My Project Plans for 2025.
I feel late getting this post out but January has been crazy and busy and so long and somehow it’s STILL January for another week so I guess it’s still relatively on time.
I’ve been stewing on my plans for the house this year, while also trying to be more realistic with my time. When I reviewed last year I realized I spent a lot of the year focused on work and house renovations, which is to be expected when you are renovating your kitchen and the whole main floor. I’m so happy with the kitchen and wouldn’t change anything about last year, but that being said I know I want to work on a lot more smaller, bite-sized projects this year. Here is my rough plan for the year, in no particular order, as I tend to go with the flow of creativity.
The Master Bedroom.
This was a room I was hoping to tackle last year but the kitchen reno sucked all the life out of me and it took a lot longer to recuperate from that. It still has the random paint it did when we moved in and our old furniture. I’ve had a few design breakthroughs and I’ve finally got some direction for the room. The main item I want to address is the bed. We need a king-size mattress. Full stop. Sleep is so important and we both sleep better when we have a bit more space from each other. haha. For colors I’m thinking neutrals walls with a colorful contrast trim and probably some colorful bedding to contrast. Moodboard is coming soon. This may not look like a “bite-sized” project either but for me, it is - paint and new furniture are small potatoes compared to a kitchen reno and painting a vaulted living room.
Living Room Gallery Wall.
I did start this project last year but was not loving the direction of it and it also felt rushed to try and finish it with the other living room elements I was on a deadline to create content for. I decided to step back and take the pressure off myself to finish the living room all at once. I want this gallery to feel curated and collected so ultimately I needed more time to decide how that would look. I want this gallery wall to be the colorful element in this room as the rest is quite neutral. I plan to have it behind the TV and up both tall walls. It will be mostly abstract, landscape, and pop art-type images with maybe a couple of family pics mixed in.
Stairwell Gallery Wall.
I’ve always wanted a tall staircase that I could add family photos up the whole way and this house has the perfect one. I want this gallery wall to be more personal and show our family over the years.
Playroom Phase 2.
Last year we added new flooring, scraped the popcorn ceiling, updated the lighting, and painted. We also built a cased opening alongside the kitchen and left space for bookcases to mirror the ones along the fireplace. I’m not sure we will get to the bookcases this year but I want to grout wash/paint the brick. Haters gonna hate but I LOVE painted brick and the dark colors are not working for us in here. I also need to rework the furniture here. We still have a recliner and a couch left by the previous owners and we never sit on them. I plan to add a craft table and some storage for all the toys. Eventually, I would like a fun wallpaper and contrast trim here but for now, we will focus on functionality.
Paint the Girls’ Rooms.
Brace yourself for a dose of reality! Like the rest of the upstairs, their rooms are just the same as when we moved in. Wild colors and chaotic messes. The younger two are sharing right now and we explored the bunk bed situation but it was too much of a headache so their room is mostly just furniture crammed in there. They also insist on having their dollhouses in their room too so it leaves very little room to move. Maybe once I tackle the playroom we can move some stuff around. Regardless I would at least like to paint in here and make this space reflect them a bit more until we can renovate the basement and move my oldest downstairs, giving everyone their own room.
Front Yard Landscaping.
Since we moved into our house in winter last year we had no idea what was growing in the yard. I took last year to observe and see what we were working with. I have huge plans for the landscaping but we have a corner lot and it will take a while to save up, and we are focusing our budget on the inside of the house right now. That being said, I want to simplify the front yard. There are so many random shrubs and rock beds that the previous owner made and they are so annoying to mow around and maintain (there are like 5 more random groupings of shrubs you can’t see in this pic). I plan to transplant what I can to the backyard and then remove the rest so we are left with a couple of trees and just grass. A few lilacs might bite the dust in the process, but I just want simple and easy maintenance in the front yard.
Those are my initial plans for the year, I’d love to tackle so much more but home takes time and so we will see what gets done. I’m sure I’ll be adding a few other projects as the year goes along.
