THIS OLD HOUSE

Nate and I have lived in our blue cottage almost 4 years (in March). When we first bought it we thought it would be our home for about 5 years - at which point we'd sell it for a killing and upgrade to a bigger/better home. Reality check time. First of all, no one is really selling their homes for a killing or even a tiny profit, so that part of the plan is both sad and silly. Then, for some reason we thought we'd need more room. The 1700 sq feet on the main floor basically keeps us content. We have another 900 upstairs and we hardly ever go up there. So there really isn't any need for a bigger abode.

So I started thinking about ways we could make what we have better and I came up with a few small projects I'd like to work on in 2011. Of course this requires that we spend a lot of money which really isn't a strong suit for either of us. So these projects will be a big challenge. Bring it!

1. Rip out ugly tile around fake fire place and remove tiny mantel. Get a carpenter to build out a luxury fireplace more appropriate for the great room.

2. Get a dining table and chairs and finish the dining room.

3. Change out many of the light fixtures that came with the house and choose some that don't look like ceiling boobs.

4. Replace the leather chairs in our great room with upholstered chairs that have a colorful pattern.

5. Figure out what I want to do with the half bath on the main floor and turn it into an interesting room. It's so boring right now.

6. Apply some style to our upstairs. There are three great rooms up there and they are begging to be adored. This will include adding some well planned furniture in much needed areas and adding art to the walls.

7. Add storage shelves in the garage so we can be more organized with our stuff.

8. Organize the basement and take like a gazillion trips to D.I. and Goodwill to get rid of stuff we don't need.

9. Get a table and chairs for the back patio so we can have people over for some backyard fun. Also get a comfortable couch/chairs for the front porch - it's so big and could use a little TLC and curb appeal.

10. Decide what we want to grow in our garden and be committed green thumbs this summer.

That's basically all I can dump on my plate right now. It's definitely a stretch to get all this done in one year, but with some good bargain shopping and purposeful planning I think we can get most of it done.

Go Team!