THE LIST: Home Projects coming up for 2024
There is a part of me that hates sharing “The List” - the list of planned or hopeful home projects & repairs - because as anyone knows, PLANS, especially home restoration plans, are subject to change! Regardless of my discomfort, making a plan is a very real & necessary step to progress and in the effort of sharing my process (and because many of you vote for me to share in Stories) I am happy to paint the picture for you. I am also delighted that you got me to mood board it all out of my brain and onto paper!
The boring bits …
First up is, you all know it because I’ve already chatted a bit about this on IG, organizing & cleaning out. Over the 2 years since we moved, we have allowed certain rooms to be the “storage” and stash spots away from baby/toddler hands, waiting for a spare minute to deal with it all (which never happens). So as we finish off the final projects in this house those spots must be dealt with - and I’m so excited to purge excess collected over the course of 5 years & 3 homes. Like I said, the boring bits.
brick Feature wall & fireplace Update
First on the agenda is this minor but messy project. Our MCM home features the typical brick feature wall, that unfortunately has been defaced by years of bad mortar repairs. To even & overall lighten the appearance, I will be using a technique known as German Smear (sounds charming, right? LOL) to “refinish” the overall mortar job. However to respect the pale pink of the bricks, we are going to tint the mortar to be a cream/blush color rather than the standard gray or stark white.
Front door Update
This project has been a long time coming! I have been scheming an update to the front & back doors since we moved in, and I am so excited to be so close to the finish line with this. We recently sourced 2 GORGEOUS vintage 1950s solid wood unpainted (previously stained) doors from another renovation project in our area - such a win! However, this presents us with an interesting set of options for how to update the look of our front entryway.
OPTION #1
The classic paint job I had been envisioning up to now for our front door. I love how a dusty blue looks with brass or gold hardware, and absolutely adore this shade of blue - Labradorite from SW.
option #2
Due to the fact that our new vintage doors are unpainted, we are strongly considering leaving them unpainted and enjoying that gorgeous wood finish. This is a luxury most people aren’t afforded (most doors are already primed when you buy them or are metal) & we feel very privileged to have this option.
I love the relaxed, old world feel of the wood finish. Thinking longterm, I imagine it will always “go” with whatever colors any future owners might choose for the house. We have also learned from experience how hard it is to go back to the wood after something has been painted multiple times, and we would prefer to approach our design choices with an eye on the future of the house.
Thoughts???? I’ll be putting up a poll on IG for you all to let me know.
kitchen refresh
Welcome to the restoration project that has had me paralyzed with doubts and just the sheer scope of it all. Here’s the thing - our entire kitchen aught to be gutted. Just start over. It is a room that is just layers of bad ideas & bad work on top of “what the heck?” moments - everything from the layout to the plumping has either needed work or is in need of work. However, a complete remodel is simply not in the cards for us. So, what do you do then? You make the best of it.
One of the biggest things I have had to let go is the idea of fully painting this kitchen a new color, or stripping it back to the wood - the size of the job is just too big for our bandwidth right now. The kitchen, as of now, has been over painted in a stark hospital white paint. In the interest of refreshing, I plan to go bit by bit and sand, then paint over with a slightly warmer white - Cottage White by Behr, the same white I used in various other spots in this house.
We also are planning on mounting wood bead board panelling up on the exposed wall, though we are still undecided if we will stain & leave a raw wood finish or paint Cottage White like everything else. I adore this part of the project and can’t wait for it to go up! Top it all off with new brass hardware for a warm gilded finish.
guest room remodel
This sweet project is still swirling around in my imagination and will be the last one we tackle this spring. As of now, I am determined to paint the room one of my favorite green paint colors - Copper Patina by Behr. Otherwise, everything else is TBD. . . but I’m sure you can see a few hints of my plans from the mood board.
