Happy New Year!! Even through we have taken the last couple weeks offline, Chris and I have been talking non-stop about what projects we’re excited about around the house. (We put out a project list every year in January and look back at the end of the year to see how we did.) Here’s the post where we shared our 2023 Home Project List! Some of those projects that we didn’t get to have rolled over to this year. While this is a list of larger projects we hope to tackle this year, we purposefully tried to keep it smaller (some years, there have been 15 big projects on our list!) so we can make room for smaller projects, too. While I love knocking a whole room out, sometimes it’s the little things that make the largest impact–like painting interior doors or weeding the garden beds or purging a closet or finally making a cushion for the window seats in the bonus room. So while we still have quite a few large projects on deck in this house, 1. we’re not in a rush to complete them and 2. we’d like to have a better balance of large and small to-dos on our list. (Although this is just the big projects because the small ones we like to go with the flow on–that’s half the fun of a small project!). Let’s dive in:

1. Primary Bathroom and Closet

We’ve been working on designing our primary bathroom and closet over a year ago and then last year, we started working with Unique Kitchens and Bath to start making it come to life. We’ve had several meetings with our contractors about what’s doable (like, what IS the best option for privacy with that window). I feel like we’re kind of to an actual starting point! Really! (Okay…but I do keep second guessing a couple things eeeek) So you can expect that project to start soon-ish, fingers crossed.

Below you can see a rendering from Unique Kitchens and Bath for the direction we’re headed!

2. The Mudroom! (Last year, we called it Cricket’s Room/Pool Bathroom)

This is definitely one of those projects I’m glad we took a beat on, because its function changed entirely! This time, last year, we had plans to renovate this into a pool bathroom. This space, which used to be our laundry room (you can see our new laundry room here) is no longer going to be a pool bathroom, but a mudroom. And that window is going to be an entry into the house! It’s already very underway. You can see the plans and progress here. Over the break it got drywalled and looks like a real room.

3. Tile the Back Hallway

That door at the end of the hallway is now a pocket door (that will likely remain open for the most part) and the tile floor from the mudroom will extend into this back hall that also connects both garages. We are also painting all the trim in this hallway the same deep red as the cabinets in the mudroom.

Striped Grasscloth Wallpaper

4. Cleaning Closet

Help! This closet needs so much help! This is a very shallow closet in the back hallway that we use to haphazardly store our cleaning supplies. Its purpose will be the same, but the function has GOT to improve. This is technically a small project, but we would like to add electrical to this closet to charge vacuums, and a light too, so it’s on this list so I can remember to call the electrician. Ha!

5. Trim in the Entry.

I’ve wanted to add loads of trim to our entry since we moved in and I hope this year is the year! There’s a lot of wall space, so it makes sense for it to be box trim everywhere, but I can’t shake the thought of some wainscoting in a COLOR throughout the entry. Still stewing on that.

Mirror | Bench | Sconce | Study Sources

6. New Windows

All of the windows are original to the house and not energy efficient at all. The seals are broken and in the mornings we can see cloudy condensation making its way in. In March, we started researching new windows, had all of our existing windows measured and discovered which ones we could just replace the sash kits on (more budget friendly!) and which windows need replaced entirely. Then it was time to choose a color and that’s where we got held up. I actually want black inside!! I didn’t think I would, but I’m so drawn to it I’m not going to fight it. But the exterior of the windows we have struggled with. We selected a color that the windows came in, but our HOA needed the paint color code and then we got to thinking–we were kind of settling on a good enough color because that is what was available (yes). Would we be better off getting windows that you just paint the exact color you want? (I think so). They’ll take 20+ weeks to get in, so we’re ordering them soon!

7. Rec Room 

This room went from being our team office (before moving that off-site), to the playroom and now it’s really evolving into the rec room as our girls get older. We got a large sectional at the restoration hardware outlet last month. It has a large TV, that’s used to play video games. And for Christmas, we got our family a fun double shot basketball game! But it’s all a little mishmashed together with a pretty stale backdrop. We want this to be a fun hangout spot for our family, but also the girls and their friends for a long time. I’m thinking wood walls would be so pretty in here!!