2021 Home improvement recap + 2022 house goals

2021 wasn’t a giant home DIY year, mostly due to the focus being more on my husband’s double shoulder surgery recoveries, but I was still able to get some things done. Relevant blog posts will be added here that go into further detail, I promise!:

Things we got done in 2021

• Had a new roof installed – Boy was THAT a whole thing. We actually had the original cedar shingle roof from 100 years ago under all the other layers! Was kinda sad to see it go but it definitely was needed.
• Painted the kitchen walls and cabinets – FINALLY. This will be its own post soon, but the kitchen was the last vestige for paint that needed to be updated. The color was fine, but our attempts to patch holes with a “close enough” color just drove me crazy. I finally got it done, though, AND updated my cabinets though I’m not 100% on their color.
• Installed a new garden shed – I don’t know if I ever thought we’d get a shed but needed to do it once the outside door to our basement swelled shut due to the leak mentioned below. I’m working on the post for this soon, so stay tuned.
• Finally got the backyard spigot working – This happened by accident because we had a plumber here to chase a leak. While he was here we remembered, “oh yeah, this is a thing that needs to be done!”
• Finally covered the top of my office cabinets with contact paper – It was just one of those things I never had the energy to do but getting an aquarium meant that suddenly I really needed to consider the consequences of having plain wood boards under something that splashes water.
• Planted bisetti bamboo – This will be an upcoming blog post/rant but suffice to say we did it to deal with the lack of shade now that the new neighbors cut down all their trees. FYI – The bamboo is in trough planters and not straight in the ground. I knew putting them right into the soil would be a catastrophe since they’re so close to our beautiful fence.
• Hired professional cleaners to come in twice a month – This has been HUGE for us and isn’t something I ever thought we’d do. However, I finally just realized that look, I’m not cleaning. I just don’t do it (thank you, ADHD) and Steve is currently too injured to keep up with cleaning the house so we bit the bullet and brought pros in to get the job done. It’s been SO worthwhile even if it’s a little awkward to be at home while people are cleaning your house for you. Eh, whaddyagonnado.

Home goals for 2022

Steve and I are in a weird place now when it comes to what we want to do with the house. We moved here in 2016 which puts us at the six-year mark. We’ve toyed with the idea of moving in 2023 but this was pre-pandemic (and pre-insane housing bubble) so now we’re not really sure what our living situation will look like in the next few years.

Which, you know, presents a problem: Do we keep upgrading the home for us to live in, upgrade things solely for selling the home, fix things but not upgrade other things, or somewhere in between all of this? It’s a weird balancing act so right now we’re mostly focusing on fixing what needs to be fixed (with the exception of the carpeting, though it really should get replaced someday).

• Have new windows installed – Our windows have never been great and some have had broken seals since we moved here (if you don’t know: condensation between panes = bad news)
• Repaint or stain the staircase banisters – I first painted these black when we moved in and the paint has worn in places to the point where it’s just not cute. I think my goal is to strip the paint and then stain them a dark wood.
• Look nervously at the central air conditioner – We have it serviced once a year but it came with the house and the pros estimate it’s at least 15 years old and could go at any minute. Which you know, is always fun to hear.
• Have the kitchen backsplash fixed + a vent installed above the stove – We never had a vent so haven’t ever run the cleaning cycle on our oven (yeah…that’s the reason.) but it’s just one of those projects that gets pushed back and pushed back. Now since our terrible peel-and-stick backsplash job is going to need professional intervention, we figured we’d get them to install a range hood, too.
• Replace broken pieces of siding – These also came with the house and to be honest, this isn’t something I’m looking forward to fixing solely because of the color. The likelihood we can get siding pieces that remotely match our sun-faded blue is not high, so I’m either going to need to live with looking at different colored pieces of siding or cave and get the whole thing redone or repainted.
• Repaint the deck – Time for an update. We last touched up the deck in 2020 and the winters here don’t make the paint last long so it’ll be time to figure out where our original painters picked up the paint they used. Thankfully I have it written down here on the blog. Otherwise, yeah, I’d be screwed.