Firmly settled into 2019, we’re starting to plan what we want to get up to this year. We’ve done a lot to our home over the last 18 months; we’ve built an extension, overhauled the spare room and sorted out both children’s bedrooms. Last year saw us makeover our garden, the final real eyesore from when we bought the house four years ago, before taking some quiet time as a family to welcome our new arrival. We love a good project (or at least, I do!) so you can guarantee that this year won’t be spent sat back and relaxing. Here are our home plans for 2019…

Inside

This year is all about the finishing touches. With every room decorated there or thereabouts, I want to actually finish things off. We ended last year by finally tiling the kitchen and utility (it only took us a year to do!) and now we can add some personality to each room. Whilst there are little bits to do in each room some of the main things I’m hoping to achieve this year are:

Sort the porch

We added it when we did the extension and rarely use it. We need to get a radiator installed to help cure the damp problem and then start thinking about making it a more useful space. I’m thinking more coat hooks, some better storage (including something the kids can sit on to take their shoes on and off and possibly even a mirror or give it a little personality. It’ll be nice to be able to use the front door rather than the side door all the time!

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Give The Lounge Some TLC

We decorated our lounge before we did the renovation work and it’s looking a little sad compared to the rest of the house. I’m tempted to replace the carpet but I think first we’ll try and use a carpet cleaner on it to get the many marks out (lesson to self: don’t buy a cream carpet with small kids and a brown dog!). Likewise the sofas; they’re around 8 years old and have quite a few marks on them. We don’t want to replace them just yet as I figure we may as well ride out the small child years but this year we’ll be getting them professionally cleaned and then investing in some new soft furnishings to brighten them up. Then we want to fit our mirror above the fireplace, put some shelves on the back wall and get some personality in there with trinkets, prints and photos.

Finish The Landing

Whilst all of the bedrooms need a sort at the same time, the stairs and landing are still looking as barren as the day they was painted. I don’t want to do too much as it’ll be ripped apart when we do phase two of the building work. We’ve lived for four years without blinds in the hallway or landing and the constant diving past the window in the mornings whilst semi dressed is getting a little old. This year I’ll be finally getting some blinds sorted as well as working through our photos and getting them put back up!

Outside

We gave our back garden a makeover last Spring which has given us a great blank canvas to work on. However, there’s still plenty of external work to keep us busy. Both Dave and I enjoy being out in the garden but with two small children it can be difficult to find the time to really get our teeth into a project out there! This year may be the year we have to give in and ask for a little help by using different gardening services; even if it’s just to help us reset everything back to a manageable state!

The Front Garden

A bit of a useless space, we’re not really sure what to do in the front garden. In the longer run, I want to put in some raised beds and prepare it for a log-style cabin to use as an office so we’ll be getting some garden quotes for that work. Our front garden is walled on two sides so that’s our task for this year; clear the beds out so that we can clean and re-paint the walls. It sounds like an easy task but I know it’ll take a while!

The Back Garden

Fairly sorted from last year, this year we want to put in some things to make it a little more toddler friendly. We’re keen to install a play house and/or slide and have earmarked the back corner which gets little sun and looks a bit dead underfoot. That means installing a different footing (we’re looking at bark chippings rather than a patio for child friendliness) and then finding something that will see him through from toddlerhood upward. Additionally we want to plant out the raised bed at the back of the garden, re-seed the grass and put in an extra gate to stop the kids from being able to go around the side.

Shed/Garage

The two major dumping grounds, this spring we’ve earmarked these two spaces for some general sorting. The garage needs to be cleared before we can start any further building work and whilst that’s not yet on the horizon, we can’t easily get in and out of there. How can one area hold so much junk? We’ll be installing some racking to hold tools and the bits and bobs a garage holds as well as bike hooks to hold the bikes out of the way. In the shed, we’ll be having a similar overhaul – I can feel a skip coming on! – before replacing the slightly rotten door with something prettier and more substantial.

And that’s it! I think that might be enough to keep us busy for the next eleven months, don’t you?