Well it's a new year and it's off with a bang that ended up with my car being towed into our mechanic. Good times! 😂 I hadn't planned on doing another no-spend month this January but it may be in the cards! I know my post schedule has been wonky for the past few weeks but next week we'll be back to normal.
I said this last week when I shared my biggest redos of 2016, but this is another favorite post of the year -- I love looking forward to the projects I have in mind for our home for 2017! But first, let's look at my plan for last year and what I knocked off that list!
I have to admit...I went back to look at that post and I was kind of impressed...with myself. I actually focused on the rooms I SAID I was going to focus on. I'm not usually that good. #squirrel
I wanted to complete our loft space and I transformed it into an awesome, organized craft room slash office that we use nearly every day:
This room is one I've been wanting to tackle forever so I'm thrilled it's done.
I wanted to update our yellow bathroom from my son's baby days and was able to do it with some leftover paint and a few new accessories:
This room is one I want to redo on a bigger scale this year, more on that in a bit!
I really wanted to get our master bedroom done and I got close:
I finished painting the room, changed out some accessories and made some new pillows. I still have to paint the nightstands and work on the fireplace wall in there...and then I'm done! Our master bedroom is so bright, clean and pretty. I'm kind of obsessed with it lately and want to carry that feel throughout the rest of our house this year!
The final big project I was hoping to do this year is one we decided to tackle very last minute -- it wasn't something we thought we would complete at all. After a LOT of hard work on my part tiling this beast, this stone fireplace wall has completely transformed our basement:
We sat down there last night and every once and awhile one of us will mention how much we love it. 💓 I'm so happy we were able to make this happen.
Now onto some fun projects for 2017! I scored nearly four out of four last year and I'm not expecting that to happen again. Goals! ;) I sometimes get asked what I will do when I finish our house. The answer is I have no idea. Ha! I do think it will be awhile. And by the time I finish it will have been years and years since I've finished other rooms so I think I'll have blog content for a long time. We LOVE this house and I have loved making it ours.
I'm super excited about my plan for our stairs:
They have undergone quite the transformation over the years and I'm so happy with them. When I pulled the carpet off and stained them years ago we had carpet throughout the rest of this area so I went with a reddish stain. If you look close you'll notice it, but it hasn't bothered me enough over the years to make it a priority.
I really want to have them sanded down (professionally because they can control the dust better than I can) so I can restain them the color of our hardwoods.
I also have big plans for the walls on the staircase:
I plan to cover them with a paneled look like we have in our family room. Not all the way up because I value my life...but a good distance. I'm so excited about the crisp white walls against the dark floors!
The walls will look similar to those I have on the wall behind our bed above, but here's some more inspiration:
I'm also hoping to add at a couple sconces, but we'll see if I can make that work. I think it would be so lovely to have more direct lighting on the stairs.
You'll see as I go through my plan that a lot of what I hope to accomplish this year is in the entry of our home. Contrary to most of rest of the finishes in our house, we didn't have many options for tile when we built. So in our foyer I went with a gray/purpley tile that went with our formerly pink walls. I didn't pick pink on purpose (say that three times fast), but it came out that way.
Anyway, I've never loved it. I actually hate it, but in the scope of life it's not a big deal so we have kept it. OH and tearing it out is going to be a huge, massive pain in the butt, so there's that:
But this year I want it to happen. I already have a plan in place to extend the hardwoods throughout most of the foyer. I want to use a patterned tile in a smaller area for the entry. We just don't need that much tiled...something we've realized as we've lived here over the years.
I'm STOKED about this but it won't happen until I get up the courage to take a hammer to that floor. I'll let you know when I do. ;)
Another big project I want to tackle this year is doing something to the walls in our living room and foyer to make them not feel so...vast. It's hard to see here but our ceilings in this room are two and a half stories tall. I LOVE the open feeling:
But it feels awkward to take art too high and awkward to have it down too low. You see wide open spaces like this and fall in love, but then you realize how hard they are to work with. I still wouldn't trade them and I have an idea in my head to make the main level walls feel like their own space but work with the tall ceilings. I just need to formulate it further before I make a move. :)
And finally, one I'm not sure I'll complete this year but really want to start:
I have disliked that wall separating the bathroom into two rooms since we moved in. It makes what is a decent sized bathroom feel super small and cramped. You can read more about my ultimate plan, but these pics give you a good idea:
The first step is to add a window over the tub -- I'll see from there if the natural light helps open up the room and decide my next steps. I've been planning this redo as long as I can remember but it may not be as big of a change as I anticipate. I have a feeling I'll still want to take down that wall. But we will see!
I know many of you have our current layout and love it with multiple kids. Since we only have one using it I want to make it better for how we operate. I'm excited to see what happens in here!
It's going to be a fun year my friends! Of course I have no idea if we'll be able to tackle all of these -- it will depend on our budget as we pay for all upgrades with cash. I'll be able to do a lot of the changes so it will be a lot of sweat equity like always. And as always, I'll take you along for the ride!
If you've worked on similar projects I welcome your advice! Taken down 1a wall in the bathroom? Worked with super tall walls? Torn up tile on the floor? (Is it as messy as I'm thinking it will be?) Do tell! Thanks again for joining me on my DIY adventures in this home we love!
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