At the beginning of this year, I made my Master List of Home Goals just like I’ve done for the last several years. But this year, I tried to keep my goals reasonable. So how did I do? Let’s take a look.
Goal #1 – Finish the Home Gym
At the beginning of the year, our home gym looked like this…
I had just finished our master bathroom remodel at the end of 2022, and all throughout that project, our home gym was used as a workshop, storage room, etc. So by the end of the bathroom project, the home gym was a complete disaster. The stripes on the walls were done (but still needed lots of touchups), and most of the trim was installed (but still needed to be finished), and everything else was a mess.
So my first goal of 2023 was to finish our home gym, and I did! I love how this room turned out. Since Matt and I both use it, I tried to make it appropriate for both of us. I got my color on most of the walls, but it’s mixed with lots of black and wood to keep things from looking too much like a candy shop.
Goal # 2 – The Carport
I’m not doing these in the order in which I listed them in my post at the beginning of the year because I want to start with the things that actually got finished. And after years of being in an in between state (usable but not finished), the carport is finally finished. At the beginning of the year, it looked like this…
I hired out this work because, quite frankly, I didn’t want to do it myself. And I’m so glad I did! It’s finished, and I got to focus on other things while it got done.
I’m still having to use it as my workshop where I use my saws, so this is as good as it gets for now. And I do still want to build a storage cabinet and do a couple of other things, but the carport itself is finished and finally has a ceiling, lights, a ceiling fan, etc. You can click here to see more pictures of our finished carport.
Goal #3 – Front Porch And Exterior
Our front porch was in pretty rough shape at the beginning of the year, and several things needed maintenance, starting with the actual porch boards.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get my whole list finished, but I did make some progress! I sanded down all of the porch boards and restained/resealed them (although they still need one more coat). I also sealed and repainted the porch ceiling, and gave the front door a fresh coat of paint.
I love the progress, but I still have some things left on my list that I’ll need to focus on next year, like finishing the stone skirting, making some flower beds, rehanging a shutter that fell down during a rainstorm with really high winds, and making window boxes. You can click here to see more posts about projects I’ve done on the front porch.
Goal #4 – The Studio
My studio was obviously the biggest project of the year, and I didn’t quite get it finished. I feel like I’m so close to having a finished studio, but there are still quite a few projects for me to finish up next year. But I did make a whole lot of progress. Here’s what the room looked like at the beginning of the year. (Actually, it’s not. This room as a mess, piled with stuff that had been moved in here from other rooms.)
I did so many projects in this room, starting with sanding and painting the floor, installing and painting cabinets, removing that wallpaper and replacing it with a much larger mural, and so much more.
I had hoped to get the whole room finished by the end of the year, but I knew that was a very lofty goal. I’m pleased with the progress that I did make on it, and I’m very excited about getting it finished first thing in 2024! You can click here to read more about the studio.
Goal #5 – The Guest Bedroom
I did have three things on my list of goals that I wanted to do in the guest bedroom (that we’re currently using as our main bedroom).
Those included adding wainscoting to the lower walls, continuing the floral design on the other two walls, and building a new base for the bed. I didn’t get around to doing any of those things. 😀 I guess I’ll try again next year.
Goal #6 – Kitchen
This is one of those nagging goals that I’ve had in mind since 2019, but have yet to actually commit time and effort to it. I wanted to remove the dishwasher and replace it with a cabinet for storage.
In hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t spend time on that. Now that I’ve pretty much decided that I want to redo our kitchen (either as part of our addition or sometime soon after), I really don’t want to put any more time or effort into making this kitchen work better for me. I’ll just wait and include all of those things (like a Rev-a-Shelf pop up shelf, which is what I wanted to put in that spot) on my wish list for our new kitchen.
So that covers all of the goals I had set for 2023. In all, I think I did a pretty good job! I didn’t get everything finished, but I also made a whole lot more time for myself, for family, and for friends this last year. There was a time in my life when I’d work on our house (or condo before the house) 12 hours a day with no time for anything else. I feel like 2023 was a year of finding balance and really evaluating priorities. So while I may not get house projects finished as fast as I used to, my life feels so much fuller these days. I loved that about 2023, and I plan to continue that in 2024.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
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