2023 Master List of Home Goals

It’s that time of year again when I list my goals for the new year. I didn’t do such a great job on last year’s goals (don’t worry…I’m not beating myself up over it, and I’m quite proud of what I did accomplish last year), so only time will tell if this year will be any better as far as goals go.

Like I said in yesterday’s post, I almost feel like I could just copy and paste last year’s goals into this post and be done. 😀 But that’s not quite accurate. I did get some things done last year (you can read the synopsis of my last year here), and because of what I accomplished last year, I’m now down to only two rooms — the home gym and my studio.

Technically, the half bathroom that’s attached to the studio is finished, but I do have plans to make some changes in there, so I made that room green (in progress) on the floor plan above.

So that’s pretty exciting. I’m just down to two rooms. It’s been a very long road to get here, and I’d love nothing more than to end 2023 with all of these rooms completely finished.

Here’s a more detailed look at what I hope to accomplish this year:

The Home Gym

This room is an absolute mess right now. It was used as a storage room and workroom all through the master bathroom remodel. And now it’s time to get it cleaned out and finished. I had hoped to have this room cleaned out by now, but the day I had planned to get started on that is the day that Matt and I both started getting sick, and the day that Matt went to the hospital the first time. And now here we are, three weeks later, and the room still looks like this.

But that’s okay. I’ll start today! And I was able to make some progress on this room last year, so a lot of the harder projects are done. At the beginning of last year, none of the windows or doors were trimmed out. Now they’re all trimmed out, but I do still need to sand, caulk, prime and paint the trim.

So here’s exactly what needs to be done in here to finish the room:

• Install the rest of the hardwood flooring in the closet area
• Install the rest of the small trim at the ceiling
• Finish installing the baseboards
• Finish paint touch ups on the walls
• Install the ceiling fan
• Install the two recessed lights in the closet area
• Sand, caulk, prime, and paint all of the trim
  • Window casings
  • Door casings
  • Baseboards
  • Small trim around ceiling
• Install the foam square gym flooring
• Hang the curtains (yes, I’m hanging curtains in a home gym…because I’m me. 😀 )
• Build the Swedish ladder
• Build a cabinet and shelves in the open closet area
• Paint Matt’s exercise bike (it’s white, and I’d like it to be black)
• Add mirrors/posters/artwork/whatever else a home gym needs to be a motivational space

And once that room is finished, that just leaves me with ONE MORE ROOM!

My Studio

Y’all, this has to be the year that I finish this space. It’s been way too long already, and for my own mental health, I need it finished. I’m so ready to have a fully functional studio space with storage and organization and everything in its place.

And how exciting it will be when it’s finished, because this is the last room inside the house!! (Well, the last room as it stands now, before we add three more rooms.)

Here’s what needs to happen in order for this room to be finished:

• Install, caulk, prime, and paint the rest of the trim
  • Window casings (all installed, but two still need to be caulked, primed, and painted)
  • Door casings
  • Baseboards
• Build, prime, and paint cabinets
  • Cabinets in the “office” area of the room by my desk
  • The full wall of cabinets on the front (wallpapered) wall
  • Cabinets by the door into the sitting room (i.e., breakfast room)
• Install lighting in the storage closet
• Build shelves for the storage closet
• Make a few tweaks to the half bathroom
• Repaint the walls in the back entry

I may end up adding things to that list as I go. I’ve mentioned that I may switch out the wallpaper. (Don’t get upset! I haven’t made up my mind just yet. This one may stay.) And I might change up the wall color in the main studio area as well.

As far as the half bath goes, I’m not quite sure how extensive the changes will be in there. I do know that the wall design will go, but I’m not sure what it’ll be replaced with. I know I want to keep it colorful and fun. So depending on what I do with the walls, the vanity color may have to change as well. But that’s a maybe, and it’s one of those things that will be decided as I make progress. I don’t have to make those decisions right now.

So those are the final two interior areas that I’ll be focusing on this year, and those will be my main goals. If nothing else, I want to end this year with those two areas completely finished and usable. I don’t want to keep having to hide those areas behind closed doors when guests come over.

But I always have a few more “second tier” goals that I keep in mind in case I need a change of pace to keep myself interested, motivated, and moving forward. Here’s what that list looks like this year…

The Guest Bedroom

I finished this room a while back, but there are some tweaks I’d love to make in here if I can find time to do them.

