Every year I share what I have planned for our home. And for my 2021 house projects and goals, I have to be honest and say there isn’t much. The word of the year is probably going to be paint. Lots of paint projects planned but not a lot of big DIYs or room renovations. We have done so much to our house in the last six years and in 2020 I really starting feeling like our home reflected us and my design style. So there’s are no plans to change that anytime soon.
This year more than ever, I really want to keep everything low cost. I shared about my year of less and really want to stick with that. I set myself a DIY budget of $50 for each month. So with that, I can do a lot with paint. I’m excited to see what I can accomplish and challenge myself.
WHOLE HOUSE
- purge & organize
- update paint on window trim & baseboards
- finish uncompleted areas/projects
- paint the ceiling a bright white
- repaint the front door
This list for the whole house is a reoccurrence every year, not just for 2021 house projects and goals. Purging and organizing are never-ending. And to be honest I’ve never got around to painting all the baseboards. Or those uncompleted areas – baseboards missing from closets and door trims that need to be fixed. But the biggest project will be painting the ceiling a bright white to match the paneled walls and trim in the rest of our home. In the picture above, you can see the difference in color from the ceiling to the bright white paneled wall.
I also need to repaint our front door. It’s currently painted New Black by Valspar but appears navy blue sometimes. So I would like to repaint it Dark Kettle Black. A dream would also be to paint the exterior of our house a lighter color but obviously, that will not fit into my monthly budget for this year.
KITCHEN
- finish toe kicks and trim
- new appliances
- quartz countertops
- backsplash
- DIY upper cabinets
Working a lot from home last year, I finally felt like I had the time to start on the kitchen. I’ve already finished the open shelving and painting the cabinets white. As well as replacing the over-the-range microwave and building a new vent hood. I still need to finish the toe kick and trim on the end cabinets. Then when I’m ready I will figure out the upper cabinets to build to the ceiling.
As I shared before, this kitchen will be done in phases. And I’m only on phase one. I’d still love to replace the countertops, add a backsplash, and get new appliances. And I actually have new plans for when all of that happens. While painting the cabinets drastically improved our kitchen, it is still not the kitchen I want it to be.
MASTER BATHROOM
- paint vanity
- fix shower
- update the mirrors
Our master bathroom has been on the list for years. In 2020, I was able to finish up the tile and somewhat fix the floor tile. The last step is to paint the vanity and fix parts of the shower grid. I painted it years ago using this tutorial. Well, now some of the paint is chipping off at the bottom. So I don’t really recommend this DIY. And another painting project is the mirrors. The finish has worn off a little bit so some Rub n Buff should do the trick.
MASTER CLOSET
- organization
- custom shelving
- lighting
- paint
This is an easy project that just involves adding an upper shelf for more storage, some purging, and organizing. Our closet is just fine and not big enough for a lot of customizations. Plus I keep my clothing pretty minimal. But I do want to paint it all a bright white and maybe paint the rods black. It is still the builder grade creamy white and would look great updated to match the rest of our home.
LAUNDRY ROOM
- paint
- add more storage
- tile the floor
Again lots of paint for these 2021 house projects and goals, even in the laundry room. I will be painting the walls a bright white as well as the cabinets. I have some cabinet paint leftover from the kitchen project and will use that. I would also like to remove the faux shiplap and add more storage with a large cabinet. I saved one from the kitchen when I removed it for open shelving. And I will need to paint that too. I would also like to give our laundry barn door an update and paint it black. I think this way it will look a little more modern and less farmhouse. In the future, I would still like to tile the floors and add a sink. But for this year I am keeping it low cost with just paint.
Of course, there are days and sometimes even weeks where I dream about moving into a new house. I browse Realtor.com daily and create design plans in my head of what I would do for each house. I don’t think that it’s because I dislike my house or anything like that, it’s just my personality. I love designing so much that I just love to do it more and more. And even if I was living in my dream house, I would always be updating and improving it.
