New House Eyes

“Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do… but how much love we put in that action.”
-Mother Theresa

I feel like a new year gives you a fresh perspective, almost like the fresh vision you get when you walk through your brand new house for the first time.  Home buyer eyes where you can see the perfect shade of white on the wall that is currently dark green or an area that is just calling for built ins.  Maybe it is a space that isn’t even finished yet, but has potential.

When the tree is whisked away and the floors vacuumed and there is this HUGE space that once was taken up by twinkly fairy lights and presents. For some reason, when all the pomp and pageantry of Christmas is put back in their boxes; a new reality of our home (post Christmas emerges).  Does anyone else feel the same?

The other day, I was taking some photos of the living room and I looked into my bare dining room and the sunlight just looked so gorgeous in there.  Decorated with only a few flowers from the grocery store the space just seemed so fresh.

So inviting.

In an undecorated, simple way.

As I stood there, it got me thinking about my home goals.  What were those things that I first saw when we entered the house that I wanted to change or make slightly better?

Since moving in, we’ve decorated A LOT.  We’ve redone the dining room, Conor’s room, sunroom and the guest room.

The living room is still not done despite painting it a year ago.  I still don’t have enough furniture for the area where the fireplace is so I think we might invest in two more of the Jenny Lind white chairs from Ikea and move some furniture around from other parts of the house.

I’m a list person so thought I’d make a list of some areas we want to tackle this year.  Not sure if it will all get done (actually know it won’t due to things that come up with an old house).

Some House Goals for 2015

• Paint a secretary for the living room (fireplace section of room) and get some white chairs from Ikea.  I’d like this to feel like a little seating area.  Imagine Downton Abbey how they chat over tea.
• Build a TV console for the living room.
• Hang some images up in our bedroom.
• Add to our family wall gallery in the hall.
• Transform the 2nd floor office into a creative room for myself.  This will include painting the walls, installing a chandelier, finding some shabby chic curtains and as a French style chair.  This will also include some creative storage for crafts.
• Paint the vanity in our bathroom.  It is gold right now and I think I’d like to change the color a bit to make it look more cottage-y.
• Start looking into counters / backsplashes for the kitchen.  We probably won’t get to installing it this year though.  Also start thinking of wall color / cabinet color.  Our current kitchen is yellow.  If you read the blog often then you know I like neutrals and blue much better 😉
• TIDY the basement and make it a little prettier down there.  If that is possible.  It is “my studio” and is currently a gray unfinished basement with some cobwebs and LOTS of furniture.
• Plantings for the front yard – something that would be good for shade, roses for the trellis on the side of the house.
• Building raised beds to grow our own vegetables this summer.  Our container garden on the deck wasn’t a HUGE success due to lack of sun.
• Our current shed is rotting inside and isn’t really big enough to store bikes and some other items.  We’d love to build a new one and give it a coastal feel complete with window boxes to match our house.

So do you feel the same?  Do you feel like your house feels completely new and wonderful and that you can envision change?  What are your home goals for 2015?