2018 Home Goals and Progress So Far

2018 has gotten off to a very busy start at our house! I dove head first into working on the basement. Projects that we have put off for years are now done and it feels so good!

The first thing we tackled was to rip out our old carpet on the stairs and replaster the walls. Whoever lived here before us textured over the original smooth plaster with a hideous deep (and sharp!) texture that was not only ugly but dangerous. Not long after moving in, our son was walking down the hall and running his hand along the wall. He literally cut his hand! We sanded down the points but haven't retextured them until now. The height of the stairway and the fact that it is steep is what has made me put it off for so long.

Shane got the high parts for me. It is nice to have a super tall husband. We ended up still needing a ladder. I have never been so glad to have a project done before!

 

 

I added a layer to fill in the deep texture and then when it was dry did some sanding to smooth it out a bit.

 

 

When we removed the carpet from the stairs, we discovered this green marble vinyl that is original to the house. Pretty sweet!

 

 

And speaking of 1930s vinyl, check out what was under the carpet in the first bedroom! It has a very Las Vegas casino vibe.

 

 

Since our old bedroom is now going to be a bedroom for a couple of our boys, that meant the stenciled ceiling had to go. It wasn't as traumatic as I thought to paint over it. It served us well for many years.

 

 

Once the room, stairway, and hallway were all painted, we installed new flooring. Since it is a basement and we have the washing machine and the water heater down there, we opted to choose luxury vinyl planks. I love the color! A nice medium brown with slight gray undertones.

It is from the Home Decorators line at Home Depot and the color is Highland Pine.

 

 

One of the bedrooms still has carpet and still needs to be retextured. Since we need a place for the kids to sleep while this is going on, they will stay in there until bedroom #1 is done. Then they will all have to move in to that one while #2 gets worked over.

Right now, I am currently building the beds that will go in here. Do you remember the industrial bed I built the cute neighbor boy? I am building the same bed for my oldest but adding a headboard. The other bed will be a loft type bed which is best described as a "modern fort". My son wanted a bed that could double as his hideout but I also needed to make it more modern (not too rustic) to fit the style of the rest of the space. I am hoping it all comes together as well as it does in my head.

I am using a black wood stain (Classic Black from Minwax) and while you can't tell from this hazy cell phone picture, it still shows the wood grain which is exactly what I wanted.

 

 

Moving forward, I will decorated the room once the beds are built. I have a few other DIY projects for the space that I am really excited about!

The hallway is getting some art and a new rug. The stairway will also have a big reveal as soon as I finish hanging the picture frames.

Then we will move on to bedroom #2 which will get the same flooring and I will build two more beds. It is such a long space (all 4 boys have shared it up until this point) that it will double as the playroom.

 

This is what we hope to accomplish in 2018:

Boy Bedroom #1 Makeover

Boy Bedroom #2 Makeover

Hallway Makeover

Stairway Makeover

Structural beam, windows, concrete work, and walls added to unfinished part of basement for the Master Bedroom

New Exterior Concrete Stairs Poured

New Flooring Upstairs

Finish Upstairs Shower

Painting Eaves and Trim on the Exterior

Shed added to Backyard OR Patio (I don't know if we will have time or money for both)

Family Room Refresh

Dining Room Refresh

 

Whew! I'd be happy if even ½ of this gets done. We will see how it goes, but I have to say that we are off to a good start :) What are your home goals for 2018? I'd love to hear!