Part of my yearly goal setting involves laying out plans for the house. The list is pretty long right now. In order to not get overwhelmed, I’m approaching the goals on a quarterly level. My goal for this spring is to tackle four home projects. Each one is geared towards making the house better for entertaining, which is another goal I have for the year—have more people over. One project is cleaning-focused, while most are about organizing and decorating. I have a fifth project in mind if I get ahead with these four, but I’m also allowing space should I not finish the four until summer. These spring home project goals are about getting settled to have more fun moments, so I am approaching them without pressure. My overall goal is to create a soul-nourishing, inviting, and memory-filled environment, so I am moving forward with that focus in mind.
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Powder Room Project
The first goal is to address an issue in our powder room. When our house was being built, the plumbers failed to read a sign our builder posted about covering shoes. They ended up grinding the mud from their shoes into the white grout of our powder room. The builder did not address this problem, and we let it go because we had bigger items to address. (You can read more about that experience at What I Wish I Knew Before Building.)
I thought I would easily be able to clean it myself; however, no matter what cleaning product I have tried, the floor continues to look dingy. The goal is to research professional grout and tile cleaners plus steam-cleaning machines, figure out which one makes the most sense for us, and get these tiles cleaned finally.
Then, I plan to switch out an English clover table I have in there for the cabinet I bought at Vintage Pickin’ this fall. The table was never a design choice. I just needed to store it somewhere at the moment, and the powder room was where it landed. It will get moved to my office for now. The vintage pine cabinet will look much better in this space because of its density, plus it offers storage. I may still purchase some baskets depending on how the organizing of this cabinet goes.
I am not sure I will be able to get to other plans I have for this space by the end of spring. Eventually, I would like to paint this room a moody color. Wallpaper is an option too, but it might be tricky with the sink and toilet. Of course, I want décor on the walls, and that might be a possibility this spring if the right pieces find me. We shall see. Having it cleaner and organized is my focus for now, though.
Breakfast Nook Project
The breakfast nook has come a long way since we moved in—curtains hung, table found, and cabinet found. I had different pieces in here at different points in time, mainly as place holders until I found the right pieces. Our old breakfast nook table was rectangular and felt wrong in the space, and the pieces we used as servers were either too low to be a coffee bar or too small to fill the wall. I am happy with the round, iron and cane, chippy, white table as well as the English pine, one-drawer over two-door, cabinet.
The spring goal for this space is to find a piece for the wall and organize the cabinet. A European plate rack (with a back) is what I have in mind for the wall. Since this room is not for formal dining, I am wanting a more casual looking piece, maybe French Country. The width is the trouble I am having when I am searching for the right piece, but hopefully, I can source it by the end of spring. Also, a couple of my antique dealer friends who buy and sell these racks pretty regularly have the measurements I need in case they come across the perfect piece.
Secondly, I want to organize the pine cabinet. It serves as my coffee bar, and I want to add some systems to it to make it more accessible and enjoyable. Currently, the top drawer houses my teas. I want to use the same acacia organizers that I used when I did my utensil drawer organization for these teas and my coffee pods.
My coffee grinder and bags of whole beans are behind the doors; otherwise, this space is pretty empty. I want to add baskets here, move my coffee mugs over this way, add some jugs of water, and backstock of grab-and-go breakfast items. For the top of the cabinet, I want to get a tray to go under my coffee maker, while the rest of it, I will figure out once I see what my wall piece will store.
Pantry Refresh Project
Organizing my pantry is another spring home project goal. I have tackled this space a couple of times since we moved into the house. The first time I mainly decluttered and sorted. The second time I added a couple of purchases based on some issues I saw from the previous sort—can organizers and some lazy susans. I also addressed the grocery store bag issue with some vintage containers. (You can read more about my organizing process in general at Utensil Drawer Organization.)
For the round this spring, I will be tightening up my system. I have purchased another two-gallon glass jar that needs to be cleaned and filled with brown rice. Additionally, I have a bamboo and glass jar set that I plan to use in this space. Besides those two organizers, I want to find some way of taking advantage of the height of the shelves. They are fixed. I am not sure what I will use just yet, but baskets and bins are top of my shopping list. Finding cute labels and incorporating antiques when I can are also top of mind.
Entertaining Dry Bar Project
Besides the fixed shelves inside my pantry, there is a nook with a lower kitchen cabinet and marble countertop. The original plan for this space was an entertaining dry bar of sorts. Currently, the cabinet is a catch-all, and houses plastic food storage containers, recipe printouts, and other random items.
I had hoped to source a piece to hang above the cabinet that would hold either a few wine bottles or some glassware. If you follow along in Instagram stories, you might remember a pine hutch top that I showed when I bought some other pine items on Marketplace. I got a quote to see how much it would cost to refinish the cabinet, but it was a little higher than I wanted to invest in a piece that was not a “favorite.” My plan is to try to source an option that I love for that space.
Once I have a hanging cupboard or shelving unit sourced, I plan to organize the space. The drawers will probably hold things like wine openers, cheese knives, and straws. My hope for the cabinet is it will hold a wine rack, baskets, a beverage dispenser, and extra packs of canned seltzer. I am excited for all of the pieces to come together for this space and to have it more functional.
Your Spring Projects
Hopefully by Memorial Day, my powder room, breakfast nook, pantry, and dry bar will have been checked off my to-do list. I will be sharing behind-the-scenes and sneak peeks of each project on Instagram, so be sure to check out my stories there.
Also, I would love to know what home projects you are working on this spring. Let’s chat below!
If you are curious how the house looked when we moved in, check out my Home Tour.
