Along with setting personal and professional goals for the new year, Jake and I sat down and talked through what house projects we want to tackle in 2023. This will be our first full year in the house, and I’m SO excited for all the DIY projects we’re planning (and a few where we’ll have to hire the professionals). So here’s to lots of fun adventures, learning new skills, and celebrating every project along the way!

1. Study + Workout Room Renovation

This room was a garage conversation done at least 10 years ago, before the prior owner. The floors slope 6 inches (!) from the back to the front of the room, and the floorboards are splitting apart. Other than that, the room is in great shape with tons of natural light. Our plan is to level and replace the floors, add built-ins to the “study” side of the room along with a wall-to-wall desk space, wallpaper the ceiling, remove the can lights and replace them with a chandelier, and create storage for our workout accessories like our free weights and yoga blocks.

2. New Floors (across the first floor)

We’re really sad to have to say goodbye to our beautiful original 1940s hardwoods, but they are in truly terrible shape. For example, if you spill a glass of water, the water trickles down into the basement – so we can’t finish the basement until there are new floors. There are also lots of nails sticking up that catch on our socks all the time. We’ll use the same luxury vinyl planking that we use in the study + workout space, which will be great for the pool since LVP is waterproof!

3. Kitchen Renovation Part 1

This will likely be a multi-year project and how much we can do will depend on our budget over time. Ideally, we’d completely renovate the kitchen with new countertops and backsplash, a new farmhouse sink, a new counter-depth fridge, and new floors. At this point, though, none of that is in the works. In 2023 we plan to brighten up the dark and drab space by resurfacing the cabinets and painting them white – or maybe doing a two-toned look with a light, earthy green for the lower cabinets?! We’ll also add open shelving for extra storage and install a new, airtight side door with glass to bring in more natural light! I can’t WAIT to see how this turns out.

4. New Attic Insulation

Our A/C was running CONSTANTLY this summer so we’ll be redoing our attic insulation to make our home more energy efficient.

5. Front + Side Yard Landscaping

This really needs no explanation. We are the most “rugged” house on the block right now and the lawn isn’t properly graded, plus we have several trees lining our property that are technically weeds and need to be taken down. I am so excited to plant a tree on the corner, bushes out front, and juniper trees along the side of the house. And I know Jake is JAZZED for a real, green lawn. If the budget allows, we’ll also put in a new driveway.

6. Adding closet storage and organizing the basement.

We don’t have a ton of storage in this house, but the storage we do have isn’t well-constructed. We’ll start by installing wire shelves to both the primary and upstairs guest room closets to add storage. Then we’ll head down to the basement where we’ll add shelving in the closets downstairs and figure out how to best store our holiday decor, snowboarding gear, keepsakes, Poshmark selling area, etc. I can’t wait to get organized!!!

7. Beautifying the linen closet

Our linen closet is just meh and the shelves are currently sporting some weirdly patterned leftover shelf liners. The plan is to add some pretty wood shelving just to elevate it.

8. The DREAM (that we probably won’t get to unless we win the lottery): starting the primary bathroom renovation!

This probably will not happen in 2023, but our bathroom is in desperate need of a full renovation. My vision for this small space is to remove all the existing wall tile, replace the shower/tub with a standing glass-enclosed shower to really make the space look bigger, replace the vanity to add storage, swap out the light fixture, and install a medicine cabinet to create more storage. I think this bathroom will need to stay fairly light and bright with paint colors since it’s so small. And, as much as I’d love to do wallpaper, I generally don’t think it’s a good idea in a space that gets so much humidity (peeling wallpaper, anyone?). We shall see when all of this actually comes to fruition!

I promise to share everything along the way – especially all the DIY tutorials! Can’t wait to bring you along!!