the honey-do list.

It’s been a little over 5 years since we built our house. At the time, we had a 3 year old, and another one very much on the way. In fact, we moved in 1 month before she was born and we broke a cardinal rule of ‘moving in before we were finished building’.

Our home is a modular (you can learn more about that process here) . And one thing we learned in building is to expect the unexpected. The budget we had for home ‘aesthetics’ instead got sucked into a well that went wayyyyy over initial cost because we had to dig so deep, lots of digging and grading because our home was plopped in a hay field, and septic pump issues. So in order to come in close to our original budget, we had to skimp on other cosmetic areas of the house – the ones that we knew, some day, we could come back in and change.

I think, in reality, lots of homeowners do the same sort of thing. Owning a house is very much a process in watching it evolve into a home that makes you feel comfortable, safe, and, well, home.

We’ve made a few little changes over the last couple of years, including finishing our porch and landscaping to hide all of the clay mud 🙂 But we’d like to SLOWLY start our ‘glow-up’ plans on the inside, too. And by slowly, I mean as we save up for each project. Maybe that’s why it’s taking us a little while, but we’ve been pretty adamant about saving up for one project at a time.

So what’s on our long-term glow up list?

Kitchen backsplash. Yep. We were those people who moved in without finishing our kitchen. We said we would do it within a month or two of moving in, and here we are 5 years later with grease spots on the walls. This one is (fingers crossed) the first on our list, and hopefully happening during our fall break. I think we’ve decided to try peel and stick tile for a quick update since we do plan on changing out our countertops within the next 5-10 years.

Boys bedroom. My oldest son’s bedroom literally hasn’t been touched since we moved in. He still has primed sheet rock with no paint, and the most random mix of hand-me-down furniture. We’ll be joining both boys together later this year in the same room, so this is another project that’s on top of the list. We’re imagining a fresh coat of paint, new furniture, and new decor for the both of them.

New front door. I am obsessed with natural light. My sister in law makes fun of me because of all of the windows we have (with no blinds or sleep shades). We got a standard, builder’s grade front door with our house and I feel like it makes the entry of our house so dark. We have a beautiful view where we live and I would love to open that up with either some double farmhouse doors or a single, open door.

‘Faux’ Fireplace. I LOVE a fireplace. I grew up with one in my house and living in the mountains, they can be pretty necessary. We found that out last year during a snowstorm when we lost power and heat. We have no chimney, but we want to do gas logs with a fireplace ‘face’ that goes up to our ceiling. We’d like to mount our television over top and I’m thinking that a white-washed brick would look great.

Downstairs ‘office’. Our youngest sleeps in our spare downstairs room that has been a catch-all for the most random assortment of things over the last 5 years. Most recently, it’s served as his bedroom, but that will change when he moves upstairs with his brother. I can’t wait to get my hands on that room and actually do something with it. I’d love to have an office space in there, as well as a pullout couch or daybed for our overnight visitors.

Upstairs built-in. We have an odd-shaped play/tv room between the bedrooms upstairs. For now, it houses lots of toys, old furniture, and a refinished 1970s tv stand that looks entirely too small for the wall. We envision a built-in cabinet/tv stand that runs the entire length of the wall. I think it would anchor our space and give us much needed storage!

Those are our 6 biggest inside projects we’d like to tackle first. I’d also add some small furniture upgrades/room refreshes along the way. I’m not even ashamed to admit it, but most of our furniture pieces are hand-me-downs/thrift finds and some we’ve had since our college days! Our bedroom dresser was a $10 yard sale find when Ben was in college. Ha!

I’m excited to share some of our small progress along the way. I fully expect on taking our sweet time with this and making sure we have enough money saved up for each project in advance, so stay tuned!