Happy New Year everyone! We hope you had an amazing holiday and some much-deserved time-off to take it all in! We really tried our best to unplug and be in the moment over the past two weeks, which has us feeling well rested and rejuvenated for what 2018 has in store. Anyone else ready for a fresh start?!

Home Goals

One of our favorite January traditions here on the DIY Playbook is sitting down to review our home goals from last year while making a new list of home goals for the year ahead. We refer back to these lists throughout the year because they help us prioritize which projects to research, plan, and do. You can view our home goals for 2017 in this post from last January.

Make a List

And quite honestly, we’re list people. So without a list to refer to we could quickly lose track of all the things we wanted to get accomplished at the beginning of the year. Whether you only have a few projects to get done this year (like Casey) or a very lofty list (like Bridget), we highly recommend sitting down and making a list. It provides some serious fulfillment when you can check something off of it. #ourfavoritepart

Casey’s 2017 Home Goals – 87% Complete

• DIY Closet Doors & Molding
• New Coffee Table in Family Room
• Fix Screen Door
• New Living Room Chair
• New Sectional
• Finalize Accessories in Family Room (DIY’ed this side table & added the Meural Art piece)
• Install Organizing System in our Guest Room Closet
• Replace Master Bedroom Ceiling Fan
• Finalize Style in Master Bedroom (new pillows & new bench)
• New Lighting in Master Bathroom
• Replace Appliances
• Install Touch Sensor Faucet in Kitchen

What I Didn’t Accomplish? 

I know I sound crazy, but I still haven’t found a new coffee table. Which is a shame because our current one has seen better days! I have my eye on this one from Crate & Barrel, but I’m waiting until it goes on sale (which hasn’t been for quite some time!). If it gets down to a good price, I’m planning to pull the trigger! I also didn’t get around to installing a new organizational system in our guest room closet…that will likely happen this year!

Casey’s 2018 Home Goals

My home goal list for 2018 is pretty short, and that’s because we are far along in our home journey here. We’ve done a lot of work to our small place over the past 2.5 years, and there’s only so much you can do to a 1,200 square foot space! Our big plan is to renovate the guest bathroom. Finn & I are working up the nerve to tackle it ourselves this spring. Eek. The tile floor in there has seen better days, so we think it’s time to give it a refresh. Our other big project will be re-staining our back deck in early summer. It hasn’t been done in years and it certainly needs it! Other than that, I’m just focusing on living more simply. Purging, organizing, and only filling our home with items that we absolutely love.

• Gut & Renovate Guest Bathroom
• Buy Coffee Table
• Install Guest Room Closet Organizer
• Organize Built-In Cabinets
• Organize Fauxdenza
• Stain Back Deck
• Replace Patio Furniture (it’s getting pretty weathered…)
• Purge & organize…everything!

Bridget’s 2017 Home Goals – 96% Complete!

• Demo the trim, window casings and all doors
• Add new trim, new doors, and new casing
• Install hardware on all doors
• Add can lights
• Change all outlets and light switches to white
• Paint… everywhere
• Restain the hardwood floors
• Remodel the Mudroom
• Install the Nest
• Powerwash the driveway, front porch steps
• Rip out all old/overgrown landscaping, clean up what’s left
• Take down large decorative pieces hanging on the home’s siding
• Rent a professional edger and edge the overgrown grass, give the lawn a little TLC
• Paint the front door (details coming this month!)
• Replace the furnace with a high-efficiency option
• Paint the floors and walls of the basement storage rooms
• Get mortar fixed on the front porch and some cracks in the bricks
• Replace the tile on the fireplace (details coming soon!)
• Get the dead tree outside cut down and replaced with a new tree
• Shiplap basement wall 
• Cover up doorbell indentation in the wall
• Move outlets to accommodate the future built-ins & mounted TV 
• Replace all floor vents & wall returns
• Replace backup battery for sump pump

Bridget’s Lofty Goals for 2018

My 2018 Home Goal List is a bit loftier than I (or my bank account) would prefer. BUT, buying a new house that needs some serious TLC comes with a lot of work up front, so Matt and I knew what we were getting ourselves into when we purchased the house. I definitely anticipate this first year to be the craziest and after that my hope is that our list will be smaller and more realistic. Here’s a very lofty list of what we want to tackle…. in the perfect world.

• Finish Nursery
• Furnish & Decorate the Family Room
• Get Family Room Built-ins Installed
• Furnish & Decorate the Dining Room
• Furnish & Decorate the Master Bedroom
• Get Blinds of some kind throughout the first floor
• Finish Decorating the Mudroom (Light fixture, rug, storage?)
• Organize closets, drawers, & cabinets so everything has a home
• Gut the Kitchen & Remodel it
• Update Tile and Vanity in the half bath off the kitchen
• Address the Basement Stairs
• Rip out old shrubbery & update landscaping
• New Paver Patio
• Paint Shutters and Garage Door
• Replace Back up Sump Pump Battery
• Eventually Baby Proof (without sacrificing a ton of our style… haha is that possible?!)

One Project at a Time

Needless to say, we have A LOT of work ahead of us! Looking at all we want to accomplish does feel a bit overwhelming (if we’re being completely honest) but we have an entire year to get it done. And even if we can’t get it all done, that’s totally okay! Hopefully, the list will keep us on-track to do as much as we can. And at the end of this year, that’s all we can really hope for, right? Whatever we do get done is probably more than we would’ve without a plan. That’s a win in our playbook.

Does anyone else make home goal lists?! If so, we’d love to hear what’s on your 2018 Goal List!

Bridget&Casey