2013: Before & After

Well, another Christmas has come and gone.  I still have a mess of gift bags and boxes to put away… can you believe the year is almost over?  It’s almost 2014, which means its time to look back at our accomplishments this past year and start planning next year’s projects!  Here is my goals list for 2013, as I outlined in last year’s summary post:

• Make curtains for den windows
• Make new curtains for the living room to match the new couches!
• Rebuild deck…
• Clear out “the last frontier” for sunny vegetable garden. 
• Finish exterior spruce-up with black shutters, black storm door, and freshly painted white trim
• Resow grass in back yard (again)
• Resow grass in the front yard
• Repaint/replace garden swing in English Garden
• Reupholster Antique Chair for Office
• Mount new TV on wall and rearrange gallery frames
• Refinish dining table and side table in living room
• Install overhead lights in the closets upstairs

Considering that I only completed six of my projected goals, it seems I was very lazy last year.  But I managed to accomplish some things that weren’t even on the list—spontaneous projects that sprang from my mind without too much forward planning!  Here’s a look at the notable projects of 2013…

Last January we revealed our new reupholstered couches in the living room, along with a new TV and gallery wall arrangement.

Unfortunately, even though it was on the list last year, I never got around to making new draperies.  Probably because I found my dream fabric and it was $30/yard.  Aaack!  So I am still trying to work that into the budget or possibly find a cheaper fabric.  It’s going back on the list. :)

And in April, we marked off another project from the list—the unsightly garden swing in the English garden.  I originally intended to repaint it and rebuild the frame, but in the end we decided to tear it down in favor of a more open view.

We also reseeded the backyard in the fall of 2012, and the front yard in the fall of 2013.  The backyard reveal was last Spring and hopefully we’ll have lovely green grass to share from the front yard next Spring.  :)

We also cleared out a bunch of smaller trees from the area around the English garden as well as some larger trees from the lower woods, as you can see from those pictures.  It’s a bit more open now.  That is an ongoing project until we can get some heavy equipment down there to do some grading.

Over the summer I broke out my paintbrush in the guest bath and in the kitchen.  The bathroom went a lovely deep teal color:

  

And the following month, the kitchen underwent a major transformation with newly painted cabinets!  One of my best projects! :)

I never did get a rug for that room, but I did make a new valance for the window. :)  I have really enjoyed my new white cabinets, and they looked especially great for holiday decorating!  I have some more plans for this space, too, so stay tuned! :)

In October, I marked off another task from my to-do list by painting all our exterior shutters black.  We also removed the rock path from the front yard and reseeded the whole area.  I’ll tell you all about that in the Spring! :)

I know, I still need to repaint the sidelight trim and the storm door black.  It’s going on the list. :)

2013 was a fairly productive year, but we can always aim higher in 2014, so here’s a look at our future goals:

• Make new curtains for the living room to match the new couches (maybe this year!) 
• Rebuild deck… (probably not happening this year either!)
• Clear out “the last frontier” for sunny vegetable garden?
• Finish exterior spruce-up with black storm door, and freshly painted white trim
• Refinish or replace dining table and refinish side table in living room
• Refinish secondhand dining table for kitchen (already in the works!)
• Repaint dining room with satin paint (the flat paint is so grungy)
• Edge parking area at top of yard (we started replacing the gravel this year, so hopefully will get that finished up in 2014

Rest assured, my project-planning brain will come up with tons of awesome projects to add to the list as the year goes on.  Stay tuned for all of the upcoming projects at the Horvath House! :)

Happy New Year!