Well I have some plans, but I've already discussed them with my hubby, so should I tell them?

Granite counter tops in the kitchen...sssshhhhhhh....

Moving. I hope.

For now, painting the entire interior of the house so it's no longer BandAid flesh pink.

If we're able to buy it as we hope to this summer, our first & immediate project upon closing will be to rip out the 11 yr old cream builder grade carpets (owners raised 2 boys from birth to when they moved last year & we have our 2 toddlers...so you can just imagine the state of this carpeting).

Will start scouring here & the internet for a good-priced, good-looking laminate that will stand up to a 300 lb wheelchair.

With that old saying of "good, fast, cheap - pick any two" - I'm hoping that we can come in "good & cheap" since nothing has to be done quickly. :D

What I haven't told DH yet: I want to rip out all the ugly brush in front of the house & have at least the front trim of the house painted (which surprisingly the owners gave us permission for even though we didn't ask nor do we plan on while we're just leasing).

I want to move my son from his smaller room into my college aged daughters room (much larger and he is only 13.) Then I want to transform his bedroom into a soft pink room. I already have a wonderful brass bed that my parents picked up in England. I'd like to bring a French Country flair to the room. I'm not sure where to start and what pieces to put in there due to space constraints. I also have to convince my DD that it will be a lovely bedroom for her to swap with her brother.

Also, our downstairs guest room needs some furniture. It's painted Gustavian Grey and I have an iron bed in there already and some blue plates on the wall as a starting point. I like the look of the furniture on the Wisteria website, but I am not sure about the quality/price factor.

We are getting quotes on finishing the new basement area under our addition. DH is looking for a "man cave". The HVAC system might not be able to take the extra 500 sq feet of space, so that may be a cost prohibitive endeavor.

So, I maybe posting here to look for ideas!

Breakfast room...he knows as it's in progress, finally!

We are moving upstairs while we get rid of the wallpaper in our bedroom and replace the flooring. It's going to take a long time as we'll do all the work ourselves.

We painted over the wallpaper in our kitchen (and the bedroom paper is just as bad) - I'll link to it if you'd like to have a look.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen walls - before and after

We are starting a Master Bath remodel February 1st. We built the house 21 years ago, with DH doing a lot of the work himself. For the first time we've hired a designer/contractor and I'm SO looking forward to a project being completed!

We have to move out of our bedroom so they can stage and work in there. And we'll be doing the walk in closet as well.

My secret hope is to attack the Master Bedroom over the summer. Refinish the floors, paint and figure out what to do with the pickled pine ceiling and weird shelf over the bed. Those photos will be posted as soon as I'm brave enough to handle the embarasment!

Beth P.

I'm getting a wet bar on our patio, a follow up to the kitchen remodeling we did last year. As it turned out I had enough granite left from the counter tops to be able to get a 7' long run of cabinets covered. That in turn led to my contractor commenting that the location made it easy to include a sink...and voila, here we are! It will make our patio a nicer place to have parties and I'm hoping will encourage us to eat outside more often.

So along with that I've got to spruce up the rest of the porch: replace the old Home Depot cheap lights with some lanterns, clean everything, spray paint a table etc.

Other than that no big projects. Long term I really, really want to put brick pavers on our 'alley'. We have created one that runs alongside the house to the backyard where our stand-alone garage sits. It's so ugly. However that is going to be pricey and my major priority this year is to buckle down and work on building our savings up again. The kitchen project sucked up a LOT of money!

Ann

I was going to say finally fixing up the laundry room. Then I read Ann's patio post and thought "what a good idea, I need to spruce up the back patio". Then I was thinking about the thread on master closets and thought "you know, I bet my closet could be utilized better, I should look into that". These scattered, easily distracted train of thoughts explains why things rarely get done.

But the first thing to happen will be a shelving unit or bookcase or cubby system in my back hallway. My house is the depository for all sorts of family things - stuff going from my Mom to my sister or from one sister to another. It finally occurred to me to make a place, somewhat out of sight, to store these random things until the correct person comes to collect them. Why didn't this occur to me years ago?

I have mentioned the shelves to DH, he hasn't heard about any of the other ideas yet. As long as it doesn't involve him or cost too much, he won't care what I'm up to.

Sliding off topic with a funny from a friend's Facebook posting:

Dear God,
My prayer for 2011 is for a fat bank account & a thin body.
Please don't mix these up like you did last year.
Amen

I might be cheating too, since my DH is clued in. We need to get moving to get this stuff done though, the girls and I will traveling this summer with my DH. So those months the house will be shut down. I have the rest of winter, this spring and fall when we return.

