The one thing I do get really excited about at the beginning of the year is sitting down and figuring out what fun things we are going to do to the house over the next year! Some of this might be a little redundant if you remember my home renovations wish list from last year. I wanted to do a lot more than we could handle haha. So some of it is going to trickle into 2023. Someday it will all get done!
We did a lot of work last Spring on the house and also did a lot to the yard. Read about our renovations in this post here and here. And haven’t done anything since! So I have had the itch lately for some projects. And I think some of them might surprise you this year because I am going to attempt some DIY projects myself. We will see how the first one goes and then re-group after that haha. They always sound like simple, easy projects. But what I have learned from owning an older home is that they are never easy.
2023 Home Renovations Wish List
Basement Staircase
This is real life 🙂
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This is going to be my first project that I tackle this year….and I am going to do this one myself! Well, I will probably have Kurt help me with some of the prep work. But I am not going to hire anymore out for this. We have this tiny little landing down to our basement. For whatever reason when we first had our home painted, I asked him not to paint it. The main reason was because I didn’t think it would be seen that much. And the previous owners had left this storage thing on the wall. And I wasn’t sure how we would use that space or if we would need that extra storage. So I didn’t want him to paint and hang this ugly thing back up when I didn’t know if we would even use it.
In my head, I thought this would be ‘one’ project. We would have it painted, have the tile re-done and figure out new storage options. But I am so sick of looking at the gross walls! The floors are gross too but they don’t really bother me as much for some reason. Surprisingly, we use this space a ton. We keep our garbage can in this little area so Sloane can’t get into it. I am up and down the stairs all day doing laundry, getting stuff we store down there for our pantry, getting the vacuum out, etc. We use this space a lot more than I ever intended. And I am ready for it to have a little mini refresh.
My plan is to start here with my DIY projects and paint the walls and trim. And I haven’t figured out what we need, but we do need some sort of storage compartment in here that can hang on the wall. It is a tight space, but I want to maximize it! If that goes well, I then plan to move on to other DIY projects. I just need this little, easy project as a boost for my ego that I can do it haha.
Powder Bath
It doesn’t look terrible in the photo, but when you get up close it’s old and gross and I know a little paint and TLC is all it needs!
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I have this whole plan to completely gut and renovate our powder bath on the first floor. Last year, when my contractor was here he gave me a loose quote which I am sure has only gone up since then. I spent last year ordering wallpaper samples and getting an idea on what I want to do in there. I think I decided on this wallpaper– isn’t she pretty!?
With all that said, I think I am going to go in a completely different direction and this is going to be one of my DIY projects! Some day we will gut it, replace the toilet, new vanity, etc. But for now, we just need to get her looking a little better than she currently does. I always feel so embarrassed when we have guests over and they use our bathroom. There is paint chipping everywhere, the fixtures and light are so ugly. I just need to give it a little glow up for the meantime. And then someday down the road, we will do the full rehab!
So the plan in here is to remove the wallpaper, paint the walls and vanity, replace the mirror, add new sconces, hardware and maybe even a new facet. I think this is just what this little space will need and I bet it will look 100 times better! But it is going to be a lot of work and I’m nervous. I’m actually thinking of painting the whole thing a light green color. Like the walls, ceiling, vanity, trim- all of it! I haven’t fully decided yet, but that is where I am at right now. TBD.
This will be my next DIY project after I finish my basement stairs. I need to do that project first to give myself a self esteem boost haha. And this one is going to take a lotttt of time and effort. I can already see that. But I am really excited to see how it turns out in the end!
Kitchen
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We won’t be able to tackle a full on renovation just yet- that is years down the line. But there are a few simple updates we are going to make to our kitchen to help if feel more ‘us’. First off, I am going to have Kurt change out all the light bulbs. The ones we currently have are too yellow and it drives me nuts!! I need light and bright! Our kitchen only has one window in it so it needs all the help it can take. I have a feeling this will make a huge difference.
We are also going to change out the cabinet hardware. I’m not really a fan of what we currently have- it’s too modern for our home. So I am going to be on the hunt for something budget friendly that is a little more traditional. I’ve tried looking for new hardware previously and the one snag I’ve run into is our current draw pulls are not a standard length- of course! So I am going to have to hunt hard for these because I also don’t want to have to deal with drilling and patching holes in our cabinets. I actually don’t even think this would even be an option since we don’t plan to paint them or anything.
