2012 House Goals

I think that I mentioned before on here that we are currently "renting" our house from Dave's parents with the plan to buy it at some point, and starting our own automotive business with no idea what kind of income we'll make in 2012. So, as one might imagine, it is pretty difficult for me to plan and actually set House Goals for 2012 since there are so many unknowns.


But . . .the Nester is having a giant 2012 Home Goals Linky Party and I just really don't want to be left out!! 


So. . . I'm going to just write down some goals. Things I would like to do to the house IF the owners approve it and IF I actually have room in the budget to do it. And oh yeah, I'm one of those people who really overestimates the amount of stuff they can cram into any one period of time. So this list would probably take an entire decade in all reality ;) At least at our rate. . .




Kitchen:


As a reminder, this is what it currently looks like:

Well, actually, I have cleaned off the countertops so that's a good start. And we got an oven. ;)

1.  I'd like to freshen up the cabinets with some nice clean, white paint. I'm not a huge fan of the two-tone look we are sporting now and the cabinets that are painted white are worn in places. I think this would make the room look awesome. And we'd probably take the cabinets out above the stove and install some beadboard and open shelving. Maybe kinda of like this picture. Cuz we have a new stainless steel microwave we'd like to install similar to this.

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2.  Another thing I might consider would be to install a new countertop or use a Rustoleum Transformations kit on the counters - I'm thinking a gray countertop (like shown above) would be nice with the white cabinets {and the existing blue and white linoleum}. The existing counters seem to have lost their finish so things like coffee, tea, jam, etc. stain them very easily so it would be nice to do something with them. 


3.  Then I'd also like to remove the wallpaper on the accent wall and the border around the room *cringe* and repaint the room...I hate removing wallpaper. To get a perspective here, my sis-in-law once said (as she worked her way around our old kitchen removing the border for me since I was 8 months pregnant) that removing wallpaper must be what the devil makes people do in hell. I agree wholeheartedly.


4. If money grew on trees, of course we'd probably gut the kitchen, open it up to the family room or the dining room some more, come up with a whole new layout, install a farmhouse sink and expensive faucet, wood floors, build our own cabinets (hickory or cherry or painted white), install marble counters or DIY concrete counters or something all amazing and what not. ;) Something like this. . .but yeah, I'm still looking for a money tree ;)

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Master Bath:

1.  Put up one of our white waffle weave shower curtains in place of the glass door (some people just love those glass shower doors but we're not fans. we feel claustrophobic in there and it makes it dark and they're so hard to clean...I like being able to throw away a $2 liner from the dollar store and put up a new one periodically in lieu of cleaning...haha)



2.  Decide on a better curtain for the window (my makeshift $2 garage sale shower curtain turned window treatment is NOT cute)

3.  Paint the walls a nice neutral color like off-white, since I already happen to have an entire gallon from our old guest room in our old house (and remove the wallpaper border *sigh*)...and if I owned the place, paint all the trim and cabinets white :) - and well, that white trim paint goes for pretty much the entire house ;)


4. Replace the powder blue toilet with wood seat/lid. You have to jiggle the handle and fiddle with the thing nearly everysingletime you use it. It drove us absolutely crazy when we first moved in, but it is somehow miraculously not as bad now. Still, I would like to replace it with a plain white toilet. One that you can use and then flush with confidence. Like our Kohler Wellworths in our old house *sniffle* sometimes I really, really miss that house.


4.  DIY some sort of cute tray for between the two sinks for our toothbrush, soap, lotions, etc. like this adorable picture frame turned bathroom tray:

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5.  Frame the large mirror over the sink with decorative moulding (this will most likely not happen in 2012 but I might as well throw it out there...just look at these amazing transformations I found on Pinterest!)

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Master Bedroom:

1.  Get some new curtain rods, probably an oil rubbed bronze finish, and possibly some bamboo blinds, and I already have some gold sheer panels I plan to hang up WHEN I get those rods.

2.  Repaint the walls - I'm thinking a color like our old great room would be nice and look fabulous with the brick accent wall that is opposite our headboard in the photo above - that paint color sure looked nice with our old brick fireplace, don't ya think?

3.  Organize the closets (there are 3 in that room!! I could pinch myself!), add in some shelves or drawers in one of them - so that we can eliminate the need for one of our dressers and move it into the dining room as a console (Gotta love shopping the house!) 

Levi's room:

1.  Paint or wallpaper or something to cover that cloud/kite wallpaper. Thankfully Levi doesn't seem to mind it (apparently 18 month olds don't care about interior design), but I would like to update it. Right now I'm considering a red, white and blue theme {since the carpet is red, but it's also old and either needs to be torn out and replaced or left with the hardwood floors showing and a large area rug}. I don't know...I think "big boy rooms" are difficult to decorate. And of course if/when we ever have another baby this will remain the nursery so I probably should stay neutral in case we would have a girl. So...maybe not red, white and blue...? Obviously, I'm still working on this. All these ideas are half-baked.


2. I am considering putting fabric on the walls (using liquid starch that doesn't damage the walls according to Nate Berkus) or just on an accent wall, maybe? Just saw this cute burlap accent wall on the Bower Power Blog. I love it. They stapled the burlap to the wall.

