At the beginning of this year, I did a house goals post. That was way before COVID hit and that threw us all (and by “all”, I mean every human on the planet) for a loop. Well, nine months into 2020, this is me checking in on those house goals and documenting what we’ve been doing.
1. Master Bedroom
✓ painted a dark accent wall
✓ replaced the bedding
I haven’t worked very much in the master bedroom, because we have been doing a lot elsewhere with some unexpected projects. More on that below. I also haven’t quite decided what direction I want to go with that armoire yet.
2. Patio
✓ tore out old broken tile and concrete – 14 TONS of it, people. BY HAND. We didn’t realize quite how much there was until we hauled it off!
✓ paved walkway and patio with brick
We’ve still got to build the outdoor fireplace/brick oven and get some patio furniture. 95% of the project is finished … it’s always that last 5%! 🤣 Anyone else a 95%er?
3. Kitchen
✓ added a banquette (still need a cushion top for it)
✓ repainted the island
✓ installed new flooring
✓ got a new kitchen table
✓ installed new appliances (wall oven and cook top)
Still working on the cabinet hardware. I’m actually going to be painting the kitchen cabinets. Long story short, the water-based lacquer that our cabinet guy used to spray the cabinets has yellowed. 🙄🙄🙄 It was really apparent when we installed the new banquette (in the same color) against the existing cabinets. My crisp white cabinets weren’t so crisp anymore. Anyway. Cabinet hardware will be replaced when I do that this month.
4. Dining Room
✓ refinished chairs
I stripped the paint from all six of them, repaired the cane on one chair, and reupholstered all the seat cushions.
What’s left is figuring out how I want to match the cane backs. The one I fixed is raw cane and the others are painted.
I’m not sure if I want to strip the paint from the existing cane, re-cane all the other ones, or maybe just paint/stain over all of them? Not sure. I’m pretty sure that I DON’T want to be stripping paint from cane so it will probably be end up being replaced. I’ve also got to attach the seat cushions. Waiting on some magnets for that. Again 95%er here!
I also decided to keep the jute rug that’s there.
5. Living Room
✓ new floor lamp
That’s about all that I’ve done in this space besides get a new rug (not pictured). The rug that is already there is a sisal rug and I LOVE it, but it’s scratchy – especially for a little one that’s crawling around on it. I’m just going to layer this other softer rug on top of it.
No new chairs yet – I want to get them from IKEA and the closest store is three hours away. It just hasn’t happened mostly due to COVID.
No new fireplace or built-ins because we had to shift gears for some other large projects that came up. Speaking of…
Large Projects
When I say “large projects” I mean major.
As in painting the kitchen cabinets, replacing exterior doors, adding a front porch, gutting and remodeling the guest bathroom, and building a new carport with solar panels on the roof. Oh yeah, and flipping a rental property.
Yup, you read that right. I’m tired just from typing it all. It’s basically all happening at the same time too. Let’s take it project-by-project, shall we?
Kitchen Cabinets
I already touched on that one so we’ll leave it right there. It’s happening in about ten days. Still looking at paint colors.
Exterior Doors
We have two exterior doors – the front door and the back door. On the front, we’re taking out the door and two awkward windows beside it and replacing all that with a more modern front door with sidelights.
I’m not sure what they were thinking when they did the roof on this house. Changing the roof line will have to be something later down the road if we decide to go that route.
For now, we’re concentrating on getting the doors (and all these other projects) wrapped up.
The back door is a similar situation with a door flanked by two windows. All that’s coming out and being replaced with french doors with sidelights. That will eventually lead to a screened porch. The steps will be replaced with brick.
Current view as I’m typing this post:
Front Porch
In addition to replacing the front door, we’re tearing out the dinky mismatched steps and building a new brick porch / landing area with steps. We also are replacing the outdoor wall lights.
In progress shot:
New Carport
Yup. I didn’t think this one was happening for another couple of years, but my husband pressed the go button on this project. Our existing carport is basically rotted and we are having to replace it anyway. He decided he wanted to put a solar panel system on the roof, so we are going with a steel-supported carport. Half of it will be a screened porch and the other half will be our carport. Happening mid-September.
Guest Bathroom
Also one of those larger projects that wasn’t happening for another year or so, but we had a major water pipe bust in early March so we had to file an insurance claim. It’s gutted down to the studs right now and blocked off from the rest of the house. We’re borrowing space from one of two closets in the adjacent room to make the bathroom bigger.
Rental House
In addition to all of that, we closed on a bank-owned property in late April. Yup, we are officially crazy. We basically flipped it starting in May (during COVID) and already have a tenant moved in.
Well, that’s about it. Did you catch the sarcasm there? 😉 We usually do about one large project each year, but I guess in true 2020 fashion, this year is way different!
If you’re still reading, thanks for being here! I’m always happy that you are here and would be even happier to hear from you. Have you done any major projects this year?
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