With the purchase of our first home came major excitement followed by major work. We’ve lived in our home for a little over two years and have lived through any renovation work we have done. We’ve mainly done everything ourselves with the help of family and friends. Since we have some big home remodel projects on the horizon I figured we’d take a look at our home remodel update and Honey Do List to see what we’ve accomplished these last two years and what we plan to tackle in 2017.
As a little refresh the house we bought is a 1940’s home, pictured above, and while it has a lot of charm that we love, there is also a lot of “charm” we did’t love and could definitely do without. I have big ideas and so does my husband, though he thinks I have too many big ideas…We’ve decided to do most of the work ourselves. Since my first Honey Do List post we have updated our living room (twice!), remodeled the laundry room to remove the carpet (whomever thought carpet in a laundry/mud room was a good idea is crazy), turned our spare bedroom into my closet/office then this past year turned it into our sons nursery, done some work in our backyard including getting and installing our hot tub and extending our brick walkway to reach said hot tub. And probably the two biggest projects of all, turning our outdoor shed into an insulated and remodeled space to first be my husbands “man cave” that has since been repurposed as my “mom cave” and building my husband is outdoor shower.
I have a background in Interior Design so the thought of finally being able to put it all to good use on our own home excites me so much. Since there are so many projects we need (and want) to tackle I’ve decided to put together and share with all of you, our Honey Do List! You can get a sense for what we are considering doing from my pinterest boards, here on the look of our home exterior and outdoor space.
1. Paint all the walls.
2. Make a doggie door so that the pups can go in and out as they please.
3. Build bookcase and organize.
4. Cut down the tree in the backyard to make way for our hot tub.
5. Plant a tree in the front yard. (The bush that was already in the front yard kinda did this one for us)
6. Knock down the old built-in pantry and expand upper and bottom cabinets to gain more counter space and usable storage.
7. Design, purchase, and decorate for my closet/office. This became Mason’s nursery this year. (post here)
8. Build-in hot tub to have steps, perimeter seating, and privacy walls.
9. Get outdoor dining furniture and lighting. Light fixture was one of my DIY’s.
10. Fire pit and seating.
11. Tile a backsplash in the laundry room and get a nice countertop for folding. This ended up being a full laundry room / mud room remodel.
12. New exterior wall sconce for the front door.
13. Build a fence and add a gate. (Hoping to get this done in 2017!)
14. Lay down concrete pavers to the right side of the house for a driveway. (Hoping to get this done in 2017!)
15. Update some ceiling fixtures and bathroom lighting.
16. Decide on a color for the front door. I wanted a shade of blue but the husband is resistant.
17. Accent wall in the living room (this is going to be a good one but keeping it a surprise for now)
18. Replace the refrigerator with a stainless steel and energy efficient one.
19. Replace the stove and microwave with same as above.
20. Stucco the exterior of the house. (Hoping to get this done in 2017!)
21. Replace the toilet. (Definitely happening this year)
22. Updating light fixtures and outlets with nicer looking ones. (Be on the lookout for a before and after post soon!)
23. Add to our gallery wall with pictures of Mason.
24. Remove grass in backyard and replace with fake grass.
25. Plant flowers in the backyard and remove rose bushes.
26. Extend brick porch towards the driveway and add trellis for bougainvillea to continue to grow.
27. I’m sure there’s more….
From this list you can see that I really want to tackle the exterior this year (if possible). The siding of our house is just shot and I think the refresh to the exterior is much needed. I’ve been toying around with a lot of different ideas and here’s just one look I’m considering. Below is something I whipped up in Photoshop. What do you think?!
Any fun at home DIY projects you are currently working on or considering?