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And then today I had this random thought of creating a collage of quilts that we already own all over Levi's walls. Strange, I know, but it might be fun. Gotta use what you already have when on a budget.


3. Would also like to get Levi some cute curtains and a curtain rod. 


Levi's Bathroom:

1. Put up some sort of curtain


2. Get another new toilet. I only use this one in absolute emergencies it's so unreliable.


2.  Hang baskets like these on the wall for towel storage over the toilet and I think they'd add nice welcoming texture to the space and pull out the earthy colors in the linoleum

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Living room:

I've got the green light from my father-in-law to paint this space. And I already shared some of my plans and inspirational photos...I'm planning to paint it gray with crisp white trim. And I even picked a few of my favorite shades of gray already. 

But something is holding me back. Not sure if it's plain old procrastination (since painting doesn't really rank up there as one of my fav past times) or just really not being sold on my first idea. Or well, life, in general. We're super busy and overwhelmed with starting the business.  

But the thing is, this room is on the northeast side of the house, surrounded by some large trees and it doesn't get a ton of light (other than very first thing in the morning). And I just crave light. And I keep fearing that even if I choose a lighter shade of gray that I'll still feel like it's too dark in there and then I won't want to be in there. And the living room and dining room are my absolute favorite rooms in the house cuz they remind me of how old the house is. I love history. And the walls are off-white now and it already seems dark. So I've actually been considering taking cues from Levi's bathroom (which you can also access from the living room, that my sister-in-law I believe recently repainted). It is stark white. And I love it. You can do anything with white.

Dave's totally not sold on the idea, but I told him that I think I'll just prime the entire room (ceiling, walls, trim) before buying the gray paint and then it will be "white" and we can decide how we like it before we commit to buying the gray paint.

Just check out these images I've gathered on Pinterest of white living rooms.

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The last thing I want is a "sterile" living room. But I feel like with the right furniture and accessories it can still feel very warm and welcoming. In fact, I didn't even realize that last inspirational photo was a white room until I was looking back thru my pin boards. I originally pinned it cuz I love that West Elm rug. :) But now I see that the room is stark white yet feels very cozy.

I also love all the colorful pillows in the top image. And I have to remind myself that we'll be using our dark leather sofa too so that will make it feel very warm and cozy too.

So, basically, when I figure it all out, we'll be

1. Priming and painting the living room.

2. Upgrading the light fixture with a little DIY work or replacing it with a drum shade or something.

3. Hanging a fun-filled photo gallery wall somewhere in there or in the dining room...?

4. Possibly slipcovering an old couch that's down in the basement and bringing it up in the living room for additional seating.

5. And possibly DIY-ing a tufted ottoman from the coffee table in our family room.

6. And if we have a load of extra $$ late in the year, we'd love to update that carpeting! Ah!

Dining room:

1. I'd love to remove the wallpaper in the dining room and repaint the space. And I might leave 1 accent wall wallpapered and use this Allen + Roth Spanish Tile wallpaper from Lowe's. If the living room is gray. If it's white, then all these dining room plans will be revised. . .

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2. I'm considering yanking the largest dresser out of our master bedroom and painting it a dark plum color like this:

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I was actually sitting here one night thinking how lovely plum would look with gray walls and the wood of the dining room table so I searched Pinterest for a plum dresser and this one from Twice Lovely is the only one that came up. But it's basically exactly what I want to do. I love the Internet. ;)




And I'm dreaming of flanking the dresser- turned- console with two matching lamps and hanging a mirror over it, kind of like this:

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I also think it might be fun to DIY a mason jar or other type of chandelier over the dining table.

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Office:

We'd like to finish styling the office shelves like I mentioned here, upgrade the lighting (we might just install some super industrial, unsightly light like we had in our old laundry room

since I spend 90% of my days trying to do paperwork in this area and will someday homeschool Levi in this area or we might just move the flush mount fixture from the dining room into here to raise the light location and hopefully diffuse light father across the room), and we'd also like to add pull out file drawer mechanisms in the lower half of the built-ins. Right now I'm keeping files in there in file boxes and milk crates but it would be easier if they were file drawers.

Family room:

We might paint this room and get new curtains, I dont' know. We're still just trying to get used to living here and see what we use the rooms for. It's interesting having two living areas and two dining areas. We've certainly never had that before and so far we're just not sure what to do with it!


Mud room:

Actually FINISH the storage unit - paint the whole thing white and the inside of the cubbies a fun color, add a bench to this area, and maybe paint the wood paneling...I think it would brighten up this space and go a long way in creating the "sunroom" atmosphere that I'm going for on the east end.

And then there's also tweaking to do to the guest room, patio, spare bedroom, basement and garage, but all that will probably take place on an as-needed basis. Like the guest room will get cleaned / redecorated when we have guests visiting and we'll set up our furniture on the patio and clean the garage when the weather is nice in the spring. For now, those projects will wait.


Well, who am I kidding? Probably a lot of this will wait. A while. But I still love dreaming and I can't wait to make some of this a reality. :) 2012 should be a wild ride for sure!