And I also think we want to add a backsplash to the space. I don’t really have anything in mind just yet- maybe something simple like a white subway tile. But I haven’t even begun to research this yet so I will be sure to take you along for the ride haha.
And lastly, I plan to add a new rug once we have all the other updates complete. This is what we currently have. I’ve never really been a fan of the one we have in there right now. It was kind of an impulse buy because I just needed something which are always the worst purchases. Maybe a few accessories and call it complete! What I’ve found is that a lot of times, the most little and simplest things really help to update your space and make it feel your own.
Odds & Ends Projects
I am adding this to my home renovations wish list because there are so many little, tiny and simple projects that we just need to get through. I have a running list on my phone. But instead of just making lists this year- I am going to actually tackle them. Here are some of the odds & ends projects I want to get done this year:
- Paint touch ups around the house. There are a few places that are glaringly really bad that I need to touch up.
- Decide on outside house numbers and mail box. This one goes back almost a year haha! One of our projects last Spring was painting our columns outside. And I had them leave off my house numbers because I didn’t like the placement of them and wanted to get new ones. Well they are still sitting on my porch and I still have not decided! We still get mail and our packages so I guess I still have some time. And I want to add a new mail box. Again, just need to decide on one and buy it!
- Have light hung. I bought this light over the summer when it was on sale and it has since been sitting in my basement. I am either going to add it to my front entryway or to our third floor guest bedroom.
- Figure out what to do with the cord on the Frame TV. I know everyone loves their Frame TV’s, but this thing has been such a hassle. Mostly because our fireplace is brick so I think that limits us a little. I was able to figure out something for our box (we had a whole special compartment built), but I have no idea what to do with the cord and it is driving me crazy!
- Hem Sloane’s curtains. This should have been done over a year ago, but it is still on my list to do!
Yard
Last summer was our first real summer in our home. And the only reason I say that is because the first summer we lived here, Sloane was born and it took everything out of us to take care of her! So last summer, we spent the majority of the summer getting our yard in shape. And it needed a ton of TLC. We raked the flower beds, replanted plants in places that made sense, added mulch and really just wanted to see what was in the yard and enjoy it! We also added some outdoor furniture so we could enjoy the space.
This year I really want to add some more fun elements in our space. Maybe an outdoor rug, some accessories. And maybe even some outdoor lighting. This is all Kurt talks about so I know this one is high on his wish list.
We also plan to add some more flowers- mainly hydrangea bushes. We both love these so much and they do really well in our area. It’s all you see in our neighborhood. So we have plans to add quite a few and I’m really excited to see them all in bloom this summer.
Concentrate on Completing Rooms Décor Wise
And I know I talked about this in my word of the year post last week. But I really want to work on making our rooms feel more ‘done’. I need more accessories, more pillows, more color, more depth, more artwork. I know this stuff takes time, but the time is NOW. I’m sick of our rooms feeling half done. I haven’t really decided how I am going to tackle this, but I might take it room by room so I can really concentrate. This will for sure be an ongoing thing though. Don’t expect me to write at the end of year that my house is fully decorated!
Wish List Items
And if we somehow get through all that here are a few things I would love to do, but I highly doubt we will get to this year. Some of these are from last year too that we never got to.
- Re-tile the basement steps. The tile is original to the house as you can see the image above. It is old and gross and needs to go!
- Buy a bed. Our canopy bed from Chicago wouldn’t make it up our stairs in this home so we have been sleeping college style on the ground! It’s time for a bed! This is on the list as our next bigger furniture purchase. And this is what I have my eye on.
- Add blinds to our downstairs. We have zero blinds right now and it just looks bare. These are the ones I have been eyeing.
- Carpet our stairs. This is actually pretty high on our list. Last year, we had our stairs all re-done and they turned out better than expected. So the last touch to that project is having a runner added. Addie refuses to go upstairs now because she slides all the time and she gets really nervous around the baby gates. So we are really doing it for her. Plus they are slippery and you have to be careful. With Sloane now walking, we need to take the extra percautions!
Make sure you are following me on Instagram! I will be sharing these projects as I go 🙂
xoxox Amanda
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