The Year Ahead 2015

Image courtesy of krishna arts at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Usually, I don’t make New Year’s resolutions but I have been thinking about some of the ways I would like to improve our house in 2015. Until I find a new job (and maybe after) most of what gets done around the house will have to be low-budget or no-budget projects.

All of our home improvement focus and funds for the past 2 years have been devoted to getting the house painted. Now that’s finished, I think most of our home improvement energy this year will go toward finishing up exterior details like:

Finish painting the garage. Only the 2 most visible sides of our garage have been scraped and painted. I already have all the paint for this. I might have to buy some blades for the carbide blade paint scraper but that should be about the only expense.

Replace gutters with period-appropriate, half-round gutters. I have not even priced this so I don’t know if this is realistic for 2015.

New screen/storm doors for front porch and kitchen door. My husband wants to go with an old-fashioned wooden screen door, especially for the front porch. At less than $100 unfinished wood screen doors are a very cost-effective option. I have plenty of paint left over from painting the window sashes to paint them with.

Strip and repaint the front porch outside light fixture. This fixture appears to be original to the house and just needs a little spruce. It has had way too many coats of paint over the years and they need to be removed before the fixture gets a new coat of paint.

Do something about the foundation. The foundation of the house has been coated with some kind of textured paint or stucco. I’m not sure what it is but I know it is peeling off and needs to be re-coated with something.

Make over the front yard. The freshly painted house makes our crummy front yard look even crummier. Good thing it is about the size of a postage stamp because we need to remove all the old grass, level, and re-seed. We also need new landscaping in front of the house. And, maybe a tree. This project will likely take most of our home improvement budget for the year.

New front door. Our 1929 Craftsman style house has a 1950’s Mid-Century Modern style front door. I have a new door on my wish list.

Inside, I will continue to work on de-cluttering, organizing, cleaning, and other projects that I can do without spending a lot. 

The inside of the house could use some freshening up and it would be nice if I could do at least one room this year. Most rooms just need some paint and a few tweaks. The bathroom is the exception. It is horrible and needs to be completely remodeled. I don’t even dare dream about getting this done. Not only is it the most expensive project that needs to be tackled but it is the most inconvenient as well because it is our only bathroom.

Here's to 2015 and making our house a better place to live.