Home goals for 2011

I know we're already a month into the New Year and I'm way behind on coming up with home goals for 2011, but better late than never, right? So here, in no particular order, are our goals for 2011 -- or at least a handful, considering we just moved into the house three months ago and the list seems to be never-ending!

1. Paint, paint, paint!

Since moving in, we've painted the master bedroom, the kitchen, the entryway and the living room. Next on our list is the office (which is currently pink!), and I can't wait to get rid of the two yellow bathrooms.

I know it's weird, but yellow walls just make me a little angry instead of cheerful. 

At some point next year we'll also paint the two extra bedrooms, which are currently mint green and bright blue (with a sports-themed wallpaper border! Yeah...).

2. Put up ledge shelves in the dining room.

We have a big wall in the dining room, and imagining it filled with three ledge shelves and lots of photos makes me super excited.

 I'm eyeing these simple directions from Ana White.

Photo: Ana White

3. Put in a new walkway.

Our house has a somewhat awkward layout -- the garage is perpendicular to the house and obstructs the view of the front door when people drive in, so we've had people coming around the back of the house and up the deck instead of going around to the front. Right now, we have a simple gravel path that's hard to see, hard to walk on and walk to shovel in the winter.

Ahh...look at how sunny and green it is. Now it's covered by three feet of snow...no joke!

We're planning to put in pavers and add visual interest with landscaping -- planters or gardens on either side of the walkway -- to make it stand out and guide people to the proper entrance. We also may put some plants along the other side of the driveway to obstruct the view of the back deck and discourage people from traipsing across the lawn.

There's also no lighting along the walkway, so we want to install overhead lighting on the garage and put in some solar lights along the walkway.

4. Make cute planters for the shed.

As soon as I saw that shed, I knew it would look super cute with planters beneath the windows.

I'm also thinking about the great potting area I could have in there.

Source: Apartment Therapy

5. Buy furniture.

I don't know when or how much we'll be able to buy, but we need a desk, bookshelves, dining room chairs and a real bed frame. I'd also love to put a couple of these Target Mitchell armless chairs and a cute table in the eat-in kitchen area/lounge (we don't know what to call it) to make a fun seating area for chatting with friends over coffee.

(Excuse the bad photo -- it was at night, just after we finished painting this room)

And our master bedroom has a little dormer nook that would make a great home for a comfy chair, a little side table and a cute lamp -- the perfect place to curl up with a good book.

Inspiration:

 Source: Stephmodo

Our house is still a work in progress (aren't they always?), so I'm sure there's lots more we'll tackle in 2011 -- like putting up more art on the walls and rehabbing some hand-me-down furniture. But those are the top five projects we're planning, and if we can get at least three done, I'll be a happy camper.

What are your home goals for 2011 -- or any goals, for that matter?

I've been working on a few exciting projects I can't wait to show you, but they're not 100% done yet, so stay tuned!