2016 Goals + Plans

Happy New Year!

While the holidays are always a nice time to relax and spend time with family and friends, I’m ready to get back to it with a normal routine again.  With a new year underway, it’s fun to assess the year gone by and look forward to plans for the year ahead.  With that said, I’ve started thinking about projects that I would like to tackle this year.

Paint it Black (or a really dark gray)
I’m loving the dramatic look of dark walls lately, and would love to incorporate some of this drama into my home this year.  I’m thinking a charcoal gray powder room perhaps?  Or maybe even something dark and dramatic in one of my boys’ rooms.  We’ll see.  I continue to love Kris’ gorgeous office at Driven by Decor – 

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And her powder room too!  Need I look any further for inspiration?

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Paint the House
And by this I mean the exterior (and no, I won’t be doing this myself).  But, it needs to be done, and I expect to agonize over exterior paint colors in the process, since this isn’t one of those “repaint it if you don’t like it” kinds of projects.  I’m hoping to go with a higher contrast look this time around, and am looking forward to the transformation.

An old photo of our house when we first bought it

I have already started pinning exterior colors, and am looking forward to changing things up from what we have now.

More One Room Challenges
After participating in the One Room Challenge this past spring (our master bathroom) and fall (my daughter’s bedroom), I’m hooked and look forward to participating in another one (or two) in 2016.  

Perhaps I might get up the nerve to tackle a teen boy’s room if I’m feeling brave, or maybe even my office.  It’s looking kind of sad and more of a storage room than an office space at this point.  It needs some love.

Light it Up
One area of my home where I haven’t done a lot of updating is with the lighting.  It’s not horrible, it’s just not what I would choose if I were making the selections myself.  So, this year, I’m hoping to change things up a bit and infuse my own style into some of the lighting around our home.

A great place to start would be our family room.  See that ceiling fan?  We never use it (and it makes weird noises when you turn it on), so I’m thinking it’s a candidate for a replacement.  I’m just not sure what I want, nor am I sure of the scale I want/need in here.  It’s a big room with tall ceilings, so I need to give it some thought.

Maybe something along these lines?  We’ll see.

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Organize my Workshop
Now that I’m taking on more kitchen cabinet jobs, my workshop area is getting a workout and needs a cleanout (I’ll spare you the photos because they are atrocious).  I started reading “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” and it has me wanting to pitch just about everything down there that is literally just taking up space.  It’s a big job, but I think it’s going to be a project that dramatically changes the way I work down there, and that’s exciting.

Refinish Hardwoods
No, I’m not referring to the hardwood floors in our great room, but the ones in my husband’s office, that don’t match our new ones.  

They’re in great shape, which is why we didn’t replace them, but I’d like to sand and restain them so that they at least go with the newer floors.  Whether or not I’ll do it myself, remains to be seen.

More Client Projects
I’m seeing a steady stream of kitchen projects, and have expanded into furniture as well.  I’m looking forward to sharing more client projects with you all, along with painting techniques and tools that I discover along the way.  This is the reason that organizing my workshop is becoming a higher priority. 🙂

I know I still need to share the full reveal of this huge kitchen redo that I mentioned here, I was waiting for the walls to be painted and the backsplash to be installed, but here is a sneak peek.

Before:

After.  Amazing, yes?  More to come, I promise!

Furniture
Furniture makeovers have been a natural extension from the cabinet painting, and I’m planning on doing more of it in 2016.  I’m hoping to learn more about different kinds of paints and techniques and want to pass my learnings along to you.  Furniture is such a fun way to exercise creativity, and I look forward to experimenting this year.


House Stalking 2.0
I will continue to be a house stalker in 2016, and look forward to sharing more homes with you this year.  

Character Home Remodel

Some will be local, but I’m also planning on opening it up to readers.  No, I won’t stalk your home (not knowingly, anyway), but I’d love to share your homes as part of this series, even if you don’t have a blog.  So, think about it.  If you already know you’d like to be part of the series, drop me an email at [email protected].

I know a lot of bloggers are putting out a “Word of the Year”, and I guess if I were to choose one, it would be “Grow”.  And I mean that in more ways than one – grow my business, grow my skills and learning, grow in my blog.  I think that hits the nail on the head.

What are your plans for 2016?  Do you have a word of the year?

Here’s to a great 2016!