Home Improvement Goals for 2022

Today I’m sharing the specific home improvement goals I’ve targeted for the 2022 calendar year. 

A new year stretches out ahead of us as fresh and bright as the snow blanketing our backyard. Even though nothing really changes as the clock strikes midnight, it’s always motivating to feel as though you have some kind of a new and fresh start in the new year. The time of transition is also perfect for taking stock and reflecting on what went well in the past year as well as thinking about changes you’d like to make in the seasons ahead.  Sometimes these changes involves things in ourselves or in our lives; sometimes they involve things in our home or our environment. I’d say that I have things I’d like to change in both arenas, and I find that the fresh start of the New Year is a motivating time to set some new goals.

Goal Setting

When I’m talking about reflecting and setting goals, I don’t mean making resolutions as such. I believe that change is a process and takes time, patience, and effort to create in our lives. But reflecting and setting goals involves taking a step back to assess where one wants to focus and put their energy during the months and year ahead. It feels good to have some kind of plan in place, even if it will likely adjust change as the year moves ahead and our goals meet with different realities than we might have imagined. Today I’m sharing my housie related plans and goals for 2022, both in our home and on my website.

2021 was definitely a year of change and transition for us, but now that we are settled in our new home I think the time is ripe to tackle the jobs and projects that we weren’t able to get to during the past year. I’m also looking forward to making some decor changes throughout our new build this year. We basically painted nearly every room while and moved in, but I’m feeling like we need to add some character to our rooms and spaces this year. I have so many ideas, but I plan to tackle things room by room and am working on developing a realistic timeline for these changes and ideas.

My Home Goals for 2022

Goal #1: Get our new house organized with The Ten Week Organizing Challenge

The first thing that I want to do is get our house organized the way that I did back in 2017 when I first designed my Ten Week Organizing Challenge. It’s the five year anniversary of The Challenge, which means it’s the perfect time to update and share it once again. We moved into this house and ‘put everything away’ but it definitely needs to be gone through, purged, and re-organized to make our home much more functional and streamlined. So straight up in January I’m planning to tackle the organization challenge once again, and I’ll be sharing my progress on a weekly basis!

The Ten Week Organizing Challenge originally designed in 2017

Goal #2: Warm up the Living Room with some DIY projects & paint

In the living room I’m hoping to add some paneling above our fireplace. I feel like it would really finish off that feature nicely, so I’m thinking of either board and batten or vertical shiplap, painted out white. I’m also thinking about painting the walls a different colour, so I’ll be sharing some paint colour idea posts with you soon. I started to refinish a coffee table that I picked up on Facebook marketplace this past Fall, and I plan to finally ‘finish’ refinishing it and share the tutorial with you soon. The coffee table in my fall tour (below) was sold to a friend, and my FB vintage find lives there now instead… in it’s half finished state:)

Our living room during my fall tour 2021

Goal #3: Add character to the Dining Room with paneling, paint, and a new furniture piece

In the dining room I made a few changes in the Fall and shared the redo of my $50 Marketplace dining room table.  Now that the holiday Christmas decor is going to come down, I desperately want to add some paneling to the back wall in there, as well as a pop of darker colour. I’ve also been toying around with moving the grey sideboard to the entry hall, and finding and refinishing an old china cabinet to put in it’s place.  I’ve been looking for something vintage to paint and refinish but the right piece hasn’t popped up just yet. I’m loving arched cabinets as well, and looking for something that might have that look and feel to it.

Our dining room during my fall tour series 2021

Goal #4: Make a statement in the foyer with paneling and wallpaper 

I also plan to refresh the foyer this winter. As I mentioned, I’m toying with moving the grey sideboard into this space, and I would move this black one into our upstairs hallway. I would love to add paneling and/or wallpaper (or both) to this entry space. It’s quite wide and long and definitely needs a little more fun interest and drama.

A glimpse of our front foyer as shared in my Vinyl Plank flooring post 2021

Goal #5: Add personality and character to our upstairs spaces 

Both our boys rooms are pretty comfortable for them, and I’ve made a few changes in them already with purchasing suitable furniture etc. But they both would like a little more pizazz and style in their rooms, so I’ll likely be sharing a quick refresh on each of those rooms during the months ahead. I also want to add some pops interest to our wide hallway upstairs – perhaps wallpaper!

A glimpse to the upstairs shared during our Christmas tour 2021

Goal #6: Finish the backyard landscaping and build a fence 

This year we also want to finish our backyard fence in the spring and start landscaping the back yard. As pretty as the forest is in the backdrop, there is a public trail that runs right behind our house so we will need to fence the backyard (it’s also a requirement in our subdivision). So far we have just planted grass back there, but we are planning a DIY sprinkler system install, as well as planting trees, shrubs, and perennials around the edges of the yard. The fence and landscaping will both be pretty labour intensive projects this coming Spring.  I tackled the front yard for Father’s Day this past year, and never did share all the details about it, so I’ll do that as well.

Our backyard during my Fall Outdoor Spaces Tour 2021

Goal #7: A new building project – the Carriage House/Cabin

Finally….build THE CABIN. One more goal that we have for this year is getting a start on the carriage house/cabin at our lake property. We are currently deciding on a plan, then we will need to get our ducks in a row so we can submit for permit. Ideally we would be building it come late spring, but it all depends on how long the process takes. Contractors are so busy, as are all of those experts that we need reports from in order to submit for permit. But, fingers crossed, we will have this project built by the end of 2022!

Our previous lake house pea gravel fire pit area

In addition to setting home goals, I’ve set a few goals around my website and business for this coming year.

Goal #1: Catch Up Sharing

So far, I’ve only shared decor details about our primary bedroom when I added the grasscloth wallpaper to that space last spring. I want to share an article about how we used the Ikea Pax system in our walk-through closet, as well as all the design details (save versus splurge) for our ensuite bathroom. The kitchen is pretty much complete, but I want to share our experience with going ‘custom’ this time with our cabinetry as compared to using big box cabinetry like we did in our last house with our Ikea kitchen. There are also several spaces in our house that I haven’t shared yet, and I plan to share the design details and sources for our powder room, laundry room and the main bathroom upstairs.

Goal #2: Post Articles and Send Email Consistently

I’ve got so many ideas that I want to write about, so the trick is carving out more time to actually get down to writing and sharing on a weekly basis. It’s been so busy the last few years with renovating and moving in addition to my “day job”, but now that we are more settled my goal is to be more consistent in sharing all that we’ve been up to. I plan to share 2-3 posts every week and to send out my email newsletter each and every week.

Goal #3: Website Redesign

I’m also planning to update the website to make it more of a user-friendly resource for my readers. I want to change the layout so that you, my reader, can more easily access past DIY tutorials, decor ideas, free printables, and organizing projects without having to search around for them. It’s beyond time for an update and I’m excited about the changes to come!

Goal #4: Add Services 

Since I’m taking interior decorating courses I’d like to start offering design services through my site. I currently offer some design services casually to locals who approach me, but I am going to formalize my services and offer e-design in addition to in-person design consultations. I’m also going to be doing some free e-designs for readers as a way to get my feet wet in this area!

What are your home goals this year?

I’ll be sharing a post soon with my tips for setting yearly home goals as well as creating a plan for achieving them!