2012 Home Goals

My favorite part of welcoming the New Year is the promise of a clean slate.  Once that calendar page has been flipped to January, an old chapter is finished and a new chapter begins.  I love sitting down with pen and paper and making my list of goals for the upcoming year.  Being the list maker that I am, I actually have several different lists:  family goals, personal goals, financial goals, and of course, home goals. 

De-cluttering is usually at the top of my home goals list every year, but with two cross-country moves in less than a year, I’ve already done as much de-cluttering as humanly possible.  In fact, we got rid of so much stuff that my new number one home goal is replacing all of the furniture that we sold before the last move.  So far, thanks to Craigslist, I’ve managed to find a couch, chair and loveseat for the family room; bedroom furniture for my son’s room; and a couple of chairs for the breakfast table.  Still needed: a coffee table, a couple of small bookcases for the kids’ rooms, some bar stools, a desk, patio furniture, furniture for the completely empty formal living and dining room, and some shelving for the garage.  Whew… that’s a lot of furniture!  Since we plan to be in this house for a loooooooong time, I don’t mind taking my time to find the right pieces, at the right price.  In the meantime, I will be focusing my attentions on the rooms that need the least amount of work and replacement furniture.

 Looks like my son’s room will be the number one priority, as it needs the least amount of work.  I’ve been spending a little time on Olioboard making a mood board for inspiration.  He’ll be twelve this March and is no longer into “themed” rooms.  He really wants something clean-lined and easy to maintain, since he has a blossoming social life and better things to do with his free time than clean and organize (don’t we all!).  Working with his current bed, bedding and dresser, this is what he and I have come up with:

(Click to view larger)

Fortunately our current landlord will allow us to paint as long as we paint it back before we move out, so we’ll be painting the walls either light blue or light grey.  He’ll need a desk for doing homework, some shelving, a rug, a nightstand and a few accessories.  Easy peasy.  He’ll have a room he can enjoy for at least the next few years.

Next on the home goals list will be our family room.  We just picked up a PB Basic sofa, and an Ikea Ektorp loveseat and chair off of CL, so we will be decorating the room around those.  With new white slipcovers (I hope I don’t regret this!), pretty much anything will coordinate.  Here is the mood board I’ve made for this room:

This is how our family room currently looks:

 Yawn!  As you can see from the pics, our current décor isn’t horrible, but it could definitely use some freshening up.  We’ve had the curtains and pillows for years now, and it’s time for a change.  The blue and grey tones in the inspiration board will freshen up the color palette and bring it into 2012.  I’m looking to replace the current coffee table/trunk with one similar to the inspiration piece, and a new rug is in order.  Those lovely cut-outs on the wall behind the sofa have been stumping me for quite some time but trying to ignore them hasn’t been working out so well.  I'm thinking of using artwork to create a collage that will either incorporate the cut-outs (somehow), or cover them up.  I’ll have to play around will that idea a little more.  And I would love to replace some of the dark wood furniture, but the budget just won’t allow for it right now.  They will either get painted or somehow worked into the design plan. 

I’m still working on inspiration boards for the rest of the rooms in the house, but these two rooms should keep me busy for quite awhile.  I’m excited to get started and can’t wait to show you how it all turns out!  Here’s to a new year full of new possibilities!

Linking this post to:   Nesting Place - 2012 Home Goals Party