It is currently a pink, floral, handicap bathroom. Not really our style. It desperately needs to be updated. We're hoping to tackle this project sometime before the fall. The main goal is to get rid of the handicap "tub". I say "tub" because although it is shaped like a tub, it can't actually be used as a tub due to the dip to get in. I also want to change the color scheme, get rid of the wallpaper and make it more functional. Right now we have no place to hang towels and the only storage is underneath the vanity.

Another big project is the guestroom. It's actually not that big since we already purchased all of the main components. We really just need to paint and decorate. However it feels like a big project because the room is a pretty empty space right now, so this room will seem like a big change. It looks a lot like the before picture in the home tour:in the beginning post, except there is hardwood flooring in it now and a lot of boxes that need to go to the attic.

Our biggest project that we're dreaming of is a kitchen renovation. The kitchen was renovated less than two years ago by the seller. However, the sellers were the children of the original owner who is deceased, so they went the cheap route on updates. It looked pretty nice when we purchased, but 1.5 years later and everything is falling apart. The covering they used on the pink counters is chipping (it gave a granite effect). Plus all the drawers and cabinets are literally falling apart, breaking, or sagging. It's too expensive of a project for the near future, but it's something we're dreaming of doing nonetheless. While we won't be starting this project in 2012, we will start pricing it out, so we can start budgeting and savings and get a more realistic timeline.

Those are the big projects, but we have lots of little things to come. We're in the middle of one of my favorite projects right now, which I hope to share soon.

What are your goals for 2012? Any home projects on the list?