Category: home

2021 Home Projects: 9 Things on Our List

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I’m coming at you almost halfway through the year to tell you about our home project list for this year (oops). With baby number 2 on the way(!), we are hoping to get the majority of these projects done by the end of July (which I am not doing the math on because I know that seems impossible). This is a really exciting year for home projects because it will really wrap up all but a few projects (the kitchen and bathrooms will be future projects and probably won’t happen for a few more years). It’s been so fun to watch our house come together and I can’t wait for things to slow down a bit after these projects are done.

I’ve included some notes for each project on where we are now; while we didn’t have anything done on these projects at the beginning of the year, we have made some good progress already! I’ve included a few photos that I just snapped on my phone today, to give an idea of our very current progress on each project.

1. Rebuild Retaining Wall

Our retaining wall was already falling down when we bought our house in 2018, and it didn’t get any better from there. We ended up hiring out this project, which was GREAT – and one of only a handful of projects we’ve paid someone else to do on our house! We used a company that specializes in retaining wall rebuilds, which ended up saving us money. Since they were able to re-use all the natural stone block we already had, we only paid for labor.

Where we stand now:

  • The wall has been re-built – and looks great!

What still needs to be done:

  • Nothing for the wall itself!
  • We may add some additional landscaping or another row of blocks.
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2020 Home Projects: What We Did (and What We Didn’t)

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At the beginning of 2020, Scott and I came up with a list of home projects we wanted to complete. (If you haven’t read our original 2020 house projects post, click here to read that first! You can also find every home-related blog post here.) Today, I’m sharing our “Report Card” for that list: what we got done, what we didn’t, and what grade we’d give ourselves for the work we’ve done so far. I’m also sharing some before and after photos; most show what the space looked like early in 2020 compared to now. (Some photos will be from when we completed the project and a few I took in the past few days!) Later this month, I’ll be sharing what projects are on our list for 2021!

1. Finish the kitchen pantry and doorway: B

What we completed: We finished and painted the pantry and installed the pantry shelves. We prepped the doorway for trim and installed the casing and trim on the dining room side of the doorway. As a bonus, we also painted the kitchen door and replaced the light fixture!

What’s still left: We still need to install the kitchen-side trim and fill and finish all the trim. The pantry doors also need to be installed. The trim work should be pretty quick, but we have never hung a new door before, so that part may be a bit of an adventure.

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Small Bedroom Organization: How to Cut Clutter and Maximize Storage

MichelleLeave a comment

A few months ago, we decided to tackle our master bedroom closet, which snowballed into a complete room refresh. (As all home renovation projects tend to do.) Before we finished decorating, we did several things to cut clutter and increase storage. Today, I’m sharing the simple ways I ensure our small main bedroom keeps feeling minimal and calm. Read on for all my best small bedroom organization tips (and see some photos of our almost-finished bedroom)!

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