Sharing our renovation plans for the year ahead.
With a brand new year stretched out ahead of us, I can’t help but think of some of the very best ways to fill it. Of course, we’re setting all sorts of personal and family goals for 2022 – throwing all of our hopes and dreams for the year ahead out into the world (the ability to travel currently sitting at the very top of our wish list). Equally as exciting, Brady and I love sitting down to put together a list of projects around the house we’d love to tackle through the year ahead too. It’s typically a pretty long list – years and years worth of ideas really, but it’s always fun to give voice to all of the ideas and inspiration floating around our heads that might make our home an even better fit for our family.
From a new gallery wall to landscaping ideas and everything in between, we try to list every little thing that pops into our heads. I revisit this list many times through the year, adding each new idea as it comes throughout the year and of course, the running list from last year is always the first place we start when we sit down to make a new list for the year ahead.
I’m sure it’s no surprise that this year’s list was impossibly long.
And so, we began to prioritize what we’d most like to see happen this year and just where we might like to start. This is probably the hardest part for me because truthfully, I’d just like to do it all. But Brady, ever the realist always reigns me back in to reality and truly is a voice of reason as we whittle down our wish list to something slightly more realistic for the year.
Last week, I shared a look back at our 2021 Renovation Wish List and chatted all about how much (or little) we actually managed to accomplish (and why). Revisiting and reflecting on last year’s list is always such a helpful process for us to really hone in on what’s most important to us and what we need to prioritize for the year ahead.
And so, after much dreaming, discussion & reflection, here are the projects we’re hoping to tackle around the house through 2022…
Our 2022 Renovation Wish List
1. Build a new garage.
Building a second garage in this back corner of our yard is at the very top of Brady’s priority list for 2022. This one is actually a carry over from last year’s list and, with our yard all torn to bits from our many outdoor construction projects in 2020, I have to say, it’s pretty high up on mine too. When we decided to build our back deck (you can read more about that project here), it created a snowball effect of work out here (actually, the snowball started with talk of replacing our siding, but that’s a whole other story). Knowing we eventually wanted to build another garage out back, we needed to run all of the utilities out to that corner of our yard before we blocked access to them all with our new deck. So, in the Summer of 2020, before starting any of our construction projects, Brady spent more than a month digging trenches and running utilities to what will become our new garage site. While he managed to get the deck built and our hot tub structure in place before the snow came that Fall, the rest of our yard remained a bit of a disaster really (luckily most of it is covered with snow at the moment). The next step to dealing with our torn apart yard is getting the new garage built. While I’m most looking forward to having my yard put back together again, Brady of course, is super excited to have a new garage space to take over – this garage build is definitely a top priority for 2022!
2. Landscape the backyard.
Speaking of top priorities this year – this disaster of a backyard is next up on the list. While getting the new garage built is a big part of finishing up this backyard space, we’re also going to need to do a whole lot of landscaping to get our yard back to what it was before embarking on all of these construction projects. Though we’ve got several ideas about what we’d eventually like to do back here, in the name of being realistic with our timeline, I’d be absolutely thrilled to just be rid of the dirt and pick up with some more substantial landscaping in the years to come. A yard that looks finished is all I’m aiming for by the end of our Summer this year.
3. Create a proper home office.
Last year, we were unsure about what this space should be. With our old family room moving down to our newly finished basement, it seemed like a good idea to move our home office down to our old family room space. Since then, we’ve learned that just doesn’t work for our family – not only is the new office space not really set up functionally for someone working from home full time (tiny little antique desk, not really much storage space), but it’s taking up prime real estate that our family needs access to both during and outside of work hours. Right now, this space is set up as a guest bedroom, the third guest bedroom in our house no less. Honestly, I can’t imagine a time when we’ll ever need three guest bedrooms (especially when one of them can sleep 4 in bunk beds), so I’m thinking it’s time to re-think this space. Currently, I’m thinking a proper home office would work well in here and, with Brady working from home full time, it would definitely be something we would use, though I also know that he won’t necessarily be working from home forever, which has me questioning whether there might be a better way to put this space to work for our family. Regardless of where we land, it’s pretty clear that this project is yet another that will be coming with us into 2022.
4. The study.
Finishing our basement last year created a domino effect of musical rooms around our home. As we relocated furniture around the house, we found ourselves with multiple rooms that needed repurposing. The one that’s been on my mind the most lately is our old back family room. It used to be such a cozy space to curl up, but after moving most of the furniture down to our basement, it’s become a sort of catch all office space for Brady to work from home. I’d love to turn this space into a cozy “study”/ library – somewhere comfortable that we can kick back with a cocktail and a good book at the end of a long day. I’m picturing tons of shelving to house all of our books, a dry bar area for mixing up fancy cocktails and a very traditional, maybe even slightly art deco feel. Brady keeps calling it his “smoking room” (even though neither of us smokes), but that traditional, cozy, yet somehow formal feel is exactly what I’m picturing in this space.
Four projects, that’s it. If that’s all we manage to accomplish this year, I will still consider 2022 a HUGE success in terms of making our home a better fit for our little family. Of course, there are a few more that I’d really love to make happen this year too – okay, A LOT really, but I’m trying to be realistic(ish) here. Also on my wish list for 2022 would be painting the exterior of our home (and likely our fence until we can get around to replacing it), staining our cedar deck, adding rock to our chimney (and perhaps garage), and redoing our driveway (although this would likely tie into a few other paver projects we’d love to do eventually, so might not be the best time to tackle it). Though not a priority at all, these would simply be an added bonus really. And of course, there are SO many other projects and ideas I have all over our home – I’m hoping between all of the big ones we have planned for the year ahead, I might be able to sneak in a few other smaller ones along the way too. This is all totally do-able, right?!
Tell me, what are you hoping to tackle through the year ahead? Do you have any fun projects you’re planning for 2021?
Wishing you SUCH a lovely day my friends!
I can't wait to hear your thoughts!