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.
2. Install a stair runner: A+
What we completed: Everything! This project is totally done and has been great. We pretty much just followed this tutorial from Young House Love and thought it was a very easy project.
What’s still left: We may try to figure out a way to make the staples less shiny; when the light shines on them, the staples are a little more noticeable than I’d like.
3. Organize and clean out the junk room spare bedroom: A+
What we completed: Everything! The room was totally cleared out, and we’ve made it into a nice temporary playroom. Eventually, we’ll move Scott’s office to the basement, move the playroom to Scott’s office, and move Jamie into the spare bedroom.
What’s still left: Nothing! However, we plan to work on the office/playroom/bedroom swap this year, so we’ll definitely still be working on this room in 2021.
4. Finish installing baseboards: C+
What we completed: We (and by we I mean 100% Scott) installed baseboards in the dining room, main bedroom, upstairs hallway, and living room. Although not technically in 2020, Scott also finished installing the office baseboards a few days ago.
What’s still left: We need to install the baseboards in the playroom and the downstairs hallway. After that, we (I) need to fill and finish the trim basically everywhere.
5. Finish the deck: A
What we completed: The deck is completely finished and SO great! (See our blog post about it here.) We finished it at the perfect time, in early March, so we’ve gotten plenty of use out of it, since we’ve been at home a LOT since then.
What’s still left: We have one screw that we need to grind down (although it’s hardly noticeable). We may also stain the support structure gray to match the rest of the deck.
6. Clear out the side yard and prep for an eventual garden: B+
What we completed: We finished-ish tearing out all the old vegetation, and then promptly decided to build our garden in the backyard instead of the side yard.
What’s still left: We still need to grind down some of the larger stumps and lay down some black plastic to totally kill the weeds. Since our garden won’t be going here, being walkable is sufficient for now. Our eventual plans for this space may include an espalier tree or two, or perhaps just some stepping stones and pea gravel so there’s a nice walking path from the front yard to the back.
7. Fix the falling retaining wall: D
What we completed: Nothing yet. Scott has cut back some of the vegetation and removed blocks and dirt as they fall. However, we did decide to get this professionally re-done instead of DIYing. We will be working with a company that will re-build the wall using our existing materials (after installing a French drain so it doesn’t fall again). Since they’ll re-use our existing block, it will actually save us money compared to what it would cost us to DIY a new wall. (I will be sure to share info once it’s completed if we have a good experience!)
What’s still left: Everything! This will be on our project list for 2021 but we don’t have to do any of the work which makes it an easy (albeit not cheap) project!
8. Finish the master bedroom and closet: A-
What we completed: We sanded and finished the closet floors, took out and patched the old closet, painted the closet and trim, and installed a new closet system. As a bonus, we also completely refreshed the room with new furniture and decor!
What’s still left: We still need to paint and add frosted glass film to the closet doors and then re-hang them. We may also paint the window trim and install some window treatments!
9. Prep to build Scott’s office downstairs: D
What we completed: Almost nothing. We have been working on installing all our baseboards which is the first major hurdle to emptying this room. We’ve also started some planning and budgeting. To be fair, we knew it was unlikely we’d actually get to this in 2020.
What’s still left: Everything! We didn’t make much progress on this in 2020, but we are hoping to finish the entire room in 2021!
10. Refresh the powder bathroom: C
What we completed: We patched all the drywall (twice), replaced the toilet tank (twice), covered the giant ceiling hole (twice), painted, and added some art. (A leak in the ceiling derailed our progress for a bit.)
What’s still left: We’ve already purchased all the materials, but still need to add the wallpaper and replace the light and faucet. All the white walls you see in this space will eventually get this fun shiplap wallpaper. (Fun fact: there is currently no light at all in this room which means it’s essentially unusable after like 4:30PM right now.)
And there you have it! We definitely didn’t get everything done that we had hoped, but we’ve been really happy with the progress we made this year! This is your friendly reminder that DIYing a renovation often is SLOW. (Especially if you’re living in the home and especially if you have kids.) Scott and I also just talked about how the projects that we did complete have made a large positive impact – so we’re happy! There are some really fun new projects on our list for 2021, and we’ll hopefully finish up most of the projects that didn’t quite get finished in 2020.