Home Sweet Home Projects

Over the summer we tried to sell our house… again. We had it on the market for a year previously and it didn’t sell but we thought we would give it one more try before my youngest son started Kindergarten. The intent was to downsize and simplify our lives. We wanted to get a cute house we could make all our own. Well, so much for the downsizing. But now we’ve decided to start making our house the home we envisioned.

When we built this house we had limited options to choose from for customizations and let’s just say some of those options weren’t the quality we thought we were getting. After being in the house for 2 years we were already getting the itch to move so we really stopped making any major decorating decisions and left it as is. During the wait to see if we were going to move or not we started saving money to either move and renovate another house with or start making improvements to our current house. Now that we have been in the house 5 years and have decided to stay put changes have been under way!

At the end of August we ripped up the wood and carpet flooring that covers most of the downstairs. The carpet was not holding up well to the high volume of traffic and the wood floors that the builders put in were not what we thought we were getting at all. A lot of the neighbors have the same complaints. Not a horrible floor, just not made for high traffic or kids! This is the big project that we had saved for so we went for it. My brother in-law came up one day and helped Hubby and the boys rip up the old floors. My Brother in-law was able to reuse our old flooring for a bonus room he is finishing at their house. That made me feel better about taking out our floors. It wasn’t a waste. The flooring will be great for that type of space.

Over Labor Day weekend Hubby installed our new floors. We saved nearly $3000 from buying our wood flooring at Beckler’s in Dalton, GA and having it shipped in. We saved even more by installing it ourselves. The boys went to their Grandmother’s house and I went with my daughter to my aunt’s for the weekend. You know I would have loved to help ;) but I thought it would be better if we all stayed out of his way. We came home just in time for the last room that Monday night and I helped out then. It was like a great big Tetris game trying to fit the pieces together. Hubby did an awesome job and we are so happy with our new floors! Over the next few weeks we finished up the trim work, caulked and painted. Getting rid of the carpet in the living room opened up the space so much! We love it!  (Sorry you will have to wait for a later post to see more of the floors!)

We’ve had a list of projects we wanted to do at our house for some time so I thought I would share it here. Some projects are completed, in progress or still yet to do.

1. Vinyl wall word’s over picture frames in living room. Proverbs 3:5-6
2. Replace wood floor in kitchen, living and dining room. (done)
3. New couches in living room, move couches to media room and get rid of old ones before someone gets hurt by springs popping up. Eeek! (done)
4. Repaint master bedroom. (I did the wall, hubby needs to do the ceiling)
5. New comforter and curtains for the master bedroom. Out with the red…in with the soothing blue and browns. (done)
6. Custom closet system in master bedroom. (done)
7. Custom pantry closet system. (done) You will be able to read all about the closet and pantry next week!
8. Columns in dining room to separate the space so we can paint a different color in the living room. (done)
9. Flor carpet tiles for high traffic areas.
10. Two chairs to make sitting area in master bedroom.
11. Sell furniture in master bedroom.
12. Hubby build our next bed.
13. Hang shelves in master bathroom and decorate. (done)
14. Pick out color and paint master bathroom.
15. Larger master shower…dreaming big here!
16. Replace vanity in master bathroom with a his and hers to make room for larger shower!
17. Glass pantry door. (done, but needs painted)
18. Take out sliding glass door in kitchen and put in french doors. Took off screen because it didn’t work, need better door!
19. Picture frames for upstairs hallway. (done)
20. Print out pictures for upstairs frames!
21. Finish filling up frames in dining room. I am so bad about that!
22. Figure out what to do with windows in living room. Hubby wants curtains I want wood trim around them.
23. Pendant lights over kitchen island. (done)
24. Replace kitchen island with butcher block table.
25. Paint living room different color… have no idea.
26. Paint kitchen same color as living room or different, again have no idea.
27. Add an additional bathroom upstairs….in like 10 years.
28. Create a storage spot to corral kid clutter that ends up downstairs that needs to go upstairs.
29. Move one desk from the office into oldest son’s room so he has a place to study. (done)
30. Add extra shelves in the laundry room. (done)
31. The office… well I want to redo that room but not sure how yet…. stay tuned.
32. Rip up carpet on stairs and paint?
33. Re-do tile back splash in kitchen.
34. Get coffee table with enough storage for Wii stuff and remotes, etc. for media room.

Wow, what a list! Can seem overwhelming right? Really it depends on how you look at it. We don’t have to do it all right now. However, it helps to get it all down and see what needs to be done. Allow yourself to dream big, you never know what may happen! I keep this list on a clipboard in my office and check things off with a bright pink highlighter when it gets done. I love checking off this list!

I’ve been blessed to have had the opportunity to work with a company on two of the items on this list which you will hear about next week. That will certainly not always be the case! We add to our  home improvement budget on a regular basis and do what we can.  We determine what items are a priority and slowly but surely the list will dwindle down. Things like a larger shower or that additional bathroom upstairs is definitely not a necessity right now so they would obviously be further down on the list of priorities. We just want to create a space that we love and will work for our family for years to come!

After the new year I will start taking you on a tour of our home and all of it’s organizing bits and pieces. After 5 years in this house we have come a long way and continue to change things as our families grow. I look forward to sharing it all with you!