Hello friends!
It’s fffffreezing here, with blustery snow as an added touch, making it highly difficult to get motivated – especially since the kids are still off on Christmas break. I may or may not have slept in and watched DVR’ed episodes of HGTV in my jammies until after noon today.
That’s all about to come to an abrupt end, with the kids going back to school on Monday. The weather forecast is just cruel, with temps expected to be in the negative digits, and highs in the single digits. I’m thinking I need to create some sort of exchange program for moms who want to live in different climates during the winter months. I’ll take Hawaii, please.
With the new year finally here, it always gets me thinking about the projects I want to tackle (and hopefully complete) over the next 12 month. And yes, some of these may have been on previous new year’s lists, but this journey is a marathon, not a sprint.
Banish the remaining wallpaper from my home.
Specifically, our master bathroom.
After dealing with the wallpaper nightmare in my husband’s office, I needed a break. I think I’m ready to put my big girl panties on and get this bathroom done.
The backyard – simplify and make it work for our family.
And that may mean getting rid of the pond. It’s been something we’ve been thinking about for awhile, and really, the pond requires quite a bit of maintenance and it’s difficult to keep it looking nice on an ongoing basis.
The replacement? We would really love an outdoor fireplace, and I think we would use it a lot more as a result.
I’m dreaming of something like this… And no, I don’t plan on doing the masonry work. 😉
We have a landscape architect scheduled to come out, take a look and develop some plans. From there, we’ll figure out how much we can do ourselves, and what we need to hire out for someone else. This will at least give us a starting point and a plan.
The kids’ rooms – organize and make it functional.
The bedrooms in this house are on the small size, so they need to be clean, organized and efficient. Something that 2 of the 3 kid bedrooms are not. My daughter likes to hold on to every. tiny. little. thing. That definitely makes her room a challenge – more so when her idea of cleaning is lining all of her treasures around the perimeter of her room.
My teen son’s room is horrifying in its own smelly way. I don’t think I’ve even shared his entire room before – it’s that bad. Maybe a little project here and there, but that’s it.
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| See, just a sliver of a room shared here. |
I did paint his room over the break, so that’s a start (and I will share soon). But it will always be an uphill battle, I’m afraid. I’m hoping some organization will help with keeping it semi-maintained. Any suggestions from veteran mothers of teen boys is welcome. On some days I’m ready to pull everything out of there and leave him just a mattress on the floor. And close the door – that’s been my strategy thus far.
Finish my husband’s office.
I did get a lot done in my husband’s office this year, but I seem to get stuck when it comes to the upholstery portion of the project. I really want to tie it all up and be done. Why do some tasks feel so arduous when it comes to actually completing them??
Organize the garage and storage area.
These two spaces are the unspeakable horrors of my home. I have recently done some cleaning up and organizing to make them semi-presentable, but there is still a boat load of work to be done. Again, another project that would probably make me feel 20 pounds lighter if I finished it, yet I struggle getting started. (Perhaps it’s because these are the rooms that catch all of the stuff we don’t know what to do with when we organize other spaces.) Have a room like this?
Paint the great room(?)
I’m also contemplating a new color for our great room. I don’t have an exact plan yet, but I’m starting to itch a bit for a change. But, I have a feeling it will be a long and winding road before I make a decision.
These are the big hitters that come to mind. I’m sure there are and will be more, but this is plenty to get my wheels turning.
What do you have in store for 2014?
7 Comments
Andrea
January 3, 2014 at 2:04 pmYou are a woman on a mission! I can't wait to see you tackle these projects. And once your backyard is all finished, I'll come up and sit around your fireplace with you.
Simply LKJ
January 3, 2014 at 3:25 pmThat is a big list! I need to sit down and write a list of things we need to do around here as well. So much easier if it is staring me in the face in black and white and I can check things off!
Carol
January 3, 2014 at 7:32 pmMy only suggestion is if you let your teenage son have some say in decorating his room. This seems to help them to keep it clean. And if they have a part in organizing it so they can put things back in there place because they made the place for it. It always does not look as perfect as our organizing does but his organizing style is probably not the same as yours. I was told men and boys will not put things up if they have to take more than one step to do it in. I have 3 sons and this always helped me. and yes defiantly build your fireplace yourself you can do it and then you can say look what I did!!! What else do you have to do when Spring arrives!!! You go girl!!! Welcome New Year hurrah!!!
Kris @ Driven by Décor
January 7, 2014 at 2:10 amYou're going to be a busy lady in 2014! It sounds like you already have someone great to help design a plan for your backyard but if you want the name of someone to get a second plan/bid from, let me know – we put in a large patio with tumbled stone pavers and tons of landscaping and lighting two years ago and are thrilled with how it turned out. We had three different people draw up plans and give us bids and the company we ended up going with did an amazing job. We also had plans for a fireplace but decided against it at the last minute because we started to think we might get transferred soon with my husband's job (which of course did happen) but we designed the so that we can add a fireplace at a later time if we end up moving back to Cinci.
Kelly
January 8, 2014 at 2:48 amWow, your great room is beautiful!! I am in the same boat with the storage room and garage. It needs to get done, but I just can not make myself get started!
Lindsey Mckenzie
April 3, 2014 at 5:44 pmThose are a lot of projects. Your 2014 will be busy for sure. But in my opinion, the most exciting project would be your backyard plan. The fireplace sounds like a great replacement to the pond, especially if you add a grill as well.
Lindsey
Allison Page
July 2, 2014 at 1:39 pmI think it's great to look back at things you had planned for the year, and see which ones are done or getting there. Anyway, your backyard project seems to be taking up quite a lot of time. But then again, that's a big one — considering you'd replacing the pond with an outdoor fireplace. That prospect of yours would look great, and yes, if there's one thing you probably can't DIY, it's this one. So good luck on getting quality people to do the work! Hopefully they do exceptional work!
Allison Page @ D&S Masonry