I mentioned a while back (maybe it was just on Facebook) that I wasn’t too sure about the one feature wall. Don’t get me wrong. I love that wall and the design I did on it. But what I haven’t been thrilled with is that the other walls in this room are so blah.

That’s just not me. So I polled people to see what they thought about me extending the wall design to the other two walls. Most people thought that would be too much. And I do agree that a floor-to-ceiling design on all three of those walls might be too much. But I’m also not satisfied with leaving it like it is.

So what is my go-to solution when I want a lot of color and/or pattern on the walls, but I don’t want it to be too overwhelming? Wainscoting! White wainscoting, to be precise. That’s what I did in the music room and in the master bathroom. So that’s what I’d like to do in here…plus one other project…

• Add wainscoting to the bottom half of the walls
• Extend the floral design to the other two walls
• Build a new base for the bed that can accommodate the adjustable bed

Front Porch and Exterior

I have some maintenance that needs to be done on our front porch, plus I just need to finally finish the front porch. As far as the maintenance goes, I don’t think I can put it off another year. If I do, I may risk the weather doing too much damage to the wood and having to replace things. I’d rather not let it get to that point.

So here’s what I’d like to do…

• Finish the stone façade on the front and side of the concrete porch
• Sand and reseal/stain the porch boards
• Repaint the front door (same color, but it just needs a refresh)
• Create a sitting area on the front porch
• Create flower beds around the porch and plant pretty things
• Build steps at the side (studio) door
• Rehang one shutter that came off during high winds
• Build flower boxes and install

Kitchen

As of this very moment, I don’t have a whole lot planned for the kitchen this year, but I do want to make this the year that I finally get rid of the dishwasher and convert that space in to usable storage space. I want to add one of those Rev-a Shelf pop up shelves that most people use for their stand mixers, but mine will be used for my blender and InstantPot, and maybe a couple more things.

But the kitchen changes may become more extensive if we are finally able to start on the addition this year. Right now, that’s a big if. Nothing has been nailed down yet, but I do plan to put those wheels in motion very soon and see if we can make that happen this year.

If we can make that happen, the back wall of cabinets will be changing. But my plan is not to make a cased opening between the kitchen and the new family room. I do think I’ve landed on an idea that I love, though. And if I implement that idea, the whole back wall of cabinets in the kitchen will be changing. I’m not quite ready to share details just yet.

All of that to say that right now, my plans for the kitchen are minimal. But those plans may change depending on what happens with the addition this year. For now, I want to…

• Remove the dishwasher
• Convert that area into storage

Carport

Once again, the carport is being added to my list of goals. And this year, it really needs to get done for the same reason that I really need to do the maintenance on the front porch. The siding on the carport has never been painted, and technically, you’re only supposed to allow primed Hardiboard to remain unpainted for just so long. I’m not sure how long that amount of time actually is, but I’m sure that I’m way past that time by now.

I have no idea why I didn’t have my contractor’s guys finish the carport completely when it was built. For some reason, I thought I’d do all of the finishing projects myself, but here we are, four years later, and it’s still not finished. It still needs lights (and possibly a ceiling fan) installed, a ceiling installed, trim installed, and it needs to be painted. Why in the world did I think I wanted to do those projects myself?

Plus, now it needs roof repair from when the big branch from that huge oak tree (that we had cut down last year) fell on the roof and punch a hole in it.

So I think it’s time to drop the delusion that I’m going to do these things myself, and hire them out so that they actually get finished. Whoever does the work needs to…

• Install the lights (and probably a ceiling fan)
• Install the ceiling, and caulk, prime and paint the ceiling
• Install trim on the columns
• Paint the exterior of the doors
• Paint the siding and trim

I think that’s it. I’m not delusional enough to think that I can get all of this done in 2023, but I do think I can get the home gym and the studio finished this year. These other goals are actually items that I’ll treat like a buffet. If I find myself needing some time away from the home gym or the studio, I’ll see if I can choose an item from the buffet of “second tier” options just to keep myself moving forward. And once I’ve had an adequate break from the main goals, I can get right back to those until they’re finished.

And then with the addition up in the air right now, it’ll be very interesting to see just how this year shakes out in the end. Meet me back here in 12 months, and we’ll see how I did. 😀