The master bedroom and bath are the big things on the hit list, we've already started the bathroom, we just need to keep going. ;) We have all the beadboard, hex tiles, sink, faucet, clawfoot tub, lighting, toilet, storage .. I still need to order the tub fixtures and find an appropriate curtain I like. Bedroom .. the floor needs to be redone, beadboard on the ceiling, closet reworked, I'd like a new bed .. which I've been on the look out for. I have all the bedding and lighting already.

Other than that, I'd like to also get the last beadboard ceiling put in the sitting room ( red room ) and inside will be done .. we are in the home stretch. That will be the last hideous ceiling to get rid of from the PO's work around here.

Also just continue to shop auctions, ect .. fuss with new finds and adding them as they come along.

graywings, snort, chortle, too funny.

I posted about my House Goals for 2011 on my blog. So far I'm most of the way through Goal #1, Making over my front hall closet.
Here's a sneak peak. I still need a new light fixture and some ribbon trim for the fabric wall.

I hope to tackle item #2 soon - the staircase. It needs to be completely rebuilt.

Looking forward to seeing all of your pictures of your house projects for the year.

Quartz counters and new sink and faucet, and fireplace with bookshelves and hardwood floors in living room. Well these aren't REALLY plans, more of a wish list for 2011. We also really want to take another vacation, so right now I'm hunting for a part time job so some of it can become a reality. Almost no time to work with 3 kids and a traveling husband. Sorry to go off topic.

LOL Graywings!

1 wingback chair (fingers crossed 2) from Craigslist or somewhere w/ white slips and an IKEA Ektorp sectional sofa. DH has NO clue but I've opened a secret bank account so I can pay for the sofa in cash!

DH thinks I want the IKEA Karlstad (it's what I'd been planning) but long term thinking and small space maximizing xhanged my mind.

Fantasy train room for ds...his burgundy walls with flower borders drive me nuts on his behalf lol.

Heat to the main two floors :).

Id like to do a lux room for mom :). All ivory and tan and silvered furnishings with a crystal chandelier.

And dh thinks we are doing a gut remodel of the kitchen, master suite, all bathrooms, well pretty much the house this year....so my plans are way easier to swallow lol.

laxsupermom - Who makes the shoe racks???? Can you tell me how much it protrudes from the wall? I might like that better than my cubbies because you can see the whole shoe.

I likes me some shoe storage. :)

Not much in my own house - redoing the 2 flights of stairs but we are concentrating this summer on some fix ups on our triplex aparment building that are much needed.

After 4 years of constant reno's I am ready to chill out a bit and put a couple things on the back burner maybe till next year...

javachikThey're just cheap over the door shoe racks that you can buy at Target or really anywhere. They can be mounted right to the wall with screws and anchors. I repurposed the over the door hooks for something else. They are "stackable" in that one rack will hook right into another rack and it'll look like one unit.

These shoe racks come in 18, 24, or 36 shoe capacity, but they assume that you'll fit 3 pr across each row. I've found that my heels & flats fit 3 across just fine, but that my sneakers will only fit 2 pr across. They don't protrude very far from the wall, because of the angle that's built in. I think about 8 inches for the rack themselves plus another couple of inches for the heel of the shoe.

great thread idea!!!

DH knows about the bathroom in the basement we need to finish. We are at the drywall state, and it is moving really slowly. :( He also knows about the media stand we need to get for the living room.

He doesn't know about the side tables, accent chair, and ottoman for the living room! LOL

Since my DS will be going off to college in the fall, my plans are to redecorate his room into a guest room which he can also use when he comes to visit over Christmas and summer breaks. I've already started formulating some ideas for his space: namely upgrading his twin bed to a double platform bed, painting, WTs and clearing out his black IKEA bookshelf to feature his pottery artwork which he did in high school. I'm thinking of completing the project in phases starting with the bed.

Oh, and DH has sanctioned it since he's hoping his sister and her husband will come to visit us in May for DS's graduation.

I am wallpapering the laundry room in a Thibaut paper, Chinese toile, in red white and black, to play off the white cabinetry and black granite.

Looking for new kitchen chairs and am trying to decide (ideas appreciated!) between rattan bistro chairs (the ones made in France with rilson, not plastic), french country side chairs (similar to what I have now but better quality, mine are about to fall apart), the iconic chinese chippendale side chair, a french wheat sheaf chair, or something I haven't found yet that looks great.

Replacing a half-round awning over a side door, and replacing the lighting over kitchen table with either a new chandelier with a drum shade (decorator's pick if we can find one that has enough wattage), or a red tole lantern-style light. Lots to do-- and then there is the annual ritual Painting of the Decks and Stairs, and our outdoor jacuzzi has bitten the dust and we're thinking about a swim spa with the current thingie.

My list is longer than I thought!

