The plan, Stan. (Or Squeezies)

Heya! Hope you had a fantastic weekend! I spent most of my free moments working on the (final. serious this time. never again.) decrapifying of our basement. I tell you what – I LOVE it!! Oh my, getting rid of crap is best feeling.

But more on that in a bit. :)

My friend the Nester, (did you SEE her bedroom redo??) had a Home Goals party last week that really got me thinkin’. I have all these ideas in my head for our home and what I’d like to accomplish this year. I love talking houses and DIY and decorating, and I thought who better to talk shop with than all of you SQUEEZies.

Now, like Nester mentioned – decorating/DIY/our house is my hobby and my passion and kind of my job?? (Crazy by the way. Best. job. ever.) So my list is long and a bit exhausting for most.

But thinking of it makes me GIDDY. Gleeeee!

So let’s start, shall we? In no particular order, mind you.

I started our mini kitchen redo last umm…May.

I know…it’s been a teensy little while. (For shame.) Most of it’s done – but there’s still a few projects left to do. I need to install some glass fronts on a few of the cabinets. (Hiring out for that one – cutting our cabinet doors would make me pass. out. Sceered.)

I still need to touch up a ton of paint, install crown (which will have to go around the whole great room), and then finish up some accessory projects. I’m also considering a light fixture over the island:

If I do, I’ll remove the pendant light above the sink to open it up. But I’m not doing a thing until I see some pictures in Photoshop. :)

I started a little reworking of the master bedroom a few months ago, but I didn’t want to do any major DIY projects in the room. I did OK with that whole “nothing major” till I decided a month or so ago I wanted to add molding to the whole space. It doesn’t have a lick of it yet:

And I just can’t have that. :)

I also have a Craigslist dresser I need to figure out what to do with (I swear I’ll show you soon!), figure out some new accessories and I think I’m going to repaint the wall behind the bed:

(Older pic, it looks different now. Gotta finish that up too. :) )

I’m just really over those stripes. WAY. They’ve been around for about almost five years. I’ve loved them long time but I’m ready to say buhbye. (You can see more on how I did those here.)

And speaking of finishing projects, I’ve shown you the (slow) progress on my office:

It’s shaping up to be my most dramatic before and after ever. But oh my…much to do still. Woodwork out the wazoo, drapes, recovering cushions, accessories, art, organizing…whew. But FUN. I picked up a few little accessories today that got me excited about getting the board and batten done already so I can get on to the fun stuff. :)

There’s a few rooms I’d like to update a bit this year – first, the downstairs powder room:

I love our chocolate brown dining room, but brown for potty? Really? ;) I do like it, I’m just ready for a change. And I am O.V.E.R. the stencils. Done.

I have no clue what color I’m going to paint it – but it’ll come to me. Some day.

And our guest room (that was stepdaughter’s room) isn’t the most luxurious space for our guests right now:

:) It just about screams GIRL. I’ve already changed the layout of the room and ditched the purple and pink bedding. Now (again) I just need to decide on a color. I’ve had a swatch of grey up on the wall for a year now (no lie), but I’m not doing any painting till I find some inspiration for the room. (In bedding I hope!)

And finally…our two biggest projects of the year. (**We HOPE.)

Since we’ll be debt free soon (except the house), we plan to finally, finally, FINALLY going to finish our basement:

That’s the plan anyway. We say that every. year. But this year we are serious dang it!! Because we’ll be able to pay for it with “cash,” we think this may finally be the year it happens. Finally.

It’s pretty basic really – we already have (most) of the outlets and light fixtures we’ll need. It just needs framed out, electrical and drywall done. Then we need to figure out flooring. And oh yeah, there’s a bathroom that needs to be finished too. Ummm…maybe not so basic. We don’t know yet if we’ll hire a contractor to do it all, or contract everyone out separately for each project.

Anyone out there had a basement finished recently? Did you do it yourself, hire someone to do it all, or hire out to a bunch of folks?

To say I’m excited is a bit of an understatement. The cleaning of another 800+ square feet? Not so excited. But I’ll deal. :)

Actually, I clean down there already, since we really do use the space. That brings me to the decluttering – I’m SEE REE US about it this time. I can’t even imagine the pain it’s going to be finishing it off and dealing with all the stuff we have down there. Don’t. even. want to think about it.

The other BIG project is one that has me positively giddy – it’s a redo of a room that’s less than 40 square feet, but it will be a HUGE change.

I want to revamp our laundry/mud room:

Pretty basic – new paint and finishing the beadboard I never finished.

But my dream, my wish, my heart’s desire…is to move the washer and dryer out and make it a TRUE mud room.

Like, with built ins, cubbies, storage, a ton of coat hooks -- all of it. All of that fantastically wondrous, beautiful, amazing stuff. :)

Why? Because 99.9 percent of the time, the room looks like this:

You think I’m kidding. I’m soooo not kidding. I wish I was. It’s a rare day around here that we can walk through the space without hopping over clothes. Having the laundry right in the way of our entry and exit (how many times a day?) drives me absolutely bonkers. Mad. CRAY-ZAY.

The washer and dryer will either be moved up a level or down one. There are pros and cons to both locations, but either will be a million times better than what we have going on now.

Cause what we have now is madness. :)

The first step is to get a plumber out here to give us an estimate. From there we’ll decide if it’s gonna happen. And I really, really want it to happen.

You have no idea.

Anyone know of a quality, inexpensive plumber in the Indy area? Let me know. For reals. I will love him (or her!) forever and ever, amen.

So there you go – our DIY/decorating list around the TDC casa for 2011. Will any of it happen? I hope so. Will all of it? Highly doubt it. :) But it’s fun to dream.

Do you have any redos, DIY projects, major renovations coming up this year? Do tell – I love this stuff!! :)