The Projects We Have Planned in 2019

Well, hello – and happy 2019!

It’s a little hard to believe that the new year is actually here. 2019 will be a pretty big year for our family – Jackson will start kindergarten this year, Grant will turn one this year, we’re going on a big family vacation in a few months, and I have lots of big plans for the blog that I can’t wait to share more about.

The start of a new year always comes with big plans and goals. I’m no stranger to the loop of setting resolutions for the year only to abandon them halfway through February, but one thing I always try to stick to is setting goals for our home. Last year we did a pretty great job at actually following through on our goals, and I hope that we can continue that trend in 2019. I always like to share a few of our goals with y’all here on the blog to help hold myself accountable, so today I’m going to give you the highlights of what you can expect to see on the blog this year.

Get excited, because there’s some fun stuff coming your way!

1. The laundry room.

We have a tiny laundry closet that could really use some serious organization (and some decor while we’re at it). It’s never going to be as functional as I’d like (since it’s so small), but I think we can take some steps to make it more functional that it is now. I’d like to add some storage, paint the walls, and make it a place that I don’t dread having to spend time. I’ve started brainstorming what I’d like to accomplish in the laundry room, and it’s a simple list (add a cabinet, some counter space, better shelves), but one that I think will help our entire house stay a little more organized. You can see in the photo above where the laundry room is – since I took that photo, I removed the table (it was too much for our small entry) and we actually have a fun entryway makeover coming up very (very!) soon, so you’ll see this space refreshed within the next few weeks. Once that’s taken care of, we’ll start to think about the laundry room!

2. The kids’ bathroom.

This is the first major project we plan on tackling this year, and I’m so excited to dive in. Our home only has two bathrooms – one of them is the master, and the other serves as a bathroom both for our kids and for any guests. It was in rough shape when we moved in, and we haven’t done anything to fix it yet. It constantly feels dirty and cluttered, the tub and toilet are stained beyond repair, and the “various shade of off-white” color palette isn’t doing the room any favors. This is the biggest project we’ll be taking on in 2019, and we’re planning a full gut job with fresh everything. I’ll be sharing more details once we hammer out the details and actually get started, but we’re wanting something fun, bright, and impactful. No more boring, neutral bathroom!

3. Build some furniture.

We’ve got a long list of furniture pieces that we want to build for our home, and I want to knock a few off the list this year! We’ll definitely be building a new dining room table (finally!), but I’d also love it if we could build some furniture for our bedroom as well – I have dreams of a custom dresser and custom nightstands…but we’ll see how far we make it this year! More than anything, I want to get more involved with building projects. I was really getting into it right before we moved out of our old house, but then we were settling into this house, I had a baby, and my priorities just shifted. I’d like to start learning more about woodworking again and get a piece or two built all by myself! Hint: this means we’ll likely be bringing back the Power Tools for Beginners series!

4. Curb appeal.

I hesitate to even type this out, so don’t hold me to it, but I’d love to paint the exterior of our house this year! It’s a small enough home that I can tackle the painting by myself, and the existing color makes me a little twitchy every time I look at it. Corey and I have started to dream about what color we’d like our house to be, and we’re toying around with the idea of painting it when the weather warms up this spring. Regardless, I want to take on some projects to improve the exterior of our home in both the front and back yards, so you can expect some fun exterior projects this year!

5. Wrap up loose ends.

You know when you do a project in your home and you complete the first 95% of it but there’s always that last lingering 5% that drives you crazy but not quite crazy enough to actually do something about it? I want to take care of those projects this year. A few examples include touching up the paint on our baseboards, replacing the light switches and outlets with more updated versions, and finally replacing all of our smoke alarms (not only are they ugly, they were all overly sensitive so we had to pull most of them out and we haven’t gotten around to fixing that yet). All of the projects will be quick and simple, but I learned the hard way when we moved out of our old house that it’s so much better if you get them done sooner! I remember being so frustrated at myself for waiting until we were moving to knock out all of those tiny little projects, because it’s so nice to have them done.

6. Finish the garage.

We made a lot of progress on our garage last year (you can see all of the posts here), but we still have a long way to go! Most of the time it’s still a total disaster because we don’t have a place for everything, so it all ends up stacked on the workbenches. We’ve already got one project lined up for this month that I think will make a big difference, and our brains are swirling with ideas for how we can finish it out this year. I’d love to end 2019 with a totally organized and functional garage – because I really miss the one we had in our old house!

I’m sure that as the year goes on we’ll add lots of other things to our to-do list (we always do!) but these are the definite projects that I’d like to accomplish in 2019. We’ve also got some fun brand collaborations planned, as well as a few other really exciting things happening. I feel like this year is going to be a great one, and I’m so happy to have you along for the ride!

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