Checking in with Last Year’s Renovation Goals
One of the very first things we do with each new year is sit down to set some goals for the year ahead. I absolutely LOVE these brainstorming sessions with Brady, dreaming up all of the things we might like to do through the year ahead, talking through what we’d most like to focus on and how we might make our visions come to life. Of course, part of setting goals for the year ahead is taking the time to look back at where we started. Revisiting and reevaluating our goals from last year is always so helpful as we make plans for the year ahead. While it can sometimes be disappointing to see so many goals left unfinished (see our list below), it gives us a chance to ask ourselves why something may not have worked out, reevaluate things, and sometimes rework our plans so we can find more success moving forward. It also really helps to keep in mind that while many of our plans may not have worked out as we’d hoped, there were many other successes to celebrate along the way instead. So, before we dive into our plans for the year ahead, let’s take a look back at last year’s renovation goals and check in with our progress (or lack-there-of), shall we?
Looking Back at Our 2023 Renovation Goals
ONE: Primary Bedroom – UNFINISHED
TWO: Primary Closet – UNFINISHED
THREE: Ensuite Bathroom – UNFINISHED
FOUR: Carson’s Bedroom – UNFINISHED
The first four renovation projects are all connected to one another since we’re moving around walls to re-allocate these spaces in different ways. We didn’t manage to finish a single one of these spaces, mainly due to the fact that I felt so stuck in planning out the designs for each space. It’s hard to move ahead when you feel so indecisive about where you’re going. I just wasn’t clear about what I wanted to do in each of these spaces and so, rather than rush things and risk making so many decisions I may regret, I decided to move on to other projects that felt a little more clear to me, if only because they weren’t going to be as permanent (mainly lighting and paint around our main floor).
Luckily, after giving myself that time and space, I was able to find more clarity on things – landing on a floor plan for each of these spaces as well as some design direction (you can check out my design plans for our ensuite here).
Now that we have a better idea of where we’re going with things, Brady’s been hard at work making my visions come to life. So far, he’s finished up the framing and electrical for our bedroom and ensuite and is currently plugging away at the framing and electrical for our closet as well as Carson’s future bedroom space. Here’s a quick little peek at our progress so far, I’m planning to share a more in-depth update here on the blog soon.
FIVE: Upstairs Flooring – UNFINISHED
Keeping with the theme of struggling to commit, I just can’t seem to find that perfect hardwood flooring. This hardwood will run through most of our home, including the entire upstairs AND main floor, so I’m definitely feeling a lot of pressure to get it right. Going to have to figure this one out soon as we’ll need to get it in place once the drywalling is all finished up throughout our primary suite and Carson’s new bedroom.
SIX: Staircase Flooring – UNFINISHED
But we’re SO close on this one! The carpet was ordered up months ago and we just got a call the other day that it’s finally in. Hoping we can get the install for this booked soon. Stay tuned on Instagram for updates!
SEVEN: Just a bit of Landscaping – DONE!
Oh my gosh, this was such a HUGE undertaking, so much bigger than we’d originally planned. Last summer, Brady ended up restoring and reworking our underground sprinkler system, which was a big job. With almost an acre of landscaping to water, we’re so thankful to not have to move our sprinklers around the yard ourselves anymore (it took hours to water our lawn and gardens).
While Brady was hard at work on the sprinkler system, I cleaned out and then replanted all of our garden spaces (an equally HUGE undertaking). While we still have more landscaping we’d love to do in the years to come, I’m so proud of the way we were able to transform the gardens we already have.
In addition to all of the landscaping we did, we also painted the garage doors (as well as all of the exterior doors aside from our front door) to match the board & batten trim around our exterior. In addition to this, we swapped out all of our exterior lights. While I’m not sure it’s really felt our home to feel more updated, all of these changes have definitely helped to make our home look better cared for and more well-loved than it has in years.
EIGHT: The Pyramid Bathroom – UNFINISHED
The pyramid bath is an extra bathroom just off of the bonus room above our garage (which we’ve always referred to as the Pyramid Room because of its sloped ceilings). It’s not a bathroom we really use, although it could be, especially through all of our renovating. Though we debated diving into this one just to get something done this year, in the end, we decided to focus our efforts on the projects that would make a bigger difference to our daily lives. And so, this goal was totally abandoned before it even got off the ground.
I have to say, this was definitely interesting to look back on! While one project out of eight doesn’t seem like much of an accomplishment through the past year, we did manage to tackle all sorts of other smaller projects along the way that have had a pretty major impact on how at home we feel in our main living spaces (read more about those here). That said, we do have some pretty big renovation plans through the year ahead – I can’t wait to share them with you next week!
Wishing you SUCH a lovely day my friends!
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