Yearly Report Card: 2015

We have made it a tradition around here to make a post in the first week of the year about what projects we’d like to get done over the course of the year--2016's is coming up next week! They are our very favorite to look back on (and sometimes laugh about) because although we have a general plan and timeline of things to do, it rarely happens that way. The second part of that tradition is to look back at that post and the projects we had planned and see how we did and report back at the end of the year. Here we go! (I’ve put the text from January 5, 2015′s post in italics for reference sake.)

1. Laundry Room/Mudroom--Instead of the long laundry room and small half bath that is currently there, we’ll be moving our laundry to the wall where the 4th bathroom was and put a wall of lockers, mudroom style, opposite that. We’ll tear the wall down that is currently enclosing the bathroom keeping that area more open. 

And here's what that area looked like at the beginning of this year...

And now...

Cha-check!!!! The 4th bathroom and wall got demo'd and we made it a laundry space in the spring. Opposite that, we ditched the original idea of a "wall of lockers" and implemented a coat closet in the fall. You can read about the laundry room here. And the coat closet finishes here.

2. A Walk-in Pantry! The plan is to make a doorway to the new pantry (where the washer and dryer are currently) to the left of the current standing pantry. It will provide easy kitchen access to our pantry staples, but also some small appliances and a chest freezer we’re planning on putting on the back wall. The plan now is to recess a full refrigerator (no freezer) with some surrounding cabinetry where the standing pantry is right now. 

Here's what that area looked like at the beginning of this year and now:

You can see that we ditched the original idea chest freezer idea for a matching upright to the all refrigerator in the kitchen. The pantry was our last major project of the year in late fall and it makes so much sense for our lives. I can't believe a year ago, it didn't exist! Read more about the pantry and see a lot more photos right here.

3. Kitchen remodel! As of now, we have planned an extra wide gas range going where our current electric is with a big enclosed hood above it. A new window to the right of the range to reflect the one on the left. The sink will move to the center of the left hand side with the smaller window to the left centered above it and glass-front cabinets surrounding it. A recessed all refrigerator where the standing pantry currently is with cabinetry surrounding it. Lots of large pull out drawers for base cabinets. An expanded island with a couple stools on the end, instead of the side. For colors and finishes, we’re thinking black cabinets with gold hardware, white stone countertops around the perimeter and a chunky butcher block top for the island.

Here's what the kitchen looked like at the beginning of this year and now:

While our ideas changed a little bit over the course of the renovation (mostly just ditching the glass-front cabinets), we get a big A+ for this goal. The kitchen renovation took us 7 weeks over the course of our late summer/early fall after planning every detail for a year and a half. We still feel like we're settling in to our new kitchen (is this real life!?) and recently shared a video tour of how we organized all the cabinets. To read more about the kitchen reno, click here.

4. Tackle the Master Closet. Um, F. F-. I thought I would have time to squeeze this one in, but it's still as disorganized as ever. We don't have a ton of clothes (we purge and donate every season), but there are no drawers or places for underwear, or socks or even pants. This is high on our list for next year. It's gotta be!

5. Master Bedroom. Our bedroom did get some attention this year! We're not completely done with it (spoiler: the ugly ceiling fan is still there!), but we made some intentional furniture purchases and added some art and painted. Here's how it looked at the beginning of this year and now.

You can read more about our bedroom here.

6. Finish the stairwell. Including tearing up the carpet, laying new flooring, hanging a new light and some art, too. We didn't get around to tearing up the carpet and laying new flooring, but we did swap out the light and add some family photos.

I actually had to go back and check the archives because I didn't remember that happened this year. What a year! This area will get more attention in 2016. I'm not 100% on the photos here anymore (maybe some paneling a la our last living room?) but I'm going to let it evolve in the new year.

Those were our predictions for 2015 and for the most part, we stuck to the plan. I'm updating our house tour this week (yikes, so outdated!) and working on a house tour so you can see how everything else has progressed and I'll be back next week with 2016's plans! It's going to be another great big year around here.