Welcome to 2023! Every year, my husband and I sit down and review all the big projects we would like to accomplish in the new year. This year is no exception! We are dubbing this year ‘The year we get organized!’ Why, you ask? We moved into this home 1.5 years ago and still have moving boxes in various rooms that still need to be unpacked because we don’t have anywhere to put the items! So this year, we’re tackling our biggest organizational issues on our 2023 Project list. I am so excited to share them (and even some concept renderings!) with you! P.S. These are in no particular order.

indoors:

1. Finish the primary bedroom renovation

We started this project in October last year, and it came to a skidding halt! Every year I tell myself renos around the holidays are a terrible idea, but somehow, I always forget…. (hah!) We did manage to install a couple of new wall sconces before taking a break for the holidays, so that counts for something, right? However, we’ve decided to put this project on the backburner for now so we can renovate the boys’ bedroom. So, we’ll pick this project back up after that!

2. Paint door trim & baseboards

These never seem to end… and they are my least favorite things! Last year we installed all new baseboards and trim throughout the house and never painted them. Just plopped them on up there and walked away! So slowly but surely, I’ll get around to filling nail holes and painting them.

3. Boys bedroom renovation

I am so excited about this one! The boys share a bedroom, and right now, it is the worst layout. Zero organization. No storage space. No closet space (well, there is a closet. It’s just blocked by nightstands, a toy box, hot wheels tracks, and a TV). This is the first major project we’ll tackle this year because it’s so desperately needed. We have a basic idea of what we’ll do to the space, as you can see in the above concept rendering. However, it may change a bit since we want the boys to make most of the final design decisions – it’s their room, after all!

4. Living room dresser flip & DIY tv console

Remember those boxes I was talking about earlier? We have a multiple moving boxes of board games, video games, and DVDs sitting on the living room floor because we have nowhere to store them! So, we’re going to take an old dresser and we’re going to flip it into a storage console cabinet giving our board games a forever home. We’re also going to build a much larger TV console to store all our video games and movies!

5. Office renovation

Here’s another project that I am stoked for! If you’ve been following along in our newsletter, you probably know that I work from home, and periodically so does my husband. I have a workspace – desk, pens, printer, and all that jazz. He… plays musical chairs between the couch, the dining room, and a fold out table because he doesn’t have a dedicated workspace. We originally were going to build two separate offices; however, we’ve decided sharing an office would work much better for us and our family long-term! This means this renovation has been bumped up on the priority list and is permanently on the books for this year! Woot, woot!

6. Organizing All the Closets

Do you have a large closet with 0 functional storage space? We have 4! The bare-bones shelving in these closets is an organizational nightmare, so all four of these bad boys are getting facelifts this year!

outdoors:

7. Garden build version 2.0

In case you missed our 2022 garden build, don’t fret! Our original garden plan ended up being a disaster. (Dogs = destroyed plants. Garden turned jungle. Too large of beds. You can read all about why it didn’t work here.) So this spring, we’ll be revamping the design for the garden and crossing our fingers it works out better than last year. Stay tuned!

8. Expand outdoor fencing & build some gates

When you live on acreage but have dogs that would run off without a fence, the fencing projects never seem to end! We’ve been tossing around expanding our fenced yard area a bit further, which is still up for debate this year (“How much money do we really want to spend on fencing?”). However, we’ll build and install permanent gates to replace the temporary ones we have that are nothing more than extra fencing held into place with straps.

9. Build a fire pit area

Who doesn’t want a fire pit area? Can you say smores? What about beers around the fire with good friends? Spooky stories? When the weather warms up, we’ll put in a fire pit area! We’re thinking of an octagonal sand pit with room for the fire pit and chairs, fully equipped with patio lights for ambiance, and a cute fence so the dogs don’t destroy it.

10. Outdoor gaming area

If you haven’t caught on yet, we’re big gamers, and outdoor games are our jam! We’re planning to add a dedicated spot in the yard for outdoor games like horseshoes, cornhole, and yardzee. We’ll also add some string lights so we can play into the wee hours of the night (and by wee, I mean 10pm, haha!)!