The Holes In Our Home

Hi Everyone!

Earlier this week on IG I briefly mentioned that I was starting to think forward to the New Year and begin prioritizing which home projects we want/need to tackle. Every year around this time I make a list of things I hope to get done, but there isnt a real rhyme or reason to them, other than just things we’ve been wanting to do since purchasing the house. This year I’ll be going about things a bit differently.

Recently I was watching one of my favorite YouTuber’s, KarenBritChick, and she was talking about how to build a better wardrobe.  One of her pieces of advice is to “search for the holes in your closet” to determine what you need, or really really want, which will help inform much more intenitonal purchasing decisions and ensure you start to build a better wardrobe overall. For instance, you may need a great basic black pump, or perhaps you’re lacking a statement blazer, or maybe you’re missing that good quality trench coat. Those would be the holes in your closet and will be the focus of what you need to fill. When I heard her say that a light bulb went off in my head! That same concept can be applied to curating a home.

Over the next few days I took stock of the holes in our home.  I thought about the way we live in our spaces. The things we want to be able to do in our spaces, but currently can’t becuase there are some missing pieces to the puzzle.  The things that aren’t working in our home, and what the solutions could be to make them work.  The decor items I’ve been putting off purchasing.  The cheap fixes that need quality replacements. The things we don’t necessarily need, but that I’ve been wanting for some time. And so on.

A big part of our journey into downsized living has been centered around being incredibly intentional with what makes its way into our home.  The lack of square footage has made us really think about how to get the most out of every moment in #thecottagebungalow.  Since we began renovating and updating the house we’ve done a good job of that and in the coming year I’ll be fine tuning it even more. So when I took stock of the holes in our home here’s what I discovered:

WE NEED A SLEEPER SOFA-ok so this one I’ve tried to avoid since day 1.  But the bottom line is, for us this is a need.  Our little 2 bed 1 ba doesn’t have a guest room and there’s no getting around the fact that a sleeper sofa just makes sense. It definitely hit me when we had back to back overnight guests recently and there really wasnt any place for them to sleep.  We manuevered and doubled up in bedrooms, but it would’ve been so much easier and more accommodating for everyone had we had a sleeper sofa. And with the fact that Naomi and I don’t live near our families, our little home is a revolving door of out of town visitors throughout the year.

I’ve been really reserved about it because sleeper sofas don’t have the best reputation for being both comfortable and stylish at the same time.  We can’t sacrifice comfort because we only have 1 living area, which means we only have 1 sofa in our house.  It HAS to count. And at the same time I want it to be beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. PLUS we have to think about the space constraints.  Every sofa I’ve found so far is either slightly too big, too small, not deep enough, to high in the back, etc.  We’ve tried a couple of different sofas in the 4 years we’ve lived here, and they’ve worked,  but nothing has been perfect just yet. So in the end we are going custom.  Every detail will be to the exact specifications of what we want and it will be made specifically to both maximize the space we have, and provide our guests with as much comfort as possible.

OUR CLOSETS NEED AN INTERVENTION- Now I’ll be the first to admit I am NOT an organizer.  I don’t do the “labels on shelves & everything nice and tidy and alphabetized in bins” thing.  But our closets and pantry need help.  Especially the pantry (I ever show this), hall closet, and kids closets. So a big area of focus next year will be to give these hard working areas much needed attention. We are really lucky to have so many closets in our small home, and right now I feel like we arent using them to their advantage at all.

WE NEED HELLA RUGS–  5 to be exact.  Rugs are always one of the hardest things to decide on, but we need them. The laundry room, dining room, hallway, and living room all need something.  Fun times.

WHERE’S THE VACCUM- Remember that time Naomi tossed the vacuum in the trash? Yeah that was almost 2 years ago.  We have to fix that. Sweeping rugs is not the business.  We’ve got our sights set on a Miele so we just need to figure out which one.  This is definitely going to be an investment purchase.  But when it comes to a Miele you buy well which means you only need to ever buy once.

SPEAKING OF FLOORS- The kitchen and laundry room floor are top priority this year.  Its been 3 years too long at this point.  I’ve been waffling back and forth over the material but Im forcing myself to make a darn decision and get it done.

MASTER BEDROOM- At this point our bedroom is the only room in the house that has been untouched since we moved in.  It was only ever meant to be a temporary situation so I never gave it any real thought or consideration. We’ve been having conversations around how to proceed with it and I would really really love to do major work there….having it torn down and rebuilt as a legitimate bedroom on the house.  There’s a lot to discuss with it. Are we still planning to move? Will this be a worthwhile financial investment?  It also means deep diving into the numbers of what that would cost, so we’ll see what we can realistically afford to do.  At the very least Id like to give our room an update with paint and furniture.

ART ART ART- This year I started adding art to the walls and I’ll be continuing that next year, particularly in the hallway.

FOCUS ON FINISHING- This is a big one for me.  I have a tendency to start projects, get about 90% done and then move on to the next. Its always the little tedious things that drives me crazy.  Things like painting trim, installing baseboards, installing hardware, etc.  I have got to do better with this. Finished spaces is one of the biggest holes in our home and I’ll be adressing that big time. My goal is to get the laundry room, kitchen, and bathroom 100% complete this year.

THE SPLURGE ITEM-So here’s the deal.  I believe every space should have a balance of splurge and save, and I’m a total advocate for splurging on that one thing that probably costs a little too much, but you absolutely love it and it makes you super happy.  For me, thats a big Venetian floor length mirror (among othe things, but one at a time mkay).  I’ve wanted one for a long time and I’ve decided this will be the year I get one. It’ll be part of the bedroom update, so that makes me feel less guilty…even though I have no guilt anyway!  I’d love to find it vintage, but either way its happening.

   Source

BACKYARD- We’ve spent the past 4 years just clearing things out in our backyard and getting it to a clean slate.  The removal of a derelect shed this past summer was the last thing that needed to go so now we can focus attention on rebuilding it in a way that maximizes all of that wonderful space we have back there. There’s a lot of work ahead with the outside but we just need to get started. This is big because the backyard was a big selling point for us in purchasing this home.

ENTERTAINING-I realized this is one of the biggest holes in our home and the one that makes me the saddest.  I love to entertain, like LOVE it.  And we currently don’t do it nearly enough because we always have something preventing us from doing it in the way we want. No more.  I’ve been busy trying to make this home lovely and special and one of the reasons is to share it with others. Focusing on filling the holes will in essence make entertaining much easier.

A ROUND COFFEE TABLE-Ok so this one is pretty cut and dry.  I’ve been on the hunt for a round coffee table for quite a while now and hopefully Ill find the perfect one this year. With our space it will be a better fit and provide better flow. It needs to be a bit large and somethiing with an interesting or statement detail to it.  I have no idea what that is, but ill know when I see it.

So that’s it friends.  Those are the holes in our home as it stands. As someone who loves ALL THE THINGS, it will really help me to stay focused and intentional not only with purchases, but also with designing our home.  I will help me keep what’s missing or needed at the forefront, and not fall into the “ooh but” trap!  I would encourage you all to seek out the “holes in your home” as well and see what it is you come up with.

Until next time friends…

 

 

Posted By: Shavonda Gardner · In: interiors, life, small space living, thecottagebungalow