One of the reasons for my starting a blog is the hope that it will help keep me motivated and accountable. I have made goals for my home for the past several years-and many of them remain undone.
In all fairness, some of the projects are really big and will take a really long time (painting kitchen cabinets). But with others, I’m just procrastinating. Sometimes it’s because I lack the skill but mostly it’s because I’m scared that I’ll screw up and burn my house down (jk-kind of). Really though, I’m afraid that I’ll start, get part way done and then get stumped. I don’t have a background in home repair/improvement and in general I’m not mechanically inclined. BUT……I have completed some projects-some that I was certain were out of my league and I learned a lot. The reality is the more I do, the more I learn and the more confident I become.
In 2015, I updated my guest bathroom kind of on a whim. My original intention was just to paint the cabinet. It was intended to be practice for painting the kitchen cabinets. But one thing led to another and another and another. Painting the cabinets led to changing out the faucet which led to removing the old steel plumbing and installing new braided plumbing lines which led to removing a mirror and putting up shelves which lead to changing out the flooring! Each step led to new challenges which led to new things to google and YouTube videos to watch. When all was said and done, I was pretty happy with the outcome. There are things that next time I would do differently and lots of mistakes made but that’s all part of the learning process.
I find that it is much more fun to do the decor stuff as opposed to the maintenance stuff!! However, I often feel really proud and accomplished when I work through the challenges of completing a maintenance project that keeps my home in good shape.
Painted file cabinet
However, I do believe that it is important to know how to fix stuff in your home. There’s nothing wrong with hiring out and if that’s in your budget and you have no interest in doing it yourself, then more power to you. Do it your way!! I have to watch my coins so if there are things that I can do or learn to do then I want to.
YouTube has become my best friend for learning. It’s actually a little scary what you can learn to do on YouTube and it’s also really helpful. I learned how to take down the mirror in the bathroom, change pipes and lay the flooring in my guest bathroom. These tasks are not hard for many people but for me it’s all brand new.
I’m going to present my (very ambitious) list but first I want to paint a picture of the conditions I’m working with.
WORK SPACE
- I live in a condo so no garage space which means I also can’t keep a ton of stuff stored away including tools and furniture.
- I do have a small balcony to work on as well as an extra bedroom that I use as a guest room/office. Let’s be perfectly honest, it’s also that space where EVERYTHING goes.
- I have carpet throughout my home so I have to be extra careful especially when painting-mostly because I am messy and clumsy!
- It’s just me doing the work so sometimes things get awkward or heavy & I have to find a workaround.
- I work full-time so time isn’t always on my side but it’s also not an obstacle. I can tear stuff up and just leave it because the only person it will annoy is me!
HOME GOAL LIST
MASTER BATH
- Change light
- Change floor
- Paint
- Paint cabinets
- Prepare a hole in the ceiling (from a leak)
MASTER CLOSET
- Paint
- Install Chandelier
HALLWAY
- Put photos in the frames
- Fix the bi-fold door (fallen off the track)
- Change paint color(maybe)
KITCHEN
- Paint cabinets
- Change out fluorescent light
LIVING ROOM
- Get a tv storage cabinet
GENERAL
- declutter, declutter, declutter!!!! This has been on my list several years as well. I’ve had some success but I lose steam. I’ve done much better in the past year of being more conscious about what I bring in my house. I’m not really interested in being a minimalist but I do want to have significantly less stuff.
This list is what I hope to accomplish moving forward. At this point, I don’t have a timeline mostly because I’m not sure what is reasonable. Clearly the kitchen is a huge undertaking and will take a good long while. This is not a weekend project!
I have to decide what I want to tackle first. When things get hard, I get frustrated and lose motivation and then lots of time passes so sometimes it’s helpful if I start small(ish), feel some success and develop more confidence.
I’ll let you know when I decide (and it will be soon).
