That one time I took out our sink only to realize that the new sink I bought wouldn’t fit and neither would the two others I bought, so I had to put it back.
We have lived in our house for exactly ONE YEAR. Instead of working about what projects are on my to-do list, today is for looking back at all we’ve accomplished in the last year.
Here are all the things we did prior to starting the blog. You can read the details about each one in the original post.
Replaced the garage door.
Replaced the washer and dryer.
Replaced the dishwasher.
Replaced the toilet in the powder room, fixed the plumbing under the kitchen sink, and unclogged the drain from the kitchen sink with a 60’ pneumatic snake (we hired a plumber to do all of these things).
Redid most of the electrical outlets because they had reversed polarity and fixed the minor electrical problems from the inspection report.
Rodent remediation, crawl space entrances sealed and the insulation replaced.
Rug runner installed and steps painted.
Wisteria and arbor removed.
Four windows replaced.
Sink hole repaired and irrigation system fixed, water was leaking from buried pipes.
Tree removed and trees pruned.
Removed the sliding glass door on the bathtub.
Hot tub serviced: drained and cleaned.
Since March, when I launched the blog, we have done the following:
Sanded and stained our deck: A project I would not wish on my worst enemy.
Built a Trellis/Privacy Fence: By far my favorite new addition to our house.
We have planted the following trees: oxydendrum, lions head Japanese maple, two western hemlocks, seru Japanese maple, box leaf azara, two coral bark Japanese maples, magnolia, pine bark Japanese maple, Mexican redbud, Chinese elm and another drought tolerant tree that I can’t remember the name of. Learn how to properly plant a tree here.
We planted many new shrubs and perennials including climbing hydrangeas and jasmine (if you need ideas for climbing plants, here’s the most common to choose from).
Removed all the grass from our front yard and covered the entire yard with wood chips. We built two mounds and created planting beds. To be fair, our dear friend Caleb did a bunch of this work for us. I’ll share some photos of this soon. It doesn’t look great yet, but it will soon!
I built a compost bin and filled it with compost. Build your own!
Painted most of the stairway and upstairs hallway.
Completely renovated the basement bedroom and got a jumpstart on the basement living area. Post to come soon on this project that turned out to be so much fun and SO worth the work.
Rearranged the garage, opened up a space closed by the previous owner.
Removed the peninsula cabinets and opened up the kitchen.
Got a new refrigerator with an ice maker!
Installed a new Haiku ceiling fan in our bedroom.
Built a learning tower for the toddler.
Replaced the toilet paper hooks in both bathrooms (only worth noting because the originals were so horrible, so IG for the photo).
Here’s what we hope to get done in the next year:
Finish painting upstairs hallway. Replace all the doors and light fixtures in the hallway as well.
Install pendant lights, open shelves and replace the light fixtures in the kitchen. We have about ten inefficient recessed lights and I want to replace all of them with Philips Hue lights. See my post on all of our automated stuff.
Remove garage annex. There’s this weird annex built off our garage, for storage (maybe?), anyway, it has huge gaps and allows rats to come and go, which is not okay. Very unsexy project, but it has to be done. We also need to replace the man-door on the garage to keep rodents and bugs out. FUN!
Redo our upstairs bathroom. This room has gross linoleum, a pink tub and vinyl walls, ONLY ONE OUTLET, and a very weird vanity. I’m not doing the grossness justice, so you’ll have to trust me.
Redo the powder room. Same issues with this room, ugly vanity, ugly linoleum floors and a very annoying door. We hope to install a pocket door. Which is a crazy thing, but we’re gonna do it.
Update the office and make it cozy and a nice calming place to work.
Finish finishing the basement.
Future Projects:
Redo all the siding and windows on the house and garage.
Install an exterior entrance into the basement.
Remove the drop ceiling in the two small bedrooms, remove the wood paneling and install new light fixtures and paint.
Well, that was fun and made me feel a lot better about how much more we have to do. It takes time and we’re rolling with it!