LOL just wanted to see how many husbands are included or even know about plans for redecorating, tearing out a wall, ripping up carpeting, and all the other ideas that pitter patter thru our sweets litte heads whild DH is counting sheep. ;o)

Eh. I just replaced the hardware on a handful of doors without discussing it with DH. Before, during, or after. He doesn't really care one way or another, and I'm capable of replacing it myself, so I just did it.

As for bigger, more expensive, more involved and disruptive plans, he's all over it.

I have too many plans to list for 2011. Check back in a year, and I'll see what got done and what didn't. Unfortunately, the big, expensive, low decor-value things like roofing and fencing are high on the list. New light fixtures...low. Whah!

Our 2011 project started yesterday so I'm pretty sure DH is clued in. We're doing a minor basement reno, although with all things in this old house, it's turning into a bigger project than planned. Original concept: new ceiling (we have a hideous dropped ceiling that is coming apart -- we still need a dropped ceiling but it will be slightly nicer) and lighting; a wall of built-in shelves/cabinets for TV and game/crafts storage; new door to laundry room; new carpet and paint. Now (so far!) it has expanded to include rebuilding the whole stairs; fixing some bad electrical work that was discovered; and rerouting some plumbing pipes.

This room has been a playroom for 15 years, covered with toys, etc., and a room I spent time in only when playing with kids or walking thru to the laundry. Now that youngest kid is 10, the pile of toys is much smaller and will be contained on shelves under the stairs, and the room will be more of a "family room." Very excited!

Patty cakes, my Dh is about as UNinvolved as one can get. But he likes the results. :)

DH is clued in for bigger projects(read as $$$ projects.) We tend to check in with each other for purchases over $100. Smaller projects I tend to just do. And demolition which is no cost I tend to jump right into. Of course that means that I might live with a torn up home until the funds are available to change it.

Well, back in the Summer of 2009 my dh thought we were replacing our laminate counters with granite. And that would be it. Needless to say we did a little more than that. I'm always thinking about what's next....and this is what scares him the most.

For 2011: I will have the floor in the laundry room "finished", just not sure what we are doing in there, idea was to just run the cork from the kitchen in there and be done with it. Since we have the cork, this will be a free project, so it might be the way to go.

Finishing the basement, but not in a BIG way, just walls, ceiling and carpet. Bang For Your Buck will not be visiting, that's for sure.

My DD2's bedroom. Poor thing. She's a junior in college and she has a neon colored room. Very cool room, I must admit--great horizontal striped I painted. But alas, she would like an elegant grown up room. Looks like my Gravender will get to be used after all. In fact, I need to buy some Kilz Primer, maybe this weekend I can get this project started. Would be nice to be done before she's home on Spring Break.

I'm sure that I will be painting our MBR, the terracotta is just dated to me. Others would disagree and moan and tell me it to keep it, but I'm over it.

The Master Bath needs some work too, perhaps gelstaining the oak cabinets in there to a dark espresso color. If this is all my dh knows I'm planning in there, I can always escalate the project as we go. It's how I roll.

patty_cakes, I think you should save this thread, and pull it out 1/2 way through the year so we all can check back in on our progress. And then again next January.

I forgot I literally became that ikea sale commercial last week where the gal drives up in a semi full of boxes and shouts "I'm going back for more" lol. I rented a ten foot moving van....not a semi, but the results were a pile of flat packs tall enough to make a mountain for ds to climb. Inside resides my sewing room :). After six years I finally have one again (I gave up my last one in the planning stages when a stomach flu turned out to be a baby.....who got that room lol).

Igloo, that's funny! I'll also be working on a sewing room this year. It's roughly planned and organized, but all of the furniture in there needs to be repainted, and I'm still on a quest for a cabinet or armoire, or something to store my fabric in. Rubbermaid totes isn't the look I was going for.

I did tell DH but I'll share anyway!

What I WANT to do is our main floor bathroom. I think it's the ugliest bathroom I have ever seen. AND it isn't functional. The toilet and sink work, but the grout is gone, the vanity has rotted away . . .it is just nasty.

That was the plan since DH was supposed to be getting his perm job (was contract to hire for the last 6 mos) but the dept. ended up closing. :( Thankfully, he got a permanent job very quickly (and amazingly, got several weeks' severance from the contract job) but it is for LESS than what he was making before, even at his last perm. job. Sigh.

So, we'll see.

On the other hand, it isn't as expensive, but I want some new sofas. Just cheap ones from IKEA. Ours are really comfy, not new looking, but they just don't work with the look I want. The sofas, new rug, and maybe new curtains would work for me.

Cross your fingers on the bathroom for me. I'd show you a picture but I would be afraid it would make you throw up, because the colors actually LOOK like someone has . . .well